THE HAARLEMMERMEER, THE LARGEST LAKE IN HOLLAND
“Afbeeldinge van Rhynlands Waterstaat ten Opzigte van ’t Vergrooten der Haarlemmer of Leydse Meer met de hyrna Gecombineerde en Omleggende Veenplassen” [Depiction of the water management of Rijnland with regard to the enlargement of the Haarlemmer- or Leidsemeer, together with the subsequently combined and surrounding peat lakes.] Copper engraving made by Melchior Bolstra in 1740. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 55 × 63.5 cm.
Melchior Bolstra, surveyor of the Rijnland water authority, investigated the progressive erosion of the shores of the Haarlemmermeer over time. The former extent of the lake in earlier centuries is indicated by dotted lines. It clearly shows that the lake originally consisted of several smaller bodies of water that gradually merged into one large expanse. Bolstra also devised a plan for the reclamation of the lake.
Plans for draining the Haarlemmermeer had existed since the seventeenth century, but they met with strong opposition. Leiden, for example, was unwilling to relinquish its lucrative fishing rights, while Haarlem resisted the project because it derived substantial income from shipping.
After a storm in 1836 drove the water as far as the gates of Leiden and Amsterdam, King William I decided that the lake had to be drained. This was ultimately achieved by steam power between 1848 and 1852.
