Windmills of Kinderdijk

I was ecstatic to see the windmills of Kinderdijk up close. Kinderdijk is a small village in the the Netherlands and as you can see, it is known of its traditional windmills. While windmills can be quite common here in the Netherlands. There is a windmill network here in Kinderdijk which is composed of around 19 structures. This makes it the greatest concentration of traditional windmills in the country. It is really quite impressive to see these old structures still doing their job. So what exactly is their job anyway. I never thought about that until now. I used to think that they were only decorative in nature, but it is time to find out.

I know the Dutch windmills is to know the history of the Netherlands. The country is very flat. I don’t remember seeing mountains or hills on the way here. In fact, just over twenty percent of the country is actually below sea level. This means that there is a danger of being submerged by the sea. It has been a constant battle between the country and the sea. To keep their feet dry, the Dutch used pumps to suck out excess water and dump it somewhere else. For this they need power, while at that time electricity wasn’t an option they used what is probably the best option they have – the wind. Windmills were set up to pump out water and basically keep the land dry. As for making sure the water stays away? That is a story for another time.

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