A tiny nation called the Netherlands is located in Western Europe between Belgium and Germany. The Netherlands is constantly battered by the North Sea, which is to their north and west. The Netherlands is smaller than West Virginia but bigger than the state of Maryland.
God created the Earth, but the Dutch created Holland, goes the Dutch proverb. If the Dutch had not built walls to safeguard their territory, the North Sea would have wiped away the Netherlands. The Dutch have constructed several canals, dams, dikes, and pumping stations over the years to hold back the sea and rivers.
The low, flat area is currently protected from the North Sea by more than 1,491 miles (2,400 kilometres) of dikes, with about half of it below sea level. 65 percent of the nation would be under water every day without the current dikes.