Summary:
"De afsluiting en droogmaking der Zuiderzee. Weerlegging van bezwaren" by Beekman is a scientific publication likely written in the early 20th century. The work details the extensive plans for the closure and reclamation of a significant portion of the Zuiderzee, a large inland body of saltwater in the Netherlands, and addresses various objections to the implementation of this ambitious project. It is a discussion on the technical, economic, and social implications of transforming the Zuiderzee into arable land. At the start of the book, the author reflects on the historical context of earlier reclamation efforts in the Netherlands while emphasizing the need for new land to meet the growing demands for agriculture and population support. The text outlines previous plans for dealing with the Zuiderzee and argues for the necessity of its closure to prevent flooding and improve agricultural productivity. The introduction sets the stage for a comprehensive examination of the proposed engineering solutions and expected outcomes, highlighting both the potential benefits and the resistance to such large-scale undertakings. (This is an automatically generated summary.)