Number 44 USA 1989-2020

Upheaval 

When I arrived in the USA for the second time in the summer of 1989 there was a new president. H.W. Bush, the senior, had won the election on November 8th the year before. He had been vice president under Ronald Reagan and ran for presidency against the democratic candidate Michael Doukakis. Although Doukakis’ seemed to have quite good chances at first he lost very clearly with 45.6% against Bush’s 53.4%. Bush was the first sitting vice president being voted president since 1836 and was the last republican to win in the states of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, New Jersey, and Vermont. 

Immigrants on the Beach, Virginia Beach, Virginia 2016

When we have elections in Europe, things might get exciting, but determining the winner is simple. The seats in the German parliament, the Bundestag, are basically proportional to the number of votes the parties get. Since there hardly never is an absolute majority of  >50% of the votes for one party, the strongest party has to form a coalition. When they have agreed on their program they form the government and the parliament with the majority of this coalition elects the chancellor. The chancellor is always the top candidate of the strongest party. The problem lies in the formation of the coalition, which sometimes takes a long time until a compromise between the different ideas is found. The coalition is usually formed after a program for the next legislative period was agreed on between the parties. Compromise is the basis of government. 

Symbol for the many German immigrants to the US, the Hermann Memorial in Neu Ulm, Minnesota, 2014 

“Elections are the essence of democracy. If a ….. country’s citizens can’t vote, such a country does not deserve to be called a democracy. By such standards, the US is barely half-deserving of being called a democracy” (Jared Diamond). 

Oglethorpe park, Savannah, Georgia 2016 

The citizens of the 5o United States vote for the parliament, the house of representatives, directly, but not for the president. The presidential candidate is voted in each individual state separately. To make things easier there are usually two candidates to choose from: one of the Republican and one of the Democratic Party. In principle, each of the 50 states then provides a number of electors roughly dependent on the size of the population of that state. Altogether the 50 states provide 538 electors. A candidate is voted president if he can get the votes of at least 270 electors. 

Many small countryside towns fight for survival. The entire town of Aladdin, Wyoming, pop. 26, is for sale for $ 1.5 million (2014) 

In 2008 the size of the town of Volcano, California, has increased by 3

The first problem lies in the number of electors. California has a population of around 35 million and 55 electors. North Dakota has a population of 800.000 and three electors. Therefore in California, one elector represents 625.000 citizens but in North Dakota only 260.000. At first view it seems that the votes of the poor Californians count less than those of the people of North Dakota. 

The origin of an entire new culture, Santa Cruz, California 2010

Now big parts of the West Coast are unaffordable for Hippies, Gold Beach, Oregon, 2014

Property in Beaufort, South Carolina is basically unaffordable (2016)

Once the votes are cast in a state all the electors of that state have to vote for the candidate who got the majority in that state. Hence if the Democratic candidate has won in California, he gets the votes of 55 electors, regardless whether he has won with 50% or 80% of the votes. To make it a bit more complicated, this does not apply for all the states. In Maine and Nebraska they do things differently. There, the number of electors is proportional to the votes cast for the candidates in these states. 

Autarkic living in harmony with nature: Earthship community, El Prado New Mexico 2011

Therefore the number of votes does not agree with the number of electors required to vote for their candidate. In 1988 G.W. Bush with 53.4% of the votes had 426 of the 538 electors voting for him. In the 2016 presidential elections, Hillary Clinton with 48.16% of the votes had 232 electors voting for her while Donald Trump with 46.09% had 306. Donald Trump became president even though the majority of Americans wanted Hillary Clinton. 

Homeless veteran in Beaufort, South Carolina, 2016

“The US has a long history of preventing whole groups of age-eligible citizens from registering.” (to vote at the elections) (Jared Diamond) 

Symbol for the separation of Texas from Mexico: Film set of the Alamo, Brackettville, Texas 1998  

No need for a border wall here: the Canyon of the Rio Grande, Big Bend National Park, Texas forms the border to Mexico

After antique Athens the United States had the world’s first and oldest democracy. The founding fathers had written the constitution in a time when feudalism and monarchy were the rule. At the time there were 13 states with a population of about 2.5 million. A big part of the population like women had no voting rights. 

Early settlers cabins near Lee Vining, Mono County, Calfornia, 2010

A state full of covered bridges and Victorian buildings as memorials to the early immigrants, Rutland County, Vermont, 1994

Voting had to be conducted locally since transport and communication were slow. The citizens knew their local representative who then voted for the president. A similar system forms the basis for the world’s other old democracy, Great Britain. In comparison, democracy in most other countries is rather young. When their constitution was written they could built on previous experiences, literacy and communication were widely improved and more direct voting was possible. 

The New England Coast is full of hidden coves and little harbours, with a clipper rotting away since 100 years, Maine, 1994 

Nevertheless, the system installed more than 200 years ago was surprisingly far-sighted. Even the German constitution clearly incorporates parts of the one of the USA. 

The residence of founding father and early president Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, Virginia, 2016

While Germany has a chancellor as head of the government and a president who in principle has the power to install or dismiss the chancellor, check the government and has to sign new laws, such a separation of head of government and head of state does not exist in the United States. The president is head of government and also head of state. He therefore has much more power than a German chancellor or president. 

Conquest and settlement became only possible with the construction of an extensive railway network, Nevada Northern Railway, Ely, Nevada, 2011 

Shed of the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad in Chama, New Mexico, 2011 

The American constitution like those of most democracies is based on the principle of checks and balances which mirrors the suspicion and insecurity the authors had in view of their new laws and the people being in charge. While one house of the congress, the house of representatives, represents the proportional number of voters, the party of the president does not necessarily have the majority. A president who was only voted with low margins therefore can be checked to see that he does not overlook the needs of a strong minority of oppositional voters. The system also insures that the states have a certain influence on the selection and politics of the president by giving a higher importance to the votes of the smaller states. In case the different institutions have different majorities compromise is also indispensable in the american system.  

New Orleans, Lousiana, 1998, before Katrina swept it away

The second check is the senate. Each state sends two representatives to the senate. The 100 members are elected for 6 years. Only one third of the Senators is elected at a time by the voters of their states. Every two years there are elections for another third. When the president’s party has no majority, the senate can check what the president is doing and block decisions. The vice president is the president of the senate and has a decisive role when there are no majorities. Since a third of the senate can be voted out of office in a two year term the power of an incapable president could in theory be quickly restricted. 

The railways were replaced by gasoline boozing monsters, Cortez, Colorado, 2011

It seems to be unjust that every state sends the same number of 2 senators to the senate. However, this can be seen as another check against the overpowering weight of big, populous states against little or sparsely populated ones. 

Access road to the Navajo Indian Reservation, Monument Valley, Arizona 2011

A lonely hilltop school serves the children of faraway farms, Pasco-Kahlotus road, Washington 2014

US 6 near Warm Springs, Nevada, 2011

Germany is like the United States a federal Republic. The part of the parliament corresponding to the senate is the Bundesrat. However, the members of the Bundesrat are not directly voted. The members of the Bundesrat are sent by the states. More populous states send more representatives. The state of Bavaria with 12 million inhabitants sends 6 representatives, the city state of Hamburg with a bit more than 1 million sends 4. Like in the Senate of the United States, therefore, participation in the Bundesrat is not entirely proportional to the number of people in a state. Party affiliation is a reflection of the parties in the respective government of the state. Parties not represented in the government of the states don’t get a seat in the Bundesrat. While in the US the composition of the Senate can change with every round of elections for the senators, the composition of the german Bundesrat only changes indirectly when the government of a german state would change during the legislative period of the federal government. Task of the Bundesrat is to approve the laws the government has had approved by the parliament, the Bundestag. The Bundesrat also has the right to raise a veto against those decisions. The function of the Bundesrat therefore is comparable to the US Senate. However, this system might disadvantage smaller states like the city states or the less populous eastern former states of the GDR, which have a much smaller population than the original states of western federal republic before reunification. 

Disappeared ancient civilizations, Mesa Verde, Colorado 2011

The famous pueblo of Taos was inhabited until recently, New Mexico, 2011

The German head of state is the Bundespräsident. He is elected for a maximum of two five year periods by a special convention put together by the members of the Bundestag, the federal parliament, and the same number of electors nominated by the state parliaments. Compared to the president of the United States he is not part of the government. He has a mediating function in case of conflict and will demand compromise. He proposes or can dismiss the chancellor, dismiss the Bundestag, declare state of emergency but mostly signs all laws which passed Bundestag and Bundesrat, although he also has the right of veto. The American President fulfills the function of German Chancellor and President in one person. 

Route 66 is everywhere in the American West, US 6, Tonopah, Nevada, 2011

US 95, Hanksville, Utah, 2011

Grain elevator, Main street, US 14, Midland, South Dakota, 2014

Grain elevator, US 14, Greybull, Wyoming, 2014

In his book “Upheaval” Jared Diamond analyses how nations cope with crises and change. The German constitution of 1949 was a consequence of the failure of the constitution of the Weimar Republic, which was not able to avoid the catastrophic takeover of power of fascism. But the book also analyses why the United States, regardless of a number of geographic, scientific, political and economic advantages, face big problems in the future. 

One of the world's leading centers of science and culture, Boston, Massachusetts 1994 

“There is no way that China or Mexico can destroy the US. Only we Americans can destroy ourselves” (Jared Diamond) 

The most revered presidents are honored at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, 2014  

Jared Diamond sees the biggest danger for the United States in the absence of compromise. The German parliamentary system would be destined to failure if the parties, none of which has the chance to govern alone, would not work together. If there was a gridlock the two biggest parties formed a coalition to solve the problem. In his book Diamond shows a photo, in which you see republican president Ronald Reagan, for sure not the most compliant of the bunch, stands smiling and embracing the democratic speaker of the house Tip O’Neill. That is inconceivable in the present administration, but things were getting tougher beforehand. Short messages without expectation of reply have replaced discussions. Incitement and spreading of rumors have replaced logical reasoning and detailed information. Maybe compromise more easily gets lost in a two party system. Similar tendencies are visible in British politics. 

That is the most important, but not the only point he wants to make. 

Dog house B&B, Route 95, Idaho 2014

When elections are upcoming in Germany we get a card in our post box some weeks before and with that card we can either apply for voting by mail or go to the polling station on election day. Without the card no vote. You have to hand in your card to receive the mail voting sheets. Without it you would not be able to show up on election day for another, in person vote. In the polling stations, on election day, sometimes there are a couple of people ahead, but even then it is a matter of minutes. American friends of mine had to stand in line for 2,5 hours to finally be able to vote in Virginia. 

Dog lover, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2014 

Dog lover, Portland Union station, Oregon, 2014

Voting registration in the US is not straightforward. Parts of the population have no access to a picture ID and therefore have no right to vote. It is not surprising that these are the poor parts of the population. Criminals or ex-criminals have no right to vote. Consequently the participation at elections in the United States is continuously low. Even in this years election the turn-up of 67% was much lower than usually in any elections of a European state. Giving parts of the citizens the impression that their vote is not important or even excluding them can only lead to frustration. 

Park Ranger, Bodie state park, California, 2010

A for me fascinating and unique US topic is the role of so-called “Gerrymandering”. The name comes from Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, who already is 1812 redrew the borders of the congressional districts to increase the number of electors of his party. “Mandering“ comes from salamander and that refers to the weird shape some of these redrawn districts have. Some are not even a continuous area or not much wider than a highway. This practice gives the ruling party an inadequate advantage over the opposition. Nevertheless it was declared legal by the supreme court. Diamonds book shows some maps of such gerrymandered election districts.

Park ranger, Castillo de San Marcos Natinal Monument, San Agustin, Florida 2016

This year‘s elections have cost the candidates an amount of around 16 billion. The point is not that this amount is spent, but its consequences. Elected candidates get dependent on their sponsors. Fund raising becomes a task which consumes more time than actual governing. But in addition non-affluent but capable candidates are unable to run for elections. In fact, the division in rich rulers and on average poor and powerless citizens is a reflection of a society, where the three richest men (Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates) have a combined net worth equaling that of 130 million of the poorest Americans. In my view, that is not the fault of Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. It is the fault of american politics that 130 million people are poor.

Living like the sun king: Biltmore, the estate of the Vanderbilts, Ashville, North Carolina, 2016

The question is not who wins an election but what happens afterwards. Every winner should include the loosing party and take their views into account in his policies. A politician who publicly announces to categorically refuse to compromise and to block any decision regardless of the topic is unripe to take part in politics. If he would be a manager in a company his attitude would be regarded as counterproductive and he would be immediately fired. The voters as employers of the politicians should take such an attitude into consideration.

 

Henry Flagler was an industrialist, the founder of Standard Oil, Miami and Palm Beach. His enormous hotel tops over San Agustin, Florida, 2016

“The United States enjoys enormous advantages. But countries can squander advantages, as has Argentina. There are warning signs that the US may be squandering their advantages today”(Jared Diamond) 

The industrialization came and went, leaving behind ghosts, Butte, Montana 2014

In 1913, Argentina was the world’s 10th wealthiest state per capita. Argentina had and still has ample natural resources and a well educated population. Argentina didn’t and doesn’t have external enemies. The squandering of the wealth of the nation was entirely due to political mismanagement which eventually led that rich nation into repeated bankruptcy, hyperinflation, economic and political failure and eventually disastrous dictatorship. 

Gun shops are everywhere in rural United States, even in a hotel, in case you did not sleep well, Greybull, Wyoming, 2014

link to the previous post

https://h-s-coronastories.blogspot.com/2020/11/number-43-netherlands-between-1875-and.html

Number 43 Netherlands between 1875 and 2020

Dead cities of the Zyder Zee 

“Dead cities of the Zyder Zee” is a travel book written by Henry Harvard in 1875. He travelled around the Dutch Zuiderzee. The former rich fishing and merchant towns had lost their importance, buildings were crumbling, the inhabitants impoverished or had left for good. The towns around the Zuiderzee, now Ijsselmeer illustrate the ups and downs of history. But they also illustrate how the investments of a government can change the landscape, the living conditions of a population and the economic response. 

Dark clouds over Volendam

Some evening sunlight breaks through dark black clouds when we arrive in the Marina in Volendam to check into the sailing boat we rented for the next week. It is not even the end of summer but the weather report for the coming week has announced dropping temperatures and a change of days of rain showers and heavy winds with calm days of sunshine. Typical weather for a sailing trip around the Ijsselmeer, where you never can be sure what the next day will bring. 

The port of Enkhuizen

This next day we sail from Volendam to Enkhuizen. It is only a short trip but the weather report has announced stormy conditions in the afternoon and therefore it is better to be in a harbour before things get out of control. Enkhuizen has three harbours for yachts, and thanks to Corona the most pleasant one between the old town and the station is half empty. We had been here before and you had to climb over five other boats to get to shore. Now there are only two next to us. People are wary that they are not infected by their neighbours. But with the evening rain showers it is advisable to sit inside your boat anyway. 

The city port of Enkhuizen

Before the 1930’s the Zuiderzee was a body of water which frightened everybody. The big, bay-like part of the north sea of up to 50 km wide and more than 100 km deep divided the north-western from the north-eastern Netherlands. Its 300 km of shoreline were ringed with little port towns contributing ships to the Dutch maritime trading and fishing fleet. Most important at its southern point the port of Amsterdam with originally only had access across the shallow Zuiderzee. At first towns like Kampen or Zwolle were members of the Hanseatic League, a trade confederation of towns along the shores of the North and Baltic seas. Ships got heavier later. After the discovery of maritime trade routes to America and East India the heavily loaded ships of the VOC, the Dutch East Indian trading Company, had to be tied to lighters to lift them up to enable them to cross the shallows. 

Next to trading the towns around the inlet lived from fishing. The shallow waters of less than 5 m deep were popular spawning grounds and full of Anchovis, herring, salmon and flounders. In particular the hardy inhabitants of a couple of desolate Islands like Urk, Schokland or Marken, had no other means of making a living. 

We tow a damaged yacht in the harbour of Medemblik

Due to its shallowness and sandbanks the Zuiderzee‘s water quickly can turn into a nightmare of high crosswaves in a gale. This not only caused the loss of numerous ships and lives of sailors and fishermen. The wild sea also regularly broke away the shores and dikes, flooded towns and turned agricultural land into salty swamps. The St. Lucas flood on December 14th, 1287 caused the death of up to 80.000 people. Another flood on November 18th, 1421, St. Elizabeth’ s day, caused the lives of 10.000. In winter, big parts of the Zuiderzee froze to solid ice with a treacherous surface, making both trade and fishing a dangerous adventure. The story of the Zuiderzee is retold in the excellent open air museum in Enkhuizen, where actors play the role of the former inhabitants of forlorn and endangered places in removed and reconstructed buildings. The museum also tells the story of Klaas Bording, a fisher who survived on an ice floe for 14 days. 

Storm between Enkhuizen and Medemblik

When we leave Enkhuizen the next day early in the morning we get a sense how it has felt on this shallow sea a hundred years ago. As soon as we leave the protected waters we are a toy for wind and waves. Each time the boat splashes down into a valley between two crests we get a shower across the bow which reaches as far as the prow to soak the crew. The boat heavily bends away from the wind and with each breaker water washes over the lee gangway. Somebody has to vomit but does not make it to a spot where everything can hit the water. We will have to do a bit of clean-up later. Eventually we reach the protected harbour of Medemblik. The guy next to us has to be brought in by the rescue brigade. He has lost the screw of his engine. On the radio we hear of another boat which has capsized and sunk. 

Old houses along the port of Medemblik

But the rain has stopped and so we can go for a walk in the quiet town. Thanks to Corona most of the tourists have stayed away. We end up in the Bonifaciuskerk. Usually most of the churches in the Netherlands are closed to visitors outside service time. This one is open. Because of Corona the annual market has been reduced to a bookfair which is held in the church. Medemblik was, like Enkhuizen and Hoorn, one of the important trading port towns on the Zuiderzee. One of the original stained glass windows of the church presents the look of the town in the 16th century. It has hardly changed. 

The Bonifacius church in Medemblik and houses for the needy

One of the church officials has joined me and proudly explains the history and sights of the church. The church was built after the town had been ransacked and burnt down by a gang of thieves under their leader named “grote pier” in 1516. Only the tower remains of the old church, but since that time it has an inclination to get separated from the church. Frequent reconstruction was necessary. In 1866 the church was in such a bad state that they tore down the last 20m. The windows in this part were sold to get some money for the repairs. A part of one of the windows was recently discovered in a country house in Guernsey. 

Church window showing the houses along the port in Medemblik in the 17th century

Like in many Dutch churches the floor is covered with gravestones over which the visitors carelessly stroll. Only the rich were buried under the floor of the church. Their decomposition resulted in a certain smell. The smell in turn eventually gave the rich the nickname “rijke stinker” (rich stinker). In the Bonifaciuskerk the most renowned is the beautifully ornamented gravestone of Lord George Murray. This Scottish nobleman, fifth son of the Duke of Athole, took part in the Jacobite rebellions of 1715, 1719 and 1745 and had eventually to flee to Holland. He died in Medemblik in 1760 and was buried in the choir of the church. 

Decorations of the houses in Medemblik

After another flood in 1916 it was decided to realise already existing plans to dam the Zuiderzee. This would not only increase safety for those living close to the shores, but also increase the amount of available space for farming and housing by reclaiming land from the waters. In 1932 the dam across the entrance to the Zuiderzee was finished and the body of water changed into a sweet water lake called the Ijsselmeer. 

The first consequence was a plague of flies. Due to the conversion from salt to sweet water a whole ecosystem died. Anchovis and the special Zuiderzee herring disappeared and with them the fishing industry depending on them. For example, the town of Hindelopen, which in 1915 had more than 100 fishing boats, presently has one left. Compensation payments by the government were below poverty level. The importance of the little towns along the shores for trading had already disappeared long before. But also Amsterdam lost its access to the open sea. However, a canal to link the port to the North sea had already been built before. 

Water meter registering the tides when it was still the Zuiderzee

We arrive in Hindelopen the next day after what you could call a boring day of normal sailing. The former fishing town hides behind a high dike. A precariously tilted church tower overlooks dike and town. A lock with a wooden drawbridge gives access to the Hinterland. The town has many beautiful captains’ houses. The front is at the street, a garden separates the back of the house from the canals. Many have what is called a “Likhuis”. This is a little house where wife and children had to live while their master was at sea. 

The port and one of the streets in Hindelopen

The likhuisjes for the family of the ship owners

Most of the little towns along the shores of the new inland lake tried their luck in tourism. Not so the former island of Urk, which now was part of the new polders around the new lake. The inhabitants formed a close, conservative religious community which was not very interested in influences from outside. Obstinately the fishermen of Urk carried on with their trade and continued to leave the Ijsselmeer by way of the new locks to the North sea to go fishing on the open ocean. Fishing on the North Sea is dangerous. A memorial to the fishermen who died while doing their jobs, lists hundreds of names with age, name of father and the boats they were sailing on back to the 18th century. In some years, half of a family with fathers and teenage sons as young as 11 lost their lives in the family boat. As recent as November 2019 two fishers on the boat UK165 lost their lives. Children lost their lives drowning in accidents, as can be seen on inscriptions at the cemetery next door. 

The lighthouse of Urk and fisherhouses

In the 19th century this cemetery saw a macabre incident. In 1877 a doctor from the mainland managed to take away three skulls from the cemetery with a trick. Since the island was so remote, anthropologists of the university in Utrecht thought they might find the racial characteristics of the original Dutch there. They measured the heads of thousands of school children in Urk and of the skulls they were able to misappropriate in the cemetery. Eventually the skulls ended up in the university museum. Only in 2007 an initiative was formed to get the skulls back. Finally they found a common grave at the cemetery. 

Shipyards in the port of Urk

When we first visited Urk years ago the town still was dominated by fishing boats. On the sandy ridge of the former island the inhabitants lived in their little single story houses topped by the two churches and the lighthouse. On Sundays the place basically shut down and there was barely a restaurant open for dinner. A couple of shipyards still occupy a big part of the harbour. But like anywhere else, the remaining port-space today is occupied by yachts of all sizes. Most of the harbour-side houses are now converted to restaurants which offer dinner with a view of the life on the water. Many of the old little fishermen’s cottages on the ridge are converted to vacation homes for tourists. Urk finally follows in the path of all the other little towns along the Ijsselmeer. 

The cemetery where the skulls were finally buried 

Memorial for the dead fishermen

Beach along the port entrance of Urk

Meanwhile the weather has turned and there had been no wind on the day when we went to Urk. On the other side of the dam where we have moored our boat is a new sandy beach and it is warm enough to go for a swim. The calm weather stays for the next day. There is no wind and therefore no chance of sailing. By engine we go to the lock which separates the Ijsselmeer from the Markermeer. 

The lock separating the two parts of the Ijsselmeer

The original idea after the Zuiderzee had been dammed was to dam and dry a large part of the water surface to create farmland. Therefore a dam linking the new town of Lelystad with Enkhuizen was built. Lelystad was founded on a dried up new piece of land called Flevoland. However, the remaining water area west of the dam was never dried and stayed another open, shallow lake. 

The port of the new nature reserve of the Marker Wadden

Meanwhile priorities have shifted. Tourism and environment become more important. The latest development is the creation of a swamp area for water fowl in the Markermeer. To gain money with it there are daily excursion boats, a few vacation houses and a yacht harbour. That is where we go. 

Birds in the Marker Wadden

The place called Marker Wadden is about as remote as you can get in the Netherlands. There is no infrastructure except of a pavilion which caters to the day excursionists and closes early. There are hiking trails with bird observation huts. The birds like it here because of the big number of flies, I guess. 

The port of Hoorn in the pouring rain

The next day storm and rain has caught up with us again. We sail to the biggest of the old Ijsselmeer port towns, Hoorn, another town which barely has changed in the last centuries. Impressive merchant homes line the port. The most famous inhabitant of Hoorn was Jan Pieterzon Coen. In the beginning of the 17th century he became the governor general of the Dutch East Indies. As such he was responsible for the foundation of the Dutch colony in Indonesia and of the town of Jakarta. After having been considered as a national hero his role now is increasingly controversial. To insure the Dutch trade monopoly and high prices he massacred the inhabitants of the Banda Islands, the spice islands where nutmeg, mace and cloves were growing. The dislocation of the inhabitants of the islands had consequences well into the post-colonial dutch recent past, when refugees from the Molucca Islands committed terrorist acts in the Netherlands. But the statue of J.P.Coen still stands upright on the main square in Hoorn. The original inscription is supplemented with a plate referring to his less pleasant sides. His most famous quote of 1618 was “Despair not, spare your enemies not, for God is with us”. 

The statue of Coen in Hoorn

The place which probably changed most after the dam was built, is the former island of Marken. Wooden houses on stilts clung precariously on a muddy ridge of land in the Zuiderzee. Frequently the island was hard hit by storm and flooding. 16 people died in the storm of 1916, when some houses were swept away completely and tried their suitability as boats. Today the island is connected to the main land by a dam. The former fishermen have completely changed to tourism. The visitors arrive in loads from Amsterdam by bus or Volendam by boat. But in the times of Corona also that has changed. You actually get a table to have a coffee and cake along the water of the little harbour. 

The former Island of Marken

The description of “the dead cities of the Zuyderzee” inspired intrepid travellers as early as 1886. In that year Christopher G. Davies, an affluent Englishman, was looking for a relaxed vacation. Although he had a boat of his own, he rented the SS Atalanta including crew to cross the channel and have a look at the dead cities and the rest of the Netherlands with a couple of friends. This resulted in another travel book, “the cruise of the S.S.Atalanta on the rivers & canals of Holland & the north of Belgium”. The author also took pictures with his McKellen half-format plate camera. In the book he complains that the best shots were taken on the worst plates. However, the book still contains a fascinating collection of frames illustrating how not only the towns, but also the people around the Ijsselmeer looked like before it was turned into the Zuiderzee.

The link to the previous post

https://h-s-coronastories.blogspot.com/2020/10/number-42-ecuador-1996.html