Holland Coast

Holland's North Sea coast is a low shore of beaches and dunes, backed by lands crossed by rivers and waterways. The dunes form a natural barrier against the sea, while river mouths open routes toward the towns of the Rhine and Maas delta. Behind the shore, drainage and embankment allowed people to cultivate low-lying ground, though subsiding soil and storm floods made protection a continuing task. The waterways linking the coast with Dordrecht, Rotterdam and other towns carried the commerce on which their prosperity depended.