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Zuiderzee as a traffic circle
Zuiderzee as a traffic circle
The Zuiderzee area was part of a European network of trade routes. Cities such as Kampen, Harderwijk, Stavoren and Deventer were members of an international association of trading cities, the Hanseatic League. Freighters sail with their cog ships via the Zuiderzee to the north of Germany, the Baltic area and Scandinavia. Grain, wood, animal skins and beeswax were stocked here. The Hanseatic cities also traded with Bruges and London, among others. In the fifteenth century, Amsterdam, Hoorn and Enkhuizen also emerged as trading cities.
When we think of the Golden Age (1600-1700), people often think of the 'United East India Company' (VOC). It is often forgotten that the Zuiderzee was a very important traffic intersection in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Without shipping on the Zuiderzee and the further network of shipping routes, the prosperity of the Golden Age would probably not have come about. It is not without reason that the dike along the Oostvaardersplassen is called the Oostvaardersdijk.
The transport of goods and people by ship from the east wall to the west wall of the Zuiderzee and vice versa was considerably cheaper than transport over land. This involved the transport of peat, meat, grain, butter and cheese. Many thousands of Hanneke mowers from Germany also crossed the Zuiderzee every year. The crossing was not without danger because of the many shoals and channels. If a ship veered off course, a life-threatening situation quickly developed. The hundreds of wrecks found in Flevoland demonstrate this.