Discovering more than 10.000 years of history.

During the last ice age, the sea level was much lower. There was no North Sea to separate Holland from England. Mammoths, sabretooths, and Neanderthals roamed this cold tundra, and all of them left their marks.
The southern edge of the mighty Scandinavian glaciers was right here, in our region just east of Amsterdam. Pushing and melting, they deposited moraine, boulders and gravel. Forming the range of low hills that, on a cycling trip, will tell you that not all of Holland is as flat as you probably thought.

Later in time, modern people as well came this way. But always on the move, hunting, fishing and gathering.
It's only when climate got milder, less than 10.000 years ago, that permanent occupation, and eventually agriculture became possible. The many burial mounts you'll see on the heather plains and in the woods date from the bronze age (2000-800 BC).

Already in those days men started changing the land. Chopping down the dense woods, gradually forming the wide open heather plains we know today.
And also the sea level kept on rising. Never stopped doing so ...
The rising sea flooded the lower lands, turning it over time into a peat wilderness. Permanent human occupation was hardly possible here, except on the few (slightly) higher grounds, dunes along the coast and some spots along the rivers. This empty wilderness covered most of what are today the provinces of Holland, the central western part of the Netherlands.
But those substantially higher parts around here that had been formed by the Ice Ages would remain more densely populated over the millennia. With only a dramatic dip later, after the fall of the Roman Empire.

But the Romans brought a couple hundred years of stability. After they had been defeated by the Germans in the Varus-battle (9 AD), the border of the Roman Empire was established just south of this region. That fortified border along the Rhine was by no means an iron curtain ; there was a lot of commerce and (generally) peaceful contact.
And in all periods, our river Vecht was an important north-south route for trade and military purposes (Romans, Vikings).

On a full day bike trip it is possible to see clear clues and remains of this millennia long history.
We can also visit the small, but interesting local geological museum (site in Dutch). It is located right in the middle of heather plains and prehistoric burial places.

History continues on page > Sinking land - dikes and windmills.
This global overview of Dutch history started here.