Alblasserwaard

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The Alblasserwaard is a country district in Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.

To the north, the Alblasserwaard is bordered by the river Lek, in the south by the river Merwede, and in the west by the river Noord, and in the east by the old Zederik (dug in 1370 between Ameide and Meerkerk), the Merwedekanaal (a re-digging of the Zederikkanaal, which was a re-digging of the river Zederik), and the Linge which is the border with the Vijfheerenlanden. Just after completion of the old Zederik the area was entirely surrounded by watercourses and became as a result, a waard. Shortly afterwards the name "Alblasserwaard" came into fashion, derived from the Alblas effluent river. Previously, the largest part of the area was indicated as "the country between Lek and Merwede". It has 170,000 inhabitants and the area is about 250 square kilometres. One can divide the Alblasserwaard roughly in a rural and an urbanised part. The western and southern part along the rivers is urbanised and includes the municipalities Gorinchem, Hardinxveld-Giessendam, Sliedrecht, Papendrecht, and Alblasserdam. The centre, northern and eastern part of the Alblasserwaard is mainly rural and includes the municipalities Nieuw-Lekkerland, Graafstroom, Liesveld, Giessenlanden, en Zederik.

The history of the Alblasserwaard started about 10,000 years ago after the last Ice Age. The wind sculpted sand dunes from the glacial deposits (see Eolian deposition) which are now still visible in the landscape, and called donken. These high grounds were settled by hunter-gatherers. In the centre of the Alblasserwaard still several donken are visible. After prehistoric times, the Roman period was the next era during which in the Alblasserwaard a relatively large scale habitation was present. After a depopulation around the year 250, the Alblasserwaard became permanently inhabited from the year 1000 onward. The reclamation of the Alblasserwaard was probably completed in the 13th century.