Geography

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The Frisian national anthem was written by Dr. Eeltsje Halbertsma in 1876. It extols Friesland as a land “full of honor and room.” While we should make allowances for patriotic fervor, this line is not entirely true. Frisia is certainly full of honor. It is not, however, full of room. In fact, the combined land area of Frisia is roughly the size of Connecticut. And most of this land really shouldn’t be there. It would have been gobbled by the North Sea centuries ago if it weren’t for the elaborate system of dykes along the coast. Maybe that’s why Halbertsma was so enamored by the vastness of it. If I went to the trouble of building a huge sea wall to reclaim a patch of mudflats from the ocean, I’d brag about its size too.