The April Fool Archive

Evaporating the Zuiderzee    (April Fool's Day - 1916)

The Dutch magazine Het Leven ran an article about a new plan to reclaim large areas of land from the Zuiderzee by means of evaporation.

The spoof article was a response to a devastating flood that had recently occurred in the Zuiderzee, which had generated new interest in plans to control and reclaim the salt water inlet. Eventually these plans resulted in the construction of the Afsluitdijk dam, completed in 1932.

A supposed evaporation installation on the island of Schokland. In reality, the picture was taken elsewhere.



Dr. B. Lenne Midelo, who supposedly devised the ambitious evaporation project


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