The New Dutch Waterline

The (Hi)story of the Landscape

More Info
expand_more

Abstract

This thesis is written after reviewing the UNESCO nomination report for the New Dutch Waterline (NDW). in the report and other literature regarding the NDW there is a very dominant blind spot regarding the vegetation and its historical value. This thesis tries to albeit in a modest way address this gap in the literature by setting the first steps of doing an analysis trying to answer the question: what is the historical value of the vegetation around fort Rhijnauwen. To arrive at a complete understanding of the landscape, the vegetation and being able to interpret these, the research will introduce the term genius loci as described by Schulz. After this the thesis will start on the general aspects of the NDW, zooming in per chapter on the topic of vegetation and the specific case study fort Rhijnauwen. The conclusion is that many of the described stages of history are upon closer inspection indeed readable in the landscape of the case study, giving it historic significance, the depth of the analysis however is limited and further or more detailed research could lead to an even better understanding of the landscape.