Windmills at Kinderdijk Quiz: Dutch Mills and Water Control

This windmills at Kinderdijk quiz explores the Netherlands' most famous group of mills, with questions on the 19 windmills, how they drained the polders, the legend of the St. Elizabeth's flood, the meeting of the Lek and Noord rivers and the country's long fight against water. Ten questions.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 90 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 90s

Location
In which country are the windmills of Kinderdijk?
Basics
How many historic windmills stand at Kinderdijk?
Purpose
What was the main job of the Kinderdijk windmills?
History
In which decade were most of the Kinderdijk windmills built?
UNESCO
In which year did Kinderdijk become a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Names
What does the name Kinderdijk mean?
Legend
Which flood is linked to the Kinderdijk cradle legend?
Today
What does most of the work of draining the polders at Kinderdijk today?
Rivers
Kinderdijk lies where which two rivers meet?
Netherlands
About how much of the Netherlands lies below sea level?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: In which country are the windmills of Kinderdijk?
Answer: Netherlands
Kinderdijk is in the province of South Holland, about 15 kilometers east of Rotterdam. It is one of the most visited sights in the Netherlands.
Q2: How many historic windmills stand at Kinderdijk?
Answer: 19
Kinderdijk has 19 windmills, the largest group of old windmills in the Netherlands. Most were built in the 1730s and 1740s.
Q3: What was the main job of the Kinderdijk windmills?
Answer: Pump water from polders
The mills pumped water out of low-lying land called polders and into higher reservoirs and rivers. Without them, the land would flood.
Q4: In which decade were most of the Kinderdijk windmills built?
Answer: 1740s
Most of the mills date from 1738 to 1740. They replaced older, smaller mills that could no longer keep the land dry.
Q5: In which year did Kinderdijk become a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Answer: 1997
UNESCO listed the Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout in 1997 as an outstanding example of Dutch water management.
Q6: What does the name Kinderdijk mean?
Answer: Children's dike
Kinderdijk means children's dike. Legend says that after a great flood, a baby in a wooden cradle floated to safety here, balanced by a cat.
Q7: Which flood is linked to the Kinderdijk cradle legend?
Answer: St. Elizabeth's flood
The St. Elizabeth's flood of November 1421 drowned large areas of the Netherlands. The cradle story was later retold as the fairy tale The Cat and the Cradle.
Q8: What does most of the work of draining the polders at Kinderdijk today?
Answer: Pumping stations
Modern electric and diesel pumping stations now keep the area dry, but some mills still turn and millers' families continue to live inside them.
Q9: Kinderdijk lies where which two rivers meet?
Answer: Lek and Noord
The Lek and Noord rivers meet near Kinderdijk. The surrounding Alblasserwaard polder lies below the level of the rivers.
Q10: About how much of the Netherlands lies below sea level?
Answer: About 26%
Around a quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level, and much more would flood without dikes, dunes and pumps. Schiphol Airport sits about 3 meters below sea level.

Windmills at Kinderdijk Quiz – How the Dutch Kept Their Feet Dry

The 19 windmills of Kinderdijk are one of the most recognizable sights in the Netherlands. Standing in long rows along canals and reed beds, they show how the Dutch have fought to keep their land dry for centuries. Today they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a favorite stop for visitors from Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

Much of the Netherlands is low and flat, and large parts lie below sea level. To farm and live on this land, people built dikes and drained marshes to create polders. But rain and seeping river water kept filling them again. Windmills solved the problem by using wind power to lift water from the polders into higher channels and rivers.

At Kinderdijk, the mills worked as a system. Two rows of mills pumped water into storage basins, and from there it was released into the river at low tide. Millers lived in the mills with their families and turned the sails to catch the changing wind, day and night when needed.

Steam and later electric pumping stations eventually took over, but many of the mills still work and several are lived in. Visitors can walk or cycle along the canals, take a boat tour and step inside a working mill to see how the machinery turns.

This quiz explores the windmills and the Dutch story of water.

What This Quiz Teaches

This quiz suits travelers to the Netherlands, engineering fans and anyone curious about Dutch history.

Where Kinderdijk is and how many mills it has
What the windmills were built to do
When they were built and when UNESCO listed them
The legend behind the name Kinderdijk
How modern pumping stations took over
How much of the Netherlands lies below sea level

Quick Facts About Dutch Windmills

The Netherlands once had about 10,000 windmills; around 1,000 survive today.
National Mill Day is held each year on the second weekend of May.
The positions of a windmill's sails could send messages, such as celebrations or mourning.
Windmills were also used to saw wood, make paper and press oil.
Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam is another famous windmill village.
The Delta Works, built after the 1953 flood, protect the southwest from the sea.