Located roughly 15km east of Rotterdam, Kinderdijk stands on a waterlogged stretch of land surrounded by two rivers. Due to its proximity to these bodies of water and its low-lying topography, this region has always been threatened by floods. To keep the water at bay, local residents built a series of earthworks in the 13th century that channelled water away from their homes and farms. Though these dykes, sluices and canals protected the region for generations, by the 18th century, the whole system needed updating.To improve the region’s water-management facilities, a series of windmills were constructed near Kinderdijk around 1740. Like many other windmills in the Netherlands, these mammoth machines were specifically designed to drain wetlands and were fitted with mechanical wheels or hydraulic screws that could move water quickly and efficiently. By harnessing the wind, the mills transferred water from lower parts of Kinderdijk into a higher basin that flowed into a nearby river, creating an expansive irrigation system.