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Schokland and Surroundings

Schokland was a peninsula that by the 15th century had become an island. Occupied and then abandoned as the sea encroached, it had to be evacuated in 1859. But following the draining of the Zuider Zee, it has, since the 1940s, formed part of the land reclaimed from the sea. Schokland has vestiges of human habitation going back to prehistoric times. It symbolizes the heroic, age-old struggle of the people of the Netherlands against the encroachment of the waters.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/739

Schokland and Surroundings have symbolic value for the unrivalled struggle the people of the Netherlands have waged against water. Its history starts in prehistoric times, as part of the mainland. From around 1000 AD fishermen and farmers started to occupy this area to make a living. 

In the following centuries the water rose and rose, until Schokland finally ended up as an island. This was at the end of the Middle Ages. Fishing and shipping became the main source of income for the Schoklanders. 

Living on the island wasn't to last forever: in 1859 the inhabitants were ordered to leave. Life had become too dangerous due to the ever rising sealevel. 

In 1941 the surrounding area (called Noordoostpolder) was drained to create more agricultural land to feed the Dutch (and German) people. Schokland became part of the mainland again. 

http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/schokland.html