OA

Nieuw Nederland in het oude

New Netherlands in the old. National and local identity in the popular festivities of the Haarlemmermeerpolder (1852-1905)

Nationalism is traditionally seen as supplanting a local or regional orientation in the nineteenth century. Recent scholarship, however, has focused on the interweaving of these two identities. In this article, the case of the Haarlemmermeerpolder, a tract of land reclaimed in 1852 without history or tradition, is discussed. The polder was characterised as a national achievement, an exotic wilderness and a gathering place for agriculture from all corners of the Netherlands. In several popular festivities, the inhabitants found causalities and parallels with national history, but gradually developed a local story of agricultural and infrastructural development.