Zuiderzee Trade

The shipping of the Zuiderzee, the shallow inlet of the North Sea reaching into the Netherlands, on which Dutch herring fishing and coastal trade depended from the late medieval period. Ports such as Hoorn, Enkhuizen, Amsterdam, and Kampen prospered on Baltic grain, herring, and timber traffic; the small Zuiderzee towns declined as Amsterdam and ocean trade grew. The Afsluitdijk barrier dam, completed in 1932, closed off the inlet and turned it into the freshwater IJsselmeer, ending its sea trade.