Long before the beginning of our era, people lived in the Wadden area. Until the 8th century AD, this occupation mainly took place on mounds and mounds. Construction of dikes started around the year 1000. But before that too, attempts had been made to conquer the sea. At Peins in Friesland (in the municipality of Franeker), a 40-meter-long stretch of dike has been discovered that probably dates from the 1st or 2nd century BC. In the late Middle Ages, the dikes took on more and more shape and flooding decreased. From the 17th century onwards, the dikes were increasingly pushed back by reclaimed land. The peak of this took place in the 19th and 20th centuries. The row of dunes south of the Wadden Sea was also subject to this process, but human intervention prevented the many storm surges from permanently changing the coast of the provinces of North and South Holland into separate islands with a Wadden plain behind them. Storm surges around 1200 did cause the northern coast of West Friesland to split into five islands. By 1600, the four along the west coast had already been reclaimed, but Wieringen, southeast of Texel, remained an island until the 20th century. Wieringen is therefore considered by some to be part of the Wadden Islands, but it actually has a different history: it is a lateral moraine from the Riss Ice Age. The four along the west coast had already been reclaimed around 1600, but Wieringen, southeast of Texel, remained an island until the 20th century. Wieringen is therefore considered by some to be part of the Wadden Islands, but it actually has a different history: it is a lateral moraine from the Riss Ice Age. The four along the west coast had already been reclaimed around 1600, but Wieringen, southeast of Texel, remained an island until the 20th century. Wieringen is therefore considered by some to be part of the Wadden Islands, but it actually has a different history: it is a lateral moraine from the Riss Ice Age.