Netherlands seen by the satellite Envisat

On this satellite picture of Netherlands, Envisat shows us Amsterdam, the channel) of the North Sea, the lake of Ijssel, the lake of Marken, the port of Rotterdam, the province of Zeeland, The Hague, Noordwijk, Utrecht...
The channel of the North Sea is the big waterway which cuts Netherlands in two, from east to west. He(it) is visible little above the environment of the image.
On this image cities appear in white. Amsterdam is situated on the south bank of the Channel of the North Sea, between waters of the North Sea to the left and the big lake of Ijssel. Ancient Zuiderzee was closed in 1932, giving birth to the lake of Ijssel. It was a part of big works of polderisation of the 20th century with a set of dams which have to protect the South of the country, the floods. Named Markermeer, the lake of Merken, this water tank of 700 km2 and shallow, between 3 and 4 meters, is separated from the North Sea by a dike, visible in the upper of the image.
Its name results from the name of the ancient island of Marken, at present connected in the northern Holland by a dike. In this province of the North of Netherlands we discover the province of Flevoland, at the top to the right and in pink on the image, which is a flat zone of grounds gained on the sea and used henceforth for the agriculture. Below to the left it is the province of Zeeland with the port of Rotterdam known to be the biggest industrial port of Europe that extends over more than 40 km and 10000 hectares. Rotterdam is inside lands by going back up along the port. It is the second town of the country with more than a million inhabitants, after Amsterdam.

The city center is situated on the north bank of the New Meuse, which divides the city into two.
The port of Rotterdam benefits from the back-country ( hinterland ) the richest in the world, with which it is mainly connected by the big rivers of Europe of the Northwest, the Rhine, the Meuse and the Schelde. These rivers allow to navigate in Netherlands, Belgium, the West of Germany, the Northeast of France, and until Switzerland. The Hague, the third city of the country, is visible along the coast in the northeast of the port of Rotterdam. The Hague is the siege of the government of Netherlands. It is situated in the province of Zuid-Holland. In the North of The Hague, always on the coast, we see the city of Noordwijk, where is established the ESTEC, the European Center of spatial research and technology of the ESA. The launch on 17/05/1968 of the first European satellite of scientific researches, Esro-2, conceived and made in partnership with several countries, had its technical center to Noordwijk. Situated in the middle of Netherlands, the fourth most big city of Netherlands, Utrecht, with her 295 000 inhabitants, in 1rd in February, 2008, is visible in white, down and to the right of the center of the image.