biography
pronunciation:
[laylee]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1854–1929)
|
| biography:
| Dutch engineer and politician, born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He studied at Delft, and became head of technical research of the Zuiderzee Association. As minister of waterways, trade, and industry (1891–4, 1897–1901, 1913–18) he promoted the introduction of local rail and tramways. He became liberal member of parliament (1894–7, 1905–10, 1919–23) and governor of Suriname (1902–5). In 1885–91 he led the team designing a plan for draining the Zuiderzee, for which an act was passed in 1918 and implemented with the building of the Afsluitdijk. Lelystad, built after the war on land reclaimed from the Zuiderzee, was named after him. He was also responsible for the state mines in Limburg and the Rijksverzekeringsbank (National Insurance Institute). |
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