Cornelis Lely (1854-1929) was a Dutch civil engineer and politician, born in Amsterdam, whose best known design was the Afsluitdijk, the largest dam and causeway of its time when built. As the Dutch Minister of Water Management he oversaw the Zuiderzee Works, a project that turned the Zuiderzee, formerly a sea inlet, into the freshwater IJsselmeer and reclaimed large areas of former seabed as new land, reshaping the geography of the Netherlands. The city of Lelystad, capital of the province of Flevoland, is named in his honor, as is Lelydorp in Suriname, which commemorates his work building the Lawa Railway while serving as governor of Suriname from 1902 to 1905. He died in The Hague in 1929. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
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- Wikipedia 'Cornelis Lely': infobox birth_date, checked 2026-09-27
In Field: Civil Engineering, Lead section
Cornelis Lely (Dutch pronunciation: [kɔrˈneːlɪs ˈleːli]; 23 September 1854-22 January 1929) was a Dutch politician of the Liberal Union and civil engineer who was Minister of Water Management and Governor of Suriname.
In Group: Water Supply, Canal and Harbour Engineers, Introduction
The designer of Afsluitdijk, the largest dam and causeway at its time of construction, in 1932, he oversaw the Zuiderzee Works as Minister, turning the Zuiderzee into a lake and making possible the conversion of a vast area of former seabed into dry land.
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