Zeeland 1919 in Colour: Part-1 Rural Roots

Journey to Zeeland, a southwestern Dutch province of islands, with this rare color footage from 1919 in Part-1 of a captivating series. This film unveils the simple, rugged rural life of a century ago, where nearly all locals wore traditional dress—women’s caps adorned with two golden reflectors, playfully dubbed “satellite solar panels” by some. Amid an agricultural heartland, women pick gooseberries and other fruits, while horses with couped tails, tied with ribbons, strut at local shows. Zeeland’s endless battle with the sea—floods breaching dikes and dunes until the 1960s Delta Plan’s dams and locks—frames this tale of resilience. A vivid gem for history buffs, Dutch culture fans, and nature lovers, it captures a lost era before modern fish-passage tweaks, glowing with rural charm.