Travel Guide Route Des Moulins

The Dutch landscape has been characterised by the presence of mills for centuries. From the th century, the modernised mill, adjustable according to the wind, appeared. This type of mill enjoyed a huge popularity and was used in two distinct goals. Some used to dry the polders water and others had a so-called industrial use. The mills in the Zaan area are part of the latter category. Instead of cutting wheat, the mills had very varied uses: barley milling to convert it into flakes, sawing of trunks of trees to make them beams or slats, extraction of oil, grinding of spices and mustard production.At the great time of the mills, as a kind of industrial revolution before its hour, the Netherlands had more than 9 000 windmills and now there are about 1 000.