Kinderdijk Windmills, canal reflections, Kinderdijk, Netherlands

The windmills of Kinderdijk started spinning in 1738 to help make this whole patch of Dutch farmland possible. Each of the 19 windmills is equipped with a huge Archimedes' screw able to channel vast volumes of water upwards, making dry (well, maybe a little soggy) land out of what was once a six-foot-deep salt swamp. Water is pumped over a massive ring of dikes into tidal rivers that carry discharge to the sea, keeping this large, below-sea-level basin—known as a polder—from flooding. The work is done by modern pumping equipment nowadays, but Kinderdijk's giants could yet awaken: The great windmills are kept fully functional as backups.