At the heart of the Noordoostpolder, where the three main drainage canals intersect, is the city of Emmeloord (1943). Emmeloord is in a polder: land reclaimed from the IJsselmeer, which earlier was part of the sea.

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with parts in the Caribbean. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom.