A small part of Zeeland is taken up by the coastal zone: the area of the dunes and their immediate surroundings. The coastal zone consists of the beach, the coastal strip, the (Young) dunes and the inner dune edge ('mantle' or 'zoom'). On Schouwen-Duiveland this is a wide area, on Walcheren and in Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen only a narrow strip. After the last Ice Age (Weichselian, 73,000 – 10,000 years ago), the sea level started to rise under the influence of a warmer and more humid climate. At a certain point, a series of parallel beach barriers arose along the Dutch coast and continued to expand. Low dunes, the Oude Duinen, were created on this by sand drifts. In Roman times, the expansion of the West Netherlands coast turned into a decline (which continues to this day, albeit delayed by coastal defences). The beach walls were inhabited early on. Archaeological finds from the Neolithic period (4,300 to 2,000 BC) have been made on Schouwen-Duiveland. Inhabitation also took place in the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, as well as in Roman times. At the end of it, the coastal strip in particular became densely populated. In the 3rd century the population declined sharply, but renewed growth followed in the Early Middle Ages. At the beginning of the Late Middle Ages (1000-1200), the Young Dunes were formed over the Oude Duinen and to the west of it. These are probably partly due to human influence. Several factors were at play. Climate change, overgrazing and deforestation led to the release of sand, which then drifted and began to form new dunes. In the transition area from the dunes to the polder in Schouwen-Duiveland and Walcheren, voroon soils occur: sloping dune grasslands, where the sand has drifted over the underlying clay area. Often these areas were used as communal pastures. Another typical form of reclamation of the dunes was the construction of alders, as was done in the inner dune edge of Schouwen. In the wet areas, plots of 2 to 3 hectares were provided with ditches and planted with alders. The coppice was used as firewood. The alder meet was often surrounded by a wooded bank or ditch. From the 19th century, the dune area became an increasingly interesting residential and recreational area. In addition to the existing country estates, villa villages and large seaside resorts developed, fully focused on tourism, such as Renesse and Cadzand-Bad. Also an originally 19th century development is the establishment of dune water supply companies.
