The Netherlands are famous for their windmills. In fact, the county pr0bably would not have come into existence without the use of windmills for pumping away the surplus water from the surface of the polders below sea level. The water pumping windmills were replaced by steam powered and eventually electric pumps which have a much higher capacity. Other uses for windmills were of course milling of grain or pigments, sawing of timber and extraction of oil.
This is the last traditional water pumping windmill left on the island of Texel