The Lausitzer Seenland (German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 for "Lusatia

Lusatia

Lusatia is a historical region in Central Europe. It stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the east to the Elbe valley in the west, today located within the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg as well as in the Lower Silesian and Lubusz voivodeships of western Poland...

n lakeland") is a chain of artificial lakes in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, situated across the north-eastern part of Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

 and the southern part of Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

. Through flooding as a part of an extensive regeneration programme, several decommissioned lignite

Lignite

Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...

 opencast mines

Surface mining

Surface mining , is a type of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit are removed...

 are in process to be transformed to Europe's largest artificial lake district by 2018.

Since the end of the 19th century, the area has been an industrial region, producing lignite and electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

. With the reunification of Germany

German reunification

German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...

 in 1990, it was decided to end this long tradition because of the dwindling quantity of lignite and the heavy pollution

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...

 of the surrounding environment. Although the mining continues and some big power stations continue to produce electricity with it, all industrial activities should cease by 2020.

Since the 1970s, some of the old pits left by the mining process have been transformed into a new landscape formerly unknown in this region. What was once a flat land overgrown with heather

Calluna

Calluna vulgaris is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade...

 and a few trees is now lake district comparable with the Mecklenburg Lake Plateau in Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...

 or Masurian Lakeland

Masurian Lakeland

The Masurian Lake District or Masurian Lakeland is a lake district in northeastern Poland within the geographical region of Masuria. It contains more than 2,000 lakes...

 in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. Everything started with the "creation" of the Knappensee, and that of the Senftenberger See, still one of the biggest lakes in the region.

Further lakes have been created, with plans for over twenty large lakes being laid.
Lakes that have already been created include:

• in the north: Gräbendörfer See, Altdöberner See, Bergheiner See
• in the centre: Senftenberger See, Ilsesee, Sedlitzer See, Partwitzer See, Geierswalder See, Neuwieser See, Blunoer Südsee, Sabrodter See, Bergener See, Spreetaler See
• in the south: Bernsteinsee, Scheibesee, Dreiweibner See, Speicherbecken Lohse II, Silbersee/Mortkasee, Knappensee, Graureihersee

These are not the only artificial lakes that have been and will be created in the east of Germany. Around the city of Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, a new lake district is starting to develop, and there are other examples, such as the Bärwalder See

Bärwalder See

Bärwalder See is a lake in Landkreis Görlitz, Saxony, Germany. At an elevation of 125 m, its surface area is 12.99 km²....

 and Berzdorfer See

Berzdorfer See

The Berzdorfer See or Lake Berzdorf is situated near the southern border of Görlitz in Saxony, Germany. The artificial lake was created out of a former lignite mine — the process of flooding it is ongoing, and it is expected to be finished in 26. 06. 2010. The planned surface of the lake is...

 near the city of Görlitz

Görlitz

Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...

 in Upper Lusatia

Upper Lusatia

Upper Lusatia is a region a biggest part of which belongs to Saxony, a small eastern part belongs to Poland, the northern part to Brandenburg. In Saxony, Upper Lusatia comprises roughly the districts of Bautzen and Görlitz , in Brandenburg the southern part of district Oberspreewald-Lausitz...

.

The whole area around the Lausitzer Seenland is expected by some to become one of the most attractive tourist regions in Germany.