Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the constitutional capital and the largest city of the Netherlands (inhabitants in 2006 ca. 750000). The Amsterdam region has about 2 million inhabitants. This is the region between Alkmaar, Zaanstad and Purmerend to the north, Almere and Diemen to the East, Abcoude, Amstelveen, Hoofddorp to the south, and Haarlem and IJmuiden to the west. Amsterdam is situated mainly on the south bank of the IJ—the IJ being the mouth of the short river Amstel (after which Amsterdam is named) on the IJsselmeer (the former Zuiderzee). Amsterdam is connected with the North Sea by the North Sea Canal (opened in 1876), which accomodates ocean-going vessels. The Amsterdam-Rhine canal connects Amsterdam with the Rhine river and thus with Nordrhein-Westfalen the largest (in population) and one of the most heavily industrialized Bundesländer of Germany. Schiphol Airport (also known as Amsterdam Airport), a few miles south of Amsterdam in the municipality Haarlemmermeer, is the largest Dutch airport and ranks number 12 in the world with respect to number of passengers.

Because of its soft, wet, and peaty soil the city is built on wooden piles and is cut by about 40 concentric and radial canals (in Dutch called grachten) flanked by streets and crossed by some 400 bridges. Because of this Amsterdam is sometimes referred to as Venice of the North. Many of the large picturesque houses along the canals are former patrician dwellings and are now in use as office buildings. The canals with their bridges give Amsterdam an unmistakable character nowhere else to be seen in the world.

History

In the 13^th century a Dam was built in the river Amstel, after which fishermen and tradesmen settled around it. The oldest written referral to the city is in a document of 1275, in which Floris V, count of Holland, gives the burgher of Amsterdam freedom of toll. It is likely—but not without doubt—that Amstelledam, as the city was then called, was chartered in 1306 by the Bishop of Utrecht. Soon after (1369) Amsterdam joined the Hanseatic League and became of the most important trade centers of Holland. In 1568 the Netherlands rose against the king of Spain, Philip II, who inherited the country from his father, the Habsburg emperor Charles V. Amsterdam did only join the revolutionaries ten years later in 1578. After the Flemish city Antwerpen, that had joined the rebellion, was reconquered by the Spanish, many Flemish tradesmen fled to Amsterdam. They were soon joined by many well-to-do Portuguese Jews (often from Spanish descent), who were expelled from their country. This influx of foreigners caused an economic boom and Amsterdam developed to one of the most important cities of Europe in the middle of the seventeenth century. These were the days that the large patrician houses along the canals were built. In the eighteenth century the flowering of the city stagnated and the number of inhabitants shrunk steadily.

In the 19^th century the economy was revived by the opening of the North Sea Canal, connecting the city with the North Sea, and Amsterdam started extending outside its 17^th century boundaries.