AMSTERDAM

city and port, western Netherlands, located at the head of Lake IJssel, a former inlet of the North Sea. Amsterdam occupies some 90 islands connected by about 1,000 bridges and is the nominal capital of The Netherlands, but not its seat of government (which is The Hague). Amsterdam is situated on the IJ, an inland arm of the former Zuiderzee, now Lake IJssel, and is connected by canal with the North Sea. It is divided by the canalized Amstel River into two main sections. To protect themselves from floods, the early inhabitants built dikes on both sides of the Amstel and in 1270 built a dam between these dikes, the Amstel-dam. By the mid-17th century Amsterdam had become the financial centre of the world, and it remains the main wholesale and industrial centre of The Netherlands. The medieval portion of Amsterdam, enclosed by the semicircular Singel (Canal, or Moat), lies on both sides of the Amstel at the city's centre. There are many reminders of the city's glorious pastthe gabled houses, the almshouses, the richly decorated cornices, the towers and churches, and the music of carillons and barrel organs. Among the ancient buildings still preserved are the 13th-century Old Church and the 15th-century New Church. Other notable buildings include the Royal Palace, in classical Palladian style; the Mint Tower; and the West Church (1631), where Rembrandt van Rijn is buried. The former Jewish quarter, in the east of the old town, is the site of the Portuguese Synagogue (1670) and Rembrandt's house, now a museum. The old town's three main squares are the Dam, the Leidseplein, and the Rembrandtsplein. Notable buildings constructed in the late 19th century include the Rijksmuseum (State Museum; 187685), known for its collection of 17th-century art; the Concertgebouw (Concert Hall); and the Olympic Stadium (1928). Since 1935 city development plans have been undertaken to improve housing, recreation areas, traffic, schools, other public buildings, and public transportation. New cities constructed on the polders (land reclaimed from the sea) of the former Zuiderzee, east of the city, are designed to absorb some of Amsterdam's growth. Although the area of the city of Amsterdam has tripled since 1945, the population has not significantly increased. Amsterdam has been an important economic centre since the 17th century, when the Amsterdam Exchange Bank was founded to correct the chaotic monetary situation of the time. It soon developed into the largest clearinghouse in Europe and made the city an international financial centre. The Dutch East India Company was also founded there during the 17th century and laid the basis for modern dealings in stocks; the Amsterdam Stock Exchange is considered to be the oldest in the world. Amsterdam has played an important role in wholesale trade since the 14th century. By the late 1960s the harbour mouth at IJmuiden (about 15 miles northwest of the city) had been modernized. There is a major international airport at Schiphol, about 5 miles (8 km) from the city. Area city, 65 square miles (167 square km); metropolitan area, 246 square miles (636 square km). Pop. (1986 est.) city, 679,140; metropolitan area, 1,006,906. city and port, western Netherlands, located on the IJsselmeer and connected to the North Sea. It is the capital and the principal commercial and industrial centre of The Netherlands. To the scores of tourists who visit each year, Amsterdam is known for its historical attractions, for its collections of great art, and for the distinctive colour and flavour of its old sections, which have been so well preserved. The visitor to the city, which celebrated its 700th anniversary in 1975, also sees an overcrowded metropolis beset by the familiar urban afflictions of environmental pollution, traffic congestion, and housing shortages. It is easy to describe Amsterdam as a living museum of a bygone age and to praise the eternal beauty of the centuries-old canals, the ancient patrician houses, and the atmosphere of freedom and tolerance, but the modern city has yet to work out its own solutions to the pressing urban problems that confront it. Amsterdam is the nominal capital of The Netherlands but not the seat of government, which is at The Hague. The royal family, for example, is only occasionally in residence at the Royal Palace on the Dam square in Amsterdam. The city lacks the monumental architecture found in other capitals. There are no wide squares suitable for big parades, nor are there triumphal arches or imposing statues. Amsterdam's intimate character is best reflected in the narrow, bustling streets of the old town, where much of the population still goes about its business. There are reminders of the glorious pastthe gabled houses, the noble brick facades clad with sandstone, the richly decorated cornices, the towers and churches, and the music of carillons and barrel organsbut the realities of life in the modern city often belie this romantic image. The inner city is divided by its network of canals into some 90 islands, and the municipality contains approximately 1,300 bridges and viaducts. Amsterdam is the main wholesale, retail, and industrial centre of The Netherlands. Nevertheless, tradition persists alongside innovation. Although the first part of a new rapid transit system opened in 1977, about 20 percent of the work force still rely on the time-honoured bicycle for transportation. The city continues to be famous for its countless Chinese and Indonesian restaurants and the hundreds of houseboats that line its canals. Since the mid-1960s the city, now sometimes called Swinging Amsterdam, has been known for a permissive atmosphere, attracting numerous persons seeking an alternative life-style. city, Montgomery county, eastern New York, U.S. It lies along the Mohawk River, 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Schenectady. Settled by Albert Veeder in 1783, it was known as Veedersburg until it was renamed for Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1804. Its location on the Mohawk Trail, the completion of the Erie Canal (1825; now part of the New York State Canal System), and the arrival of the railroad (1836) stimulated its development. By 1838 textile mills had been set up along Chuctanunda Creek, a tributary of the Mohawk. The city's once-dominant carpet and textile industries have to some extent given way to diversified manufactures, notably electronic equipment and toys. Fort Johnson, the home of pioneer and colonial administrator Sir William Johnson from 1749 to 1762, and nearby Guy Park, a stone mansion built in 1773 for Guy Johnson, nephew of Sir William, are now state historic sites. The National Shrine of the North American Martyrs (Saints Ren Goupil, Isaac Jogues, and Jean Lalande, who were massacred by Mohawk Indians) is at Auriesville, 6 miles (10 km) west. The Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, 5 miles (8 km) west, includes locks and the remaining seven arches of an aqueduct (1841) that was built to carry the water of the Erie Canal over the separate water of a transverse stream. Inc. village, 1830; city, 1885. Pop. (1990) 20,714; (1998 est.) 19,176. Additional reading One of the earliest descriptions of Amsterdam may be found in Lodovico Guicciardini, The Description of the Low Countreys and of the Provinces Thereof (1593, reprinted 1976; originally published in Italian, 2nd ed., 1581). More exact details are in Johannes Pontanus, Historische beschrijvinghe der seer wijt beroemde coop-stadt Amsterdam (1614; originally published in Latin, 1611); Philipp Von Zesen, Filips von Zesen Beschreibung der Stadt Amsterdam (1664); and in Jan Wagenaar, Amsterdam, in zyne opkomst, aanwas, geschiedenissen, voorregten, koophandel, gebouwen, kerkenstaat, schoolen, schutterye, gilden en regeeringe, 23 vol. (17601801). See also John J. Murray, Amsterdam in the Age of Rembrandt (1967, reissued 1972). A modern history of the city was written by Hajo Brugmans, De geschiedenis van Amsterdam van den oorsprong af tot heden, 8 vol. in 4 (193033). The rise of the city during the Netherlands' Golden Age is covered by Violet Barbour, Capitalism in Amsterdam in the Seventeenth Century (1950, reissued 1963). Many details of cultural life in the 17th century are presented by Pierre Descargues in Rembrandt et Saskia Amsterdam (1965). Works dealing with specific aspects are A. Van Der Heyden and Ben Kroon, The Glory of Amsterdam: An Explorer's Guide (1975; originally published in Dutch, 1975); and Ids Haagsma et al., Amsterdamse gebouwen, 18801980 (1981), on architecture; J.J. Van Der Velde, Stadsontwikkeling van Amsterdam 19391967, also with an English summary (1968); Amsterdam. Town Planning Section, Amsterdam, Planning and Development: Rise, Spatial Development, Structure, and Design (1975), on town planning in modern times; and G.H. Knap, The Port of Amsterdam (1970; originally published in Dutch, 1969). The best guides for tourists are Hendrik F. Wijnman, Historische gids van Amsterdam (1971); Bryce Attwell, Amsterdam (1968), with parallel English, Dutch, German, and French texts; Geoffrey Cotterell, Amsterdam: The Life of a City (1972); and Baedeker's Amsterdam (1982), a guide in English. Evert Werkman Paul F. Vincent History Early settlement and growth Although modern historians do not exclude the possibility that during the Roman period some form of settlement existed at the mouth of the Amstel River, evidence of such has never been found. So far as is known, Amsterdam originated as a small fishing village in the 13th century AD. To protect themselves from floods, the early inhabitants had to build dikes on both sides of the river, and about 1270 they built a dam between these dikes. Even then, merchant ships from Amsterdam sailed as far as the Baltic Sea and laid the foundation of the future trade centre, acting as a link between northern countries and Flanders (roughly modern Belgium). The city was under the jurisdiction of the counts of Holland, one of whom, Count Floris V, granted the homines manentes apud Amestelledamme (people living near the Amsteldam) a toll privilege in 1275. In this document the name Amsterdam is mentioned for the first time, though a full charter was not granted until 1306. The city rapidly extended its business, and in 1489, as a sign of gratitude for the support given by the city to the Burgundian-Austrian monarchs, Emperor Maximilian I allowed Amsterdam to adorn its armorial bearings with the imperial crown. By then Holland's greatest commercial town and port, as well as the granary of the northern Netherlands, Amsterdam had become a centre of wealth and influence in Europe. In the 16th century there was religious and political resistance in the Netherlands against Spanish oppression. Amsterdam hesitated to accept the leadership of William I the Silent, prince of Orange, but in 1578 there was a bloodless revolution. The magistrates, together with the majority of Roman Catholic priests, were deported, the religious communities were secularized, and the Roman Catholic Church underwent reform. Amsterdam was still a small town with no more than about 30,000 inhabitants, but things changed quickly, especially when, in 1585, Antwerp (in modern Belgium) was recaptured by Spanish troops, and the Scheldt (Schelde) River was closed. Antwerp's fall led to a wholesale influx of mainly Protestant refugees into the towns of the northern Netherlands, principal among them Amsterdam. Their arrival enriched the city's intellectual, cultural, and commercial life. Banking and shipbuilding especially flourished. Much of the trade formerly concentrated in Antwerp then moved to Amsterdam, and with the Flemish merchantmen soon came hundreds of Jews expelled from Portugal, followed by their coreligionists from the area of modern Germany and eastern Europe. The city soon became a trading metropolis, whose population more than trebled between 1565 and 1618; merchant ships from Amsterdam not only sailed to the Baltic and the Mediterranean but also plied the long sea route to the East Indies and established colonies in South America and southern Africa. At this time, the still outwardly medieval town developed into a big city, and in 1612 the City Council decided upon a new extensionthe Three Canals Plan. Furthermore, the city needed a new and stately town hall, and the architect Jacob van Campen was commissioned to build one in the Dam square in the shadow of the New Church. In 1632 the Athenaeum Illustre (which became the University of Amsterdam in the 19th century) was erected. When, in 1648, the Treaty of Mnster ended the Eighty Years' War (15681648) with Spain, Amsterdam was the financial, trading, and cultural centre of the world, lending money to foreign kings and emperors and thus exerting political influence internationally. Conflict between the City Council and other political forces in the Dutch Republic was inevitable because the country was effectively no longer ruled by the States General in The Hague but by a small elite of burgomasters and merchants in Amsterdam. This situation led to political difficulties with William II, prince of Orange, who in 1650 planned to besiege the city. Amsterdam, nevertheless, maintained its dominant position for many years. Decline gradually came in the 18th century; London and Hamburg surpassed Amsterdam as trade centres, but the city remained the financial heart of Europe. Amsterdam was occupied in 1787 by the Prussians who backed the policy of William V, prince of Orange. The French, welcomed as liberators in 1795, brought freedom, but within a few years trade and shipping nearly stopped because of Napoleon's embargo on trade with Britain. In 1806 Napoleon proclaimed the Netherlands a kingdom, with Amsterdam as its capital, but by 1810 the country was incorporated into the French Empire. Russian Cossacks entered the town in 1813, and, on March 30, 1814, William VI, prince of Orange, was inaugurated as William I, king of The Netherlands, in Amsterdam's New Church. The modern city Several attempts to restore prosperity to the city failed outwardly because of the harbour's disastrous condition. Economic rehabilitation came only after the digging of the North Sea Canal from 1865 to 1876. The population expanded rapidly (to 500,000 by 1900), with the East Indian trade remaining the backbone of its economic activities. A sudden end to prosperity came in 1940, when the German Army occupied the country. Allied bombers attacked industrial areas several times during World War II, but the city's severest loss was the deportation of about 70,000 Jewish inhabitants. In May 1945 Amsterdam was liberated by Canadian troops, and, on March 29, 1946, Queen Wilhelmina granted the town the right to add to its armorial bearings the device Heroic, Resolute, Compassionate, in recognition of the citizens' attitude during the German occupation. In the latter part of the 20th century the city's traditional individualism and resistive attitude found an outlet in movements that called attention to issues such as nuclear disarmament, world peace, and the environment.