Amsterdam

   

Municipality of Amsterdam
Enlarge
Municipality of Amsterdam
Flag of Amsterdam. The official city motto is Valor, Resolution, and Mercy. The St Andrew's crosses are taken to represent these (though the crosses are even older than the motto). A popular tradition links the X's to the three threats to the city: Water, Fire and Pestilence.
Enlarge
Flag of Amsterdam. The official city motto is Valor, Resolution, and Mercy. The St Andrew's crosses are taken to represent these (though the crosses are even older than the motto).
A popular tradition links the X's to the three threats to the city: Water, Fire and Pestilence.
Alternate meanings: See Amsterdam (disambiguation)

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. It is located in the province of North Holland. Its geographical coordinates are: longitude 04 51 59.00 E and lattitude 52 20 59.01 N. To date the municipality of Amsterdam has 738,763 residents (7 September 2004) and over 170 nationalities live in the city. The population of the greater Amsterdam area is ca. 1,450,000.

Introduction

The Netherlands is one of the few countries where the seat of government is not the capital. Because the government of the Netherlands is seated in The Hague, it is commonly assumed that The Hague is the Dutch capital. However the formal capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam.

coat-of-arms of Amsterdam
Enlarge
coat-of-arms of Amsterdam

The city is administrated by the mayor and central city council (gemeenteraad) and by the dagelijks bestuur in each of the 15 boroughs (stadsdelen). The boroughs have their own councils (stadsdeelraad). Local decisions are made at borough level and only affairs pertaining the whole city (like major infrastructural projects), are delegated to the central city council. The 15 boroughs are: Amsterdam-Centrum, Amsterdam-Noord, Amsterdam Oud Zuid, De Baarsjes, Bos en Lommer, Geuzenveld / Slotermeer, Oost / Watergraafsmeer, Osdorp, Oud-West, Slotervaart, Westerpark, Zeeburg, Zuideramstel and Amsterdam Zuidoost (including Bijlmer; see also Bijlmerramp).

Amsterdam Noord is separated from the rest of Amsterdam by the IJ waterway.

Panoramic view of Amsterdam taken from the Tower of the Westerkerk looking North along the Prinsengracht
Enlarge
Panoramic view of Amsterdam taken from the Tower of the Westerkerk looking North along the Prinsengracht

Amsterdam has one of the largest renaissance city centers in Europe. Many buildings date from the 16th and 17th century (known as Hollands Golden Age) and are now considered monuments. The historical buildings are to be found along Amsterdams famous canals. The city has many outstanding museums, including the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Rembrandt House Museum, the Anne Frank house and a world-class symphony orchestra, called the Concertgebouworkest, which plays in the Concertgebouw. Amsterdam does not have many memorials, but among its most noticeable is the worlds first Gay Monument, commemorating the hardships gays have suffered throughout history.

Amsterdam is also famous for its lively red-light district de Wallen and its numerous coffee shops selling cannabis. Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands. Prostitutes are considered bona fide entrepreneurs; they pay taxes and are treated like any other self-employed tradesperson. Cannabis, on the other hand, is not legal; rather it is 'gedoogd' (tolerated), meaning the sale (6 grams maximum per client) and possession of small quantities (30 grams) are allowed.



Amsterdam by night
Enlarge
Amsterdam by night

History

Amsterdam was founded as a fishing village in the thirteenth century. A dam was built across the river Amstel which gave the city its original name Amstelredam: dam across the river Amstel. The early "Amsterdammers" had a talent for business and from the fourteenth century onwards trade with the Hanseatic cities flourished. On 27 october 1275 Amestelledamme (sic) was given freedom of tolls. Amsterdam gained city rights in 1300 or 1301, granted by Guy van Henegouwen, the Bishop of Utrecht. This was however nothing more than a confirmation of earlier rights given to the city by one of the Lords of Aemstel.

In the 16th century the Dutch rebelled against Philip II of Spain. The uprising was mainly caused by the lack of political power for the local nobility and by the religious intolarance of the Spanish. Although Amsterdam began the war on the Spanish side, it changed sides in 1578 and gave its support to William I of Orange. The rebellion led to the Eighty Years' War and Dutch independence.

One of the results of the war was that Spanish religious intolarance made place for Dutch tolerance. In Amsterdam people were free to believe what they wanted (within certain limits). In the city remained a large Roman Catholic minority (and Roman Catholicism is still one of the major religions in Amsterdam), but the majority of the people belonged to the Reformed Church and other Protestant denominations.

In these years religious wars raged throughout Europe and many people fled to the Dutch Republic and Amsterdam were they sought refuge. Wealthy Jews from Spain and Portugal, prosperous merchants from Antwerp and the Huguenots from France, all sought safety in Amsterdam.

Dam Square in the late 17th century: painting by Jan Adriaensz. Berckheyde (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden)
Enlarge
Dam Square in the late 17th century: painting by Jan Adriaensz. Berckheyde (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden)

The Seventeenth century was Amsterdam's Golden Age. Ships from the city sailed to North America, Indonesia, Brazil and Africa and were the basis of a worldwide trading network. Amsterdams merchants financed expeditions to the four corners of the world and they acquired the overseas posessions which formed the seeds of the later Dutch colonies. Rembrandt painted in this century and the city expanded mightily around its canals during this time. Amsterdam was the most important point for the transshipment of goods in Europe and it was the leading financial centre of the world (A position later taken over by London).

The 18th and 19th century saw a decline in Amsterdams prosperity. The wars of the Dutch republic with the United Kingdom and France took their toll on Amsterdam. During the Napoleonic wars Amsterdams fortunes reached new lows. However with the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815 things slowly began to improve. New developments were started in Amsterdam by people like Sarphati. At the end of the 19th century the Industrial Revolution reached Amsterdam. The Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal was dug to give Amsterdam a direct connection to the Rhine and the Noordzee kanaal to give the port a connection with the North Sea. Both projects improved communication with the rest of Europe and the world dramatically.

The end of the 19th century is sometimes called Amsterdams second Golden Age. New museums, the Centraal Station, the Concertgebouw were build. Also build was the Stelling van Amsterdam, a unique ring of 42 forts and land that could be inundated to defend the city against an attack. Amsterdams population grew significantly during this period.

During World War I the Netherlands remained neutral.

In 1932 the dike separating the Zuider Zee from the North Sea was completed. The Zuider Zee was no more. The new lake was called IJsselmeer (meer = lake).

Statue of Anne Frank
Enlarge
Statue of Anne Frank

During World War II German troops occupied the city. More than 100,000 Jews were deported, almost completely wiping out the Jewish community in Amsterdam. Anne Frank was one of them. Before the war, Amsterdam was the world's center for the diamond trade. Since this trade was mostly in the hands of Jewish businessmen and craftsmen, the diamond trade essentially disappeared.

The cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s made Amsterdam the magisch centrum (magical centre) of Europe. The use of soft drugs was tolerated and this policy made the city a popular destination for hippies. Squatting became widespread. Riots and clashes with the police were frequent.

In 1980, while Queen Beatrix was inaugurated in the New Church on Dam square, a group of protesters outside fought against a police force.

The Eighties, Nineties, and Noughties saw administrative changes, as the city was divided in several semi-autonomous city parts. In 1995 the national government proposed creating a city province consisting of Amsterdam and neighbouring towns, but this was rejected by the city population in a referendum with a percentage of over 90% against. The primary opposition was not against creating the city province, but the splitting up of the city: the city parts would have become towns in their own right with their own mayors. Opposers feared that this would destroy the city's cohesion. The city province proposal was shelved and forgotten. Nevertheless, since 1995 the city parts have gradually become more autonomous, and neighbouring towns have been drawn into the city more politically and economically, so in a sense the city province has arrived in the form of 'Greater Amsterdam'.

The eighties and onward also saw a small exodus of people leaving Amsterdam for the 'growth cities' of Purmerend, Almere and other cities near Amsterdam.

Cultural life

Amsterdam is the cultural center of the Netherlands, with much activity in the arts, dance, theater, and music.

The world-famous concert hall, the Concertgebouw, is the home of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The Muziektheater, a new (1986) opera house, in one building called Stopera with the city hall, facing the Amstel river, is the home of De Nederlandse Opera and the Dutch National Ballet. Another famous theatre is the Carré, also on the Amstel. Other performing arts venues include the Sweelinck Conservatory of Music, the Theatre Group Amsterdam, and the National Dance Theatre.

In addition to the previously mentioned museums, Amsterdam is also the home of the Stedelijk Museum (20th century art), the Amsterdam Historical Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Nautical Museum, Madame Tussaud's, and others. Most recently, a branch of Russia's famed Hermitage Museum has found its home in the former Amstelhof.

Founded in the early 1600s, Amsterdam's Hortus Botanicus is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, with many old and rare specimens.

Canals of the Jordaan area
Enlarge
Canals of the Jordaan area

Amsterdam's International Institute of Social History is one of the world's largest documentary and research institutions concerning social history, and especially the history of the labor movement.

There are numerous private art galleries in the center of the city.

Amsterdam's zoo is called Artis, a contraction of the Latin motto of the Zoo, "Natura Artis Magistra", meaning "Nature is the mother (or teacher) of art".

The RAI conference center center hosts many large commercial exhibitions and congresses each year.

Located near the Leidseplein is the nightclub Paradiso (previously a church) and the Melkweg, which both offer pop music and dancing almost every night of the week.

Sports

Amsterdam is the home town of Ajax, a team in the Dutch Football League (soccer). It has won the European Cup several times, and the World Club Championship twice. In the mid 1990s they abandoned their old Ajax Stadium De Meer for the new Amsterdam ArenA, located in the south-east of the city.

In 1928, Amsterdam played host to the Games of the IX Olympiad. The Olympic stadium still stands to this day, and is now used for cultural and sports events.

The city has an NFL Europe team, the Amsterdam Admirals, who are notable for being the only team in the league not to have won a World Bowl championship. It also has a top field hockey team, Hockey Club Amsterdam.

Education

Amsterdam has two major universities, the University of Amsterdam (Universiteit van Amsterdam, the UvA), and the Vrije Universiteit (the originally Protestant Free University or VU). Its academy of modern art, De Rietveldacademie, named after the famous Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld, has a good international reputation.

Public transport

Amsterdam's public transportation system includes:

False-colour satellite image of Amsterdam taken by NASA's Landsat 7.
Enlarge
False-colour satellite image of Amsterdam taken by NASA's Landsat 7.
  • good national and international train connections, including a frequent service to Schiphol Airport; at night, once an hour there is a train to Schiphol Airport, Leiden, The Hague, Delft, Rotterdam and Utrecht.
  • 3 metro lines, partly elevated, with no level crossings.
  • a light rail line (sneltram = fast tram) to the neighboring town Amstelveen, partly using metro tracks, partly on the street with its own lanes, but with level crossings.
  • 16 tram lines, on the street, partly mixed with all other traffic, partly on lanes shared with buses and taxis, and partly on separate lanes.
  • many bus lines (urban and regional); bus traffic is often mixed with other traffic, but sometimes on lanes shared with trams and taxis or lanes for buses only.
  • many taxis operate in Amsterdam.
  • Several ferries across the IJ; at least one is frequent, operating 24 hours a day, free of charge.

Apart from using public transport, riding a bicycle is popular. In the center, driving a car gives the common city center problems of traffic jams and limited or expensive parking space.

A new metro line, North/South Line, and a new tramline [1] (http://www.verkeer-en-vervoer.amsterdam.nl/ijtram/afb/ijtram/tracvoor/011.gif) are under construction.

See also Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf, List of Amsterdam metro stations.

Roads

The canal behind the Zeedijk in Amsterdam
Enlarge
The canal behind the Zeedijk in Amsterdam
  • Many streets have bike paths, and bike racks are ubiquitous throughout the city.
  • Though not that commonly used anymore, canals running through the center of the city can still be considered important transportation routes. Some refer to Amsterdam as "The Venice of the north".

Crime and deviance

Amsterdam is a large city which attracts pickpockets and other petty thieves. A favorite of pickpockets in Amsterdam is the train from Schiphol International Airport to the city, full of tired tourists with lots of bags. ATMs are also a preferred location to spot victims because they are likely to have cash. The city also attracts its share of junkies and homeless people, many of whom are psychiatric cases. There are a few hotspots where they are found, mostly in the red-light district De Wallen.

Studies of illegal firearm possession have been relatively few and far between. In 1995 it was estimated that there were about 24,000 illegal firearms in the Amsterdam-Amstelland region. A recent development are East-European gangs posing as police officers, asking for cash payment of a certain fine, or claming they must inspect one's wallet to see if he or she has fake banknotes in them. They target mostly East Asian tourists because experience has shown those victims are more likely to respect the authority of a 'police officer'.

The municipality of Amsterdam currently operates a program to make the red light district safer by buying former crackhouses and other properties used for criminal activity and turning them into legitimate businesses. This has greatly improved the public's (feeling of) safety over the last few years.

Food

Any cuisine of the world can be found in Amsterdam. Close to the Centraal Station is the Zeedijk, populated by restaurants from every part of the Orient. Turkish kebabs and Arabic shwarma restaurants are everywhere. There are some excellent Dutch style pancake restaurants to be found. Typical Dutch food would be raw herring, which you can buy in stalls along the road. Please note that the fish is cleaned (compared with sushi). The way this fish is eaten differs from the rest of the country. It is cut into pieces and served with onions and pickles. Everywhere else it is eaten with some onions by holding the tail and letting it slide into your mouth.

Nightlife

Amsterdam has a very active nightlife with a lot of official clubs, but there are a lot of squat parties always going on as well. Some say it has been surpassed as the 'hippest' city by Rotterdam but it still has its own unique charm. There is a party about every day of the week. There are also a lot of bars and coffeeshops which all have their own unique charm. Some cool place to go clubbing are: Chemistry: Escape, iT, Mazzo, Jimmy Woo, Club 11 and Paradiso.

Periodic events

  • Koninginnedag (Queen's day) on 30 April celebrates the Queen's birthday, and is a Dutch public holiday. Amsterdam opens its doors and parties, the canals and streets full of music and people celebrating. It is also the one day of the year ordinary people are legally permitted to sell things on the street (vrijmarkt), turning many areas of Amsterdam into enormous flea markets. Due to regulations calling for the public celebrations to wind down around 21:00, most Amsterdammers start partying the evening before Queen's day and continue right through the night.
  • Uitmarkt (http://www.uitmarkt.nl) - August every year. Annual preview of Amsterdam's cultural and music programme. Lots of free performances and live music.
  • Amsterdam Roots (http://www.amsterdamroots.nl) - International music festival. Last week of June.
  • Amsterdam Pride, annually in August, gay pride weekend [2] (http://www.amsterdampride.nl/engels/indexeng.htm) [3] (http://www.guusbosman.nl/special/35)
  • Amsterdam Marathon (http://www.amsterdammarathon.nl) - Marathon of Amsterdam. Mid October.

Slogan

The new slogan the municipality has chosen in 2004 to promote Amsterdam is I AMsterdam. The old one was Amsterdam heeft het (Amsterdam has it).

See also

External links

Enlarge

Amsterdam = 4 - Mapquest map of Amsterdam (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?city=Amsterdam&country=nl)

 
North Holland		 Flag of the province of North Holland

  1. Aalsmeer
  2. Alkmaar
  3. Amstelveen
  4. Amsterdam
  5. Andijk
  6. Anna Paulowna
  7. Beemster
  8. Bennebroek
  9. Bergen
  10. Beverwijk
  11. Blaricum
  12. Bloemendaal
  13. Bussum
  14. Castricum
  15. Den Helder
  16. Diemen
  17. Drechterland
  18. Edam-Volendam
  19. Enkhuizen
  20. Graft-De Rijp
  21. Haarlem
  22. Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude
  1. Haarlemmermeer
  2. Harenkarspel
  3. Heemskerk
  4. Heemstede
  5. Heerhugowaard
  6. Heiloo
  7. Hilversum
  8. Hoorn
  9. Huizen
  10. Landsmeer
  11. Langedijk
  12. Laren
  13. Medemblik
  14. Muiden
  15. Naarden
  16. Niedorp
  17. Noorder-Koggenland
  18. Obdam
  19. Oostzaan
  20. Opmeer
  21. Ouder-Amstel
  22. Purmerend
  1. Schagen
  2. Schermer
  3. Stede Broec
  4. Texel
  5. Uitgeest
  6. Uithoorn
  7. Velsen
  8. Venhuizen
  9. Waterland
  10. Weesp
  11. Wervershoof
  12. Wester-Koggenland
  13. Wieringen
  14. Wieringermeer
  15. Wijdemeren
  16. Wognum
  17. Wormerland
  18. Zaanstad
  19. Zandvoort
  20. Zeevang
  21. Zijpe
Netherlands | Provinces | Municipalities

</center>

Edit this template (http://www.mywiseowl.com/index.php?title=Template:Province_North_Holland_p&action=edit)




af:Amsterdam bg:Амстердам da:Amsterdam de:Amsterdam es:Amsterdam eo:Amsterdamo fr:Amsterdam io:Amsterdam id:Amsterdam csb:Amsterdam la:Amstelodamum nl:Amsterdam ja:アムステルダム no:Amsterdam pl:Amsterdam pt:Amsterdão ro:Amsterdam ru:Амстердам fi:Amsterdam sv:Amsterdam uk:Амстердам zh-cn:阿姆斯特丹

Retrieved from "http://www.mywiseowl.com/articles/Amsterdam"

This page has been accessed 3954 times. This page was last modified 23:03, 25 Nov 2004. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details).