what does amsterdam mean

The old city centre is the focal point of all the architectural styles before the end of the 19th century. [57] The entire city centre has reattained its former splendour and, as a whole, is now a protected area. In the early years of the 17th century, Maximilian's crown in Amsterdam's coat of arms was again replaced, this time with the crown of Emperor Rudolph II, a crown that became the Imperial Crown of Austria. These plans involved the development of new neighbourhoods consisting of housing blocks for all social classes. In the following centuries, the land was used for parks, senior citizens' homes, theatres, other public facilities, and waterways without much planning. They not only founded their own synagogues, but had a strong influence on the 'Amsterdam dialect' adding a large Yiddish local vocabulary. Under the Dutch Constitution, Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. To the southeast of the square are several large houses, one of which contains the American consulate. [187] The first ballet performances in the Netherlands were given in Schouwburg in 1642 with the Ballet of the Five Senses. Rembrandt's masterpiece The Night Watch is one of the top pieces of art of the museum. [196] The northwestern part of the square is bordered by the Van Gogh Museum, House of Bols Cocktail & Genever Experience and Coster Diamonds. The Miracle devotion went underground but was kept alive. Jewish people from Spain, Portugal and Eastern Europe similarly settled in Amsterdam, as did Germans and Scandinavians. The oldest building in Amsterdam is the Oude Kerk (English: Old Church), at the heart of the Wallen, consecrated in 1306. [222] The conurbation had a population of 1,096,042 in 2013. Other parks include the Sarphatipark in the De Pijp neighbourhood, the Oosterpark in the Oost borough and the Westerpark in the Westerpark neighbourhood. [124] Despite an absence of an official Jewish ghetto, most Jews preferred to live in the eastern part, which used to be the center of medieval Amsterdam. The full collection was reopened to the public on 13 April 2013 and the Rijksmuseum has remained the most visited museum in Amsterdam with 2.2million visitors in 2016 and 2.16million in 2017.[200]. [231] The local government sponsors carsharing and carpooling initiatives such as Autodelen and Meerijden.nu. [158], In response to overcrowding, two plans were designed at the beginning of the 20th century which were very different from anything Amsterdam had ever seen before: Plan Zuid (designed by the architect Berlage) and West. Etymology of amsterdam. Since 1999, the city of Amsterdam honours the best sportsmen and women at the Amsterdam Sports Awards. The neighbourhood comprised the Waterlooplein and the Nieuwmarkt. [36] The construction of a dam at the mouth of the Amstel, eponymously named Dam, is historically estimated to have occurred between 1264 and 1275. The oldest English-language church congregation in the world outside the United Kingdom is found at the Begijnhof. In the park is an open-air theatre, a playground and several horeca facilities. The Haarlemmerstraat and Haarlemmerdijk were voted best shopping street in the Netherlands in 2011. [41] From the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League. The architect of the gothic revival building was P.J.H. This is Amsterdam's most important museum of modern art. The prehistoric IJ was a shallow and quiet stream in peatland behind beach ridges. Some, commonly referred by the moniker 'Walloon', are recognizable today as they offer occasional services in French. The largest area by population, the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (Dutch: Metropoolregio Amsterdam), has a population of 2,33million. [222] It includes the municipalities of Zaanstad, Wormerland, Oostzaan, Diemen and Amstelveen only, as well as the municipality of Amsterdam. The municipal council of Amsterdam voted to maintain the borough system by replacing the district councils with smaller, but still directly elected district committees (bestuurscommissies). Jazz has a strong following in Amsterdam, with the Bimhuis being the premier venue. Normally, however, the Parliament sits in The Hague, the city which has historically been the seat of the Dutch government, the Dutch monarchy, and the Dutch supreme court. Also, several movies were filmed in Amsterdam, such as James Bond's Diamonds Are Forever, Ocean's Twelve, Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Hitman's Bodyguard. The stadium Johan Cruyff Arena is the home of Ajax. [171] with the survey determining London, Paris, Frankfurt and Barcelona as the four European cities surpassing Amsterdam in this regard. [37] This allowed the inhabitants of the village to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, locks and dams. Its collection consists of nearly one million objects. Under the borough system, municipal decisions are made at borough level, except for those affairs pertaining to the whole city such as major infrastructure projects, which are the jurisdiction of the central municipal authorities. This can be recognised by the suffix -meer which means lake, as in Aalsmeer, Bijlmermeer, Haarlemmermeer and Watergraafsmeer. [150] The original plans have been lost, so historians, such as Ed Taverne, need to speculate on the original intentions: it is thought that the considerations of the layout were purely practical and defensive rather than ornamental. [148] In the early 17th century, when immigration was at a peak, a comprehensive plan was developed that was based on four concentric half-circles of canals with their ends emerging at the IJ bay. [64], Construction of a new metro line connecting the part of the city north of the IJ to its southern part was started in 2003. an industrial center and the nominal capital of the Netherlands. These riots are known as the Aardappeloproer (Potato rebellion). Huguenots came after the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, while the Flemish Protestants came during the Eighty Years' War. At the end of the 19th century, the Jugendstil or Art Nouveau style became popular and many new buildings were constructed in this architectural style. On 27 June 2018, Femke Halsema (former member of House of Representatives for GroenLinks from 1998 to 2011) was appointed as the first woman to be Mayor of Amsterdam by the King's Commissioner of North Holland for a six-year term after being nominated by the Amsterdam municipal council and began serving a six-year term on 12 July 2018. The defenses took the form of a moat and earthen dikes, with gates at transit points, but otherwise no masonry superstructures. These brown cafs mostly offer a wide range of local and international artisanal beers. [33] In this area, land reclamation started as early as the late 10th century. [97] By 1985 the city had only 675,570 residents. Fourteen of those had their own district council (deelraad), elected by a popular vote. As society was changing,[clarification needed] politicians and other influential figures made plans to redesign large parts of it. [244], Amsterdam has two universities: the University of Amsterdam (Universiteit van Amsterdam, UvA), and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). [106][107], In 2000, Christians formed the largest religious group in the city (28% of the population). Sloten, annexed in 1921 by the municipality of Amsterdam, is the oldest part of the city, dating to the 9th century. Cloudy and damp days are common during the cooler months of October through March. These characteristics are arguably responsible for attracting millions of Amsterdam's visitors annually. Cabaret dates back to the 1930s and artists like Wim Kan, Wim Sonneveld and Toon Hermans were pioneers of this form of art in the Netherlands. On the east side of town, there is a small theatre in a converted bathhouse, the Badhuistheater. [127][128] The neighbourhood was rebuilt with smaller-scale residence buildings on the basis of its original layout. A man-made forest, Amsterdamse Bos, is in the southwest. On 18 September 2017, it was announced by Eberhard van der Laan in an open letter to Amsterdam citizens that Kajsa Ollongren would take up his office as acting Mayor of Amsterdam with immediate effect due to ill health. Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, Huguenots from France, prosperous merchants and printers from Flanders, and economic and religious refugees from the Spanish-controlled parts of the Low Countries found safety in Amsterdam. Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. Even then, because Amsterdam is surrounded on three sides by large bodies of water, as well as having a significant heat-island effect, nights rarely fall below 5C (23F), while it could easily be 12C (10F) in Hilversum, 25km (16mi) southeast. [144] The proportion of the population of immigrant origin in the city proper is about 50%[145] and 88% of the population are Dutch citizens. The area to the southeast of the city built during the same period is known as the Bijlmer.[161][162]. Currently, there are sixteen tram routes and five metro routes. The oldest area of the town is known as De Wallen (English: "The Quays"). "barrier across a stream of water to obstruct its flow and raise its level," c. 1400 (early 13c. [111] The large community of Ghanaian immigrants have established African churches,[141] often in parking garages in the Bijlmer area. This roughly coincided with Amsterdam's Golden Age. [86] By 1600, its population was around 50,000. The coat of arms of Amsterdam is composed of several historical elements. The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 1920th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This made the water flow of the Amstel more active, so excess water could be drained better. [169] The Amstelpark in the Zuid borough houses the Rieker windmill, which dates to 1636. Amsterdam holds two American football franchises: the Amsterdam Crusaders and the Amsterdam Panthers. Amsterdam also possesses many discothques. The Westphalians came to Amsterdam mostly for economic reasons their influx continued through the 18th and 19th centuries. While Amsterdam was under the influence of German music in the 19th century there were few national opera productions; the Hollandse Opera of Amsterdam was built in 1888 for the specific purpose of promoting Dutch opera. Over time, a total of 15 boroughs were created. [205] A 2011 poll by Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool that Trio Bier's "Oude Wolf" was voted "Amsterdams lijflied". Several fashion brands and designers are based in Amsterdam. [184], During the later part of the 16th century, Amsterdam's Rederijkerskamer (Chamber of rhetoric) organised contests between different Chambers in the reading of poetry and drama. [208] The opera house of Amsterdam is located adjacent to the city hall. Amsterdam's musical culture includes a large collection of songs that treat the city nostalgically and lovingly. [89] This was all the more remarkable as Amsterdam was neither the capital city nor the seat of government of the Dutch Republic, which itself was a much smaller state than England, France or the Ottoman Empire. Because of the war and other events of the 20th century, almost the entire city centre had fallen into disrepair. [26] The KLM hub and Amsterdam's main airport, Schiphol, is the Netherlands' busiest airport as well as the third busiest in Europe and 11th busiest airport in the world. The museum underwent a 10-year, 375million euro renovation starting in 2003. [152] Over the years, several canals have been filled in, becoming streets or squares, such as the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal and the Spui.

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