Am´sterdam

(that is, 'the dam of the Amstel'), one of the chief commercial cities of Europe, capital of Holland (but not the residence of the sovereign), situated at the confluence of the Amstel with the Y or Ij, an arm of the Zuider-Zee. On account of the lowne of the site of the city the greater part of it is built on piles. It is divided by numerous canals into about 90 islands, which are connected by nearly 300 bridges. Many of the streets have a canal in the middle with broad brick-paved quays on either side, planted with rows of trees; the houses are generally of brick, many of them six or seven stories high, with pointed gables turned to the streets. Among the public buildings are the old stadthouse, the work of Jacob van Kempen, commenced in 1648 and finished in 1655, which is now a royal palace, the interior being decorated by the Dutch painters and sculptors of the seventeenth century with their masterpieces; the justiciary hall, an imitation of a Greek temple; the town hall (fourteenth century); the exchange, a handsome building, constructed in 1836 on the site of the old bourse built in 1608; the Palace of National Industry; the national museum; and the central railway station. The old church is a structure of the fourteenth century with stained-gla windows painted by Digman in the fifteenth century. The chief educational institutions of the kingdom are here, including the city university, a free university, gymnasiums and other secondary schools, the national picture gallery or museum, containing many masterpieces of Dutch artists, . Among its numerous industries may be mentioned as a speciality the cutting and polishing of diamonds. It has also factories and workshops dealing with wool, cotton, silk, tobacco, leather, machinery, and metal goods, gla , liqueurs, cocoa, . The harbour, formed by the Y, lies along the whole of the north side of the city, and is surrounded by various docks and basins. The trade is very great, being much facilitated by the great ship-canal (15 miles long, opened 1876, admitting the largest ve els) connecting the Y directly with the North Sea at Y-Muiden, where the entrance is between two long piers projecting into the sea. Another canal of much le importance, the North Holland Canal (46 miles long, 20 feet deep), connects Amsterdam with the Helder. Between the harbour and the Zuider Zee the Y is now cro ed by a great dam in which are locks to admit ve els and regulate the amount of water in the North Sea Canal. The oversea trade of Amsterdam has immensely increased since the opening of the great canal, and the foreign trade of the kingdom practically centres in Amsterdam and Rotter dam. There is also a large trade with the interior by railway, river, and canal. In the beginning of the thirteenth century Amsterdam was but a fishing village. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it had attained some importance, especially through the Baltic trade. The ruin of Antwerp through the troubles with Spain was greatly to its advantage, and during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Amsterdam was one of the wealthiest and most flourishing cities in the world. Its forced alliance with France ruined its trade, but since 1813 its commerce has revived. Amsterdam is the birthplace of Spinoza and of the painters van de Velde and van der Neer. Pop. (1919), 647,120.