Amsterdam is the capital and the largest city of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The city itself has 735,526 residents (2002), while the population of the greater Amsterdam area is ca. 1,450,000.
The city is administrated not only by the mayor and central city council (Centraal [Stads]Bestuur) but also is divided in several city parts/neighbourhoods (Stadsdelen), which have their own councils (Stadsdeelraad). Any local decisions are made there and only major infastructural decisions are delegated to the main city. Apart from the city center, the municipality comprises the following parts: Amsterdam Noord, Amsterdam Oud Zuid, Bos en Lommer, De Baarsjes, Driemond, Durgerdam, Geuzenveld-Slotermeer, Holysloot, IJburg (under development), Jordaan, Oost/Watergraafsmeer, Osdorp, Oud-West, Ransdorp, Ruigoord, Sloten, Slotervaart/Overtoomse Veld, Westerpark, Zeeburg, Zuider Amstel, Zuidoost (including Bijlmer; see also Bijlmerramp), Zunderdorp. (See also one of the external links.)
Amsterdam Noord is separated from the rest of Amsterdam by the IJ waterway, for connections see there.
Amsterdam has one of the largest renaissance city centers in Europe. Countless buildings from the 16th and 17th centuries, also known as the Golden Age, now considered historical monuments, are to be found around a series of semicircular canals.
These face the old harbor which once opened onto the Zuyderzee (now cut off from the sea and known as the IJsselmeer).
The city is well known for the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, the Concertgebouw, Rembrandt House Museum, the Anne Frank house, the Homomonument and huge numbers of bicycles.
Amsterdam is also famous for its lively red-light districtde 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 otherwise treated like any other self-employed tradesperson.
Cannabis, on the other hand, is not, strictly speaking, legal; rather it is tolerated, meaning the sale (6 grams maximum per client) and possession of small quantities (30 grams) is not prosecuted.
Amsterdam has a temporary beach at the north side of Haveneiland, IJburg. Alternatively people go to Zandvoort and other towns on the coast of the North Sea.
Amsterdam was founded as a fishing village around the thirteenth century. A dam was built on the river Amstel, hence its original name Amstelredam, dam on the river Amstel.
The early "Amsterdammers" acquired a talent for trade and from the fourteenth century onwards trade with the Hanseatic cities flourished. Amsterdam gained city rights in 1300 or 1301, granted by Guy van Henegouwen, the Bishop of Utrecht, but this was only a confirmation of the earlier rights given to the city by one of the Lords of Aemstel. Already on 27 october 1275Amestelledamme [sic]] had been given freedom of tolls.
Then in the 16th century, the Dutch war of independence began against the Spanish. Although originally on the Spanish side, Amsterdam switched sides in 1578.
As a result, freedom of religion was reinstated, a very positive move at the time. Amsterdam had remained a Roman Catholic city, and Roman Catholicism remains the major religion in the city to this day. Amsterdam is still home to several old Catholic churches (which have in some cases been converted in Protestant churches), and each year the Stille Omgang is still walked in march, a procession commemorating the "Miracle of the Host" of 1345.
Religious wars were raging throughout Europe and many people were looking for a place of refuge where they would not be condemned for their religion.
Wealthy Jewish families from Spain and Portugal, prosperous merchants from Antwerp, fleeing the destruction and ransacking of their city by the Spanish, and the Huguenots from France all sought refuge in Amsterdam.
The Seventeenth century was Amsterdam's Golden Age. Amsterdam's ships sailed to North America, Indonesia, Brazil and Africa, building an impressive empire in the process. Rembrandt also worked in this century, and the city expanded around its canals during this time. Amsterdam became the most important port of the world and an international center for banking.
The 18th and 19th century saw a decline in the prosperity of Amsterdam. Wars against the United Kingdom and France took their toll on the city and trade was lost to London.
At the end of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution reached Amsterdam. Waterways to the sea and to the river Rhine improved communication with the rest of Europe and the world.
Amsterdam got a new lease on life, but never reached the same supremacy as before.
World War I did not affect Amsterdam as the Netherlands remained neutral, although trade and industry suffered.
Between the wars, the Dutch built a dike separating the Zuider Zee from the North Sea, thus creating the IJsselmeer. Thus, the great waters to the east of Amsterdam were no longer salt water, but fresh water, and thus could be used for drinking, as rivers flow into the IJsselmeer.
During World War IIGerman troops occupied the city starting on May 15, 1940 and about 100,000 Jewish people were deported from Amsterdam, almost completely wiping out the Jewish community in Amsterdam. Anne Frank was one of those people. Before the war, Amsterdam was the world's center for the diamondtrade. Since this trade was mostly in the hands of Jewish businessmen and craftsmen, the diamondtrade almost disappeared. Amsterdam is still important, but the city of Antwerp in Belgium is the main center for diamonds today.
The sixties and seventies put Amsterdam back on the map, for reasons other than trade. The tolerance of soft drugs made the city a popular destination for hippies, and the squatting of unoccupied buildings became widespread.
Riots and clashes with the police were frequent.
In 1980, while Queen Beatrix was crowned the new Queen of The Netherlands in the New Church on Dam square, a group of protesters outside fought against a police force.
The eighties, nineties, and subsequent years 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 nearby Amsterdam, while economic immigrants from muslim countries and foreigners who came with their companies replaced them. This has lead to the fact that as of 2004 the population of Amsterdam is only ~45% ethnic Dutch, and this percentage is dropping.'''
In addition to the early-mentioned museums, Amsterdam is also the
home of the Stedelijk Museum (20th century art), the Amsterdam
Historical Musum, the Jewish Museum, the Nautical Museum, Madame Tussaud's, and others.
Also located here is the Sweelinck Conservatory of Music, the
Theatre Group Amsterdam, and the National Dance Theatre.
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.
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.
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.
3 metro lines, partly elevated, 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 taxiss, 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.
Several ferries across the IJ; at least one is frequent, operating 24 hours a day, free of charge.
Using public transport or hiring a bicycle is highly advisable over driving a car. As with most big cities, traffic jams are very common and parking space tends to be rare and expensive. If you only stay in the center, walking is a good option too, since everything is very close together.
A new metro line, North/South Line, and a new tramline [1] are under construction.
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'.
Statistics in Dutch (pdf) - with (towards the end) a map showing the neighborhoods and (a few pages further) the population figures etc. as well as the grouping into quarters
During 
![[1]](http://www.verkeer-en-vervoer.amsterdam.nl/ijtram/afb/ijtram/tracvoor/011.gif){kind=link}