Amsterdam

Three field hockey teams, Amsterdam, Pinoké and Hurley, and a basketball team, the Amsterdam Astronauts who play in the Dutch premier division and play their games in the Sporthallen Zuid, near the Olympic Stadium. Spray can refer to:. The city also has a baseball team, the Amsterdam pirates who play in the Dutch Major League. Spray (sailing vessel), a ship that vanished in 1909 in the Bermuda Triangle. In speed skating many international championships have been fought in the 400-meter lane of this ice rink. a former mill town in Rockingham County, NC, now part of Eden. The Amstel Tijgers play in this arena in the Dutch ice hockey premier league. Spray (band), a British synthpop band.

Amsterdam also is home to a famous ice rink, the Jaap Eden baan. A sudden swift stream of ejected liquid: see jet, sprinkler, atomizer. The Olympic Stadium built for the occasion has been completely restored and is now used for cultural and sporting events. In 1928, Amsterdam hosted the Games of the IXth Olympiad. The team shares that facility with the Amsterdam Admirals, an American football team.

Its home base is the modern stadium Amsterdam ArenA, located in the south-east of the city. Amsterdam is the home town of Ajax, a team in the Dutch Football League. It handles about 42 million passengers a year and is home base to KLM. Schiphol, about twenty minutes by train from downtown Amsterdam, is the biggest airport in the Netherlands, and the fourth largest in Europe.

In the city centre, driving a car is complicated by traffic jams and limited and expensive parking space. Bike racks are ubiquitous throughout the city. Most main streets have bike paths. Many people in Amsterdam use a bicycle to get around.

(See also Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf, Amsterdam metro.). A new underground line, the North/South Line (Noord/Zuidlijn) is under construction. One incident was a planned bombing of the Venserpolder station, that led to a political scandal when mayor Ivo Samkalden and everyone in the city council, except for Roel van Duijn, instantly and erroneously blamed the left-wing protesters, which was exactly the objective of the right-wing bombers. The metro was still built (wall decorations at the Nieuwmarkt station are dedicated to the protests), but plans to build a highway through the neighbourhood in the centre of Amsterdam were abolished.

During the construction of the Amsterdam metro, plans to demolish the entire Jewish neighbourhood near the Nieuwmarkt led to strong protests. Public transport in Amsterdam consists of:. Amsterdam's Hortus Botanicus, founded in the early 1600s, is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, with many old and rare specimens, amongst which the coffee plant that served as the parent for the entire coffee culture in Central and South America. 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 labour movement.

Other institutions for higher education include an art school, De Rietveldacademie, the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, the Hogeschool voor Economische Studies Amsterdam and the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, which includes the Sweelinck Conservatorium. Amsterdam has two universities: the University of Amsterdam (Universiteit van Amsterdam), and the Vrije Universiteit. See also: List of mayors of Amsterdam. Local decisions are made at borough level, and only affairs pertaining to the whole city, such as major infrastructure projects, are handled by the central city council.

The fifteenth, Westerpoort, covers the harbour of Amsterdam, has very few inhabitants, and is governed by the central municipal council. Fourteen of these have their own council, chosen by a popular election. The stadsdelen are responsible for many activities that previously had been run by the central city. However, unlike most other Dutch municipalities, Amsterdam is subdivided into fifteen stadsdelen (boroughs), a system that was implemented in the 1980s to improve local governance.

As all Dutch municipalities, Amsterdam is governed by a mayor, his wethouders (aldermen), and the municipal council. Main article: Amsterdam (municipality). The Westertoren also features the imperial crown. The crown was a sign of imperial protection and acted as a seal of approval for Amsterdam merchants abroad.

The crown was awarded to the city in 1489 by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, out of gratitude for services and loans. The lions were added in the sixteenth century. The city's official motto, Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig ("Valiant, Resolute, Merciful") which is displayed on the coat of arms, was bestowed on it by Queen Wilhelmina in 1947 in recognition of the city's bravery during World War II. Historians believe they represent the three dangers which have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence.

The coat of arms of Amsterdam is composed of three St Andrew's crosses, aligned vertically, but rotated 90 degrees for the flag. Most of the trees in Amsterdam were cut down for fuel. Many inhabitants of the city had to travel to the countryside to collect food. In the last months of the war communication with the rest of the country broke down and food and fuel became scarce.

Only 5,000 Jews survived the war. More than 80,000 Jews were deported to concentration camps, of whom perhaps the most famous was a young German girl, Anne Frank. The Germans installed a Nazi civilian government in Amsterdam that cooperated in the persecution of Jews. Germany invaded the Netherlands in 10 May 1940, taking control of the country after five days of fighting.

In riots caused by the shortages several people were killed. Amsterdam suffered a food shortage and heating fuel became scarce. During World War I, the Netherlands remained neutral. Shortly before the First World War the city began expanding and new suburbs were built.

Amsterdam's population grew significantly during this period. New museums, a train station, and the Concertgebouw were built. The end of the 19th century is sometimes called Amsterdam's second Golden Age. Between 1850 and 1900 population doubled to about 500,000.

They gave the economy a big boost. Both projects improved communication with the rest of Europe and the world dramatically. The Amsterdam-Rhine Canal was dug to give Amsterdam a direct connection to the Rhine and the North Sea Canal to give the port a shorter connection to the North Sea. At the end of the 19th century the Industrial Revolution reached Amsterdam.

In Amsterdam new developments were started by people like Sarphati who found their inspiration in Paris. However, with the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, things slowly began to improve. During the Napoleonic Wars Amsterdam's fortunes reached their lowest point. The wars of the Dutch Republic with the United Kingdom and France took their toll on Amsterdam.

The 18th and early 19th centuries saw a decline in Amsterdam's prosperity. During the century before World War II it almost quadrupled, but then remained fairly constant again to this day. Thereafter, the population did not change much for another century and a half. The population grew from slightly over 10,000 around 1500 to 30,000 around 1570, 60,000 around 1600, 105,000 in 1622 and almost 200,000 around 1700 (a twenty fold increase in 200 years).

Amsterdam's stock exchange was the first to trade continuously. Amsterdam was the most important point for the trans-shipment of goods in Europe and it was the leading financial centre of the world. These companies acquired the overseas possessions which formed the seeds of the later Dutch colonies. Amsterdam's merchants had the biggest share in the VOC and WIC.

Ships sailed from Amsterdam to North America, Africa and present-day Indonesia and Brazil and formed the basis of a worldwide trading network. In the early 17th century Amsterdam was the richest city in Europe. The 17th century is considered Amsterdam's "Golden Age". It was the rich, refined migrants from Flanders who set the tone (their Brabant dialects became the basis of standard written Dutch) and made Holland a mercantile power.

The Dutch Republic became known for its relative religious tolerance and Jews from Spain and Portugal, prosperous merchants from Antwerp (economic and religious refugees from the part of the Low Countries still controlled by Spain), Huguenots from France (persecuted for their religion) sought safety in Amsterdam. The 16th century brought a rebellion by the Dutch against Philip II of Spain and his successors, escalating into the Eighty Years' War which ultimately led to Dutch independence. From the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely on the basis of trade with the cities of the Hanseatic League. It was given city rights in 1300 or 1301.

The damming of the river Amstel gave it its name. According to legend Amsterdam was founded by two Frisian fishermen, who landed on the shores of the Amstel in a small boat with their dog. Amsterdam was founded as a fishing village in the 13th century. Main article: History of Amsterdam.

. Although Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, it is neither the capital of the province in which it is located, North Holland (which is Haarlem), nor the seat of government (which is The Hague). Notable are also its red-light district, de Wallen, and its numerous "coffee shops" selling cannabis. The city is noted for many outstanding museums, including the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, Rembrandt House Museum, the Anne Frank House, and its world-class symphony orchestra, the Concertgebouworkest, whose home base is the Concertgebouw.

Some of the narrow brick houses are gradually sinking because they are built on piles to cope with the marshy subsoil. Many fine houses and mansions are situated along the canals; most are lived in, others are now offices, and some are public buildings. At this time, a series of concentric, semi-circular canals were built around the older city centre, which still defines its layout and appearance today. Amsterdam has one of the largest historic city centres in Europe, dating largely from the 17th century, the Golden Age of the Netherlands, of which it was the focal point.

As of 2005, the population of the city proper is 742,951^[1]; the population of the greater Amsterdam area is approximately one and a half million. Founded in the late 12th century as a small fishing village on the banks of the Amstel, it is now the largest city in the country and its financial and cultural centre. Amsterdam, (pronunciation (help·info)) the capital of the Netherlands, lies on the banks of two bodies of water, the IJ bay and the Amstel river. ^  City of Amsterdam statistics service in Dutch.

Cannabis Cup, mid-November annual cannabis competition, hosted by High Times. Sail Amsterdam, a five-yearly event, when tall ships from all over the world can be visited. Amsterdam Marathon, mid-October. Amsterdam Pride, mid-August, gay pride weekend.

International music festival. Amsterdam Roots, last week of June. Uitmarkt, last weekend in August, the start of the cultural season. Koninginnedag, Queen's day, 30 April, the former Queen's (Juliana) birthday.

a Fast Flying Ferry towards Velsen-Zuid on the North Sea shore. several ferries for pedestrians and cyclists across the IJ (free of charge). 55 bus lines (not included regional and national lines). An express tram line (IJtram).

16 tram lines. 3 metro lines and 1 light rail line, together the Amsterdam metro. national and international train connections.