Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a seaport and largest city of The Netherlands. Amsterdam is located in Noord-Holland (North Holland) Province, on the IJ (an arm of the IJsselmeer), near The Hague. It is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of The Netherlands, as well as the country's official capital; however, the real center of national government is in The Hague.

Amsterdam is a remarkably flat city. Most of the metropolis rests on a foundation of piles driven through peat and sand to a firm substratum of clay. More than 160 canals divide the city into about 90 islands, which are joined by more than 1,000 bridges. The many canals are a famed attraction for visitors, as are the city's thousands of historic buildings and homes, world-class museums, and tolerant social attitudes. Check online

Commerce and Transportation

Located in a central position within the European Union (EU), Amsterdam is one of Europe's most important commercial centers. A number of international corporations have their European headquarters in the city. Amsterdam's leading industries include shipbuilding, sugar refining, publishing, brewing, and the manufacture of heavy machinery, paper products, textiles and clothing, porcelain and glass, aircraft, automobiles, and chemicals. The city is also famous as a center for polishing and cutting diamonds.

The service sector employs the great majority of Amsterdam's workers. It includes business services, such as consulting, telecommunications, and information technology; banking, insurance, and real estate services; trade and transportation services; and cultural, health, education, and social services. Amsterdam is the chief financial center of The Netherlands, and the Dutch branch of the multinational Euronext securities exchange is located in the city. Amsterdam is also home to the headquarters of the Bank of The Netherlands and several large insurance firms. Tourism is important to the local economy.

Amsterdam is The Netherlands' second largest port, after Rotterdam, and it is linked to the North Sea and to other European countries by a network of railways, highways, and canals. The North Sea Canal, opened in 1876, is navigable by oceangoing vessels. The North Holland Canal, opened in 1824, also reaches the North Sea. The Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, opened in 1952, connects Amsterdam to the Rhine, a major shipping artery of Europe. The Schiphol Airport outside Amsterdam is one of Europe's busiest, and it continues to be expanded.

Electric trams provide public transportation within the city, and a modern commuter train and tram system connects to the greater metropolitan area. Work officially began in 2003 on a subway portion of this system that runs north and south under the city. Bicycles are a widely used form of transportation and private automobiles are restricted in the city center.

Population

In 2004 Amsterdam had a population of 739,300. The greater metropolitan area is home to about 1.30 million people. Most citizens speak Dutch, the national language, and several other languages are also widely spoken, especially English and German. About 38 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, the largest religious group, followed by Protestants, who make up about 30 percent of the population.

History

Amsterdam began as a medieval fishing village on the mouth of the Amstel River. The settlement got its name in the 1200s after a dam was constructed between dikes to protect farmlands from flooding. The first written record of the name (originally spelled Amstelredam) is from 1275. Amsterdam was chartered as a city about the year 1300, and it became a member of the Hanseatic League (a German trading association) in 1369.

The city held its dominant commercial position until the late 18th century, when trade declined as a result of the silting of the Zuider Zee and the British blockade before and during the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). In 1810 Napoleon incorporated The Netherlands into the French Empire. After his downfall The Netherlands regained its independence and the seat of government was moved from Amsterdam to The Hague. In the latter part of the 19th century, commercial activities revived with the opening of the North Sea and Merwede canals.

During the 1960s Amsterdam became a center for social and political activism. Spearheading such activism were radical groups such as the Provos, a youth organization known for staging street theater events, called happenings, and demonstrations that sometimes sparked riots. The city's tolerant attitude toward drug use and alternative lifestyles also attracted large numbers of hippies and other young people. In the 1970s growing use of hard drugs, including heroin, led to an increase in crime. Media coverage of Amsterdam conveyed a negative image that the city has worked hard to counter.

In recent decades, Amsterdam has undertaken major urban renewal efforts to replace or rebuild some older parts of the city. Lack of affordable housing remains a serious problem, however, and it has led to confrontations with well-organized squatters, who take over unoccupied buildings to live rent-free or to prevent demolitions.

Amsterdam entered the 21st century with innovative plans for using technology to bring economic, social, and educational benefits. City-sponsored projects included providing free computers to school-aged children in low-income households and the construction of a universal public fiber-optic network to meet demands for high-speed Internet and other data services.

Rotterdam International Sea Port

It is the largest and most modern port in the world. It is located at the mouth of R. Rhine, and R. Maas (Meuse) Delta.

The river inlet at its mouth as well as the ship canals have been widened and deepened in: -order to accommodate large ocean going vessels in the North sea.

The rapid growth and development of this international seaport has gone hand in hand with its hinterland, which is richly productive.

Rotterdam as a centre - port serves not only Netherlands but France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland ad Northern Italy as its hinterland.

The unique geographical position of Rotterdam at the mouth of R. Rhine makes it a gateway to Europe and gives the above countries easy access to transport. Hence Rotterdam is a focus of roads, railways, airports, canals and oil pipelines which are, however, used to bring on raw materials and to take out finished products through this important sea port.

Nevertheless, custom duties levied on both export goods create a large part of revenue approximately 80% of the total revenue for Netherlands as a country.

Europort in Netherlands constitutes a part of Rotterdam and is considered as the "Gateway to Europe". It is estimated that over 384 vessels are accommodated every after 6 minutes in this international sea port during day and at-night.

The Importance of Rotterdam

It was necessary to develop Europoort because of:-

An enormous increase on demand for large storage oil tanks and for refined petroleum products namely synthetic clothes, tyres, tar, plastics among others Now Europoort is the largest oil - importing port taking on 250,000 tons, tankers. A pipeline now links Europort with refineries of Rotterdam and Ruhr region in West Germany.

Large supertankers holding a capacity of 500,000 ton each are able to carry cargo which include Iron ore, grain, oil seeds, solid fuel among others Which can easily be accommodated in the various docks at Europort in its massive warehouse.

The rapid speed of containers traffic also facilitates the carrying of general merchandise, petro- chemical products and metallurgical products with modern roll on and off techniques applied. Rotterdam, however, has fully equipped berths for container ships.

In addition to Europoort, two other ports have come into existence , namely Botlek and Rijnpoort. Botlek is an extension of the South East of Rotterdam. It is an important petroleum port for huge tankers of 60,000 ton capacity which serve various oil refineries that include Shell, Caltex and Total. It has developed, however, a modern industrial complex dealing with petro- chemical and pharmaceutical products.

Rijnpoort is opposite to Hork of Holland and 6 km from the North Sea. It is equipped with up to date facilities for container ships, ferries, aces liners, hovercrafts with hundred of cranes, loading bridges, dry docks, wheat elevators, railway network and ship building yards,

Industrial Development at Rotterdam

Until World war II Rotterdam's main trade was concerned with the transshipment of the bulk of goods from central Europe particularly from the Ruhr industrial region.

With the reconstruction of the port, new plans were drawn for the port to acquire various forms of industries.

In 1947 a plan for a modern port with a presentation of an industrial complex at Botlek was made to the North Sea. Generally, her industries include petroleum refining industries with pipelines leading to Cologne, Frankfurt in Germany and to Amsterdam.

It has one of the largest ship building industries in the world and marine engineering industry. Other industries include flourmills, chemical industries at Havenpoort. It has large fish canning industries, cooking oil producing industries at Botlek. Metallurgical industries are also equally important in this area.

Rotterdam imports the following raw materials from Africa:- coffee, tea, rubber, bauxite, tungsten, for its factories.

On the other hand, Europort is important for her heavy industries with a combined capacity of over 100 metric tones annually. On average, loaded super tanks of over 156,000 tons arrive here of discharge cargo everyday. Her industries include Blast furnaces, iron and Steel mills, chemical and fertilizer works it handles the following products for export-

Cars and spare parts, locomotive, textile machinery, synthetic clothes, Drugs, Glasses, plastic goods. Food processing machines, electrical engines, Aircrafts, paper and printing machines.

Container Transit at Rotterdam.

Containers are large metal boxes packed with merchandise or finished products and are sealed so as to remain closed until they reach their destination.

Rotterdam has fully equipped berths to handle container ship. The introduction of containers has meant a large investment of capital but has made the handling of cargo much easier and safer and has reduced the handling of goods themselves to a minimum. The lifting of such heavy containers done by cranes. Rijnpoort is the modern port fully fledged with up - to date facilitates to handle container cargo in Rotterdam.

Problems

Although Rotterdam is an important transit port which handles goods beyond its own and for other hinterland territories like other ports it faces some serious problems.

It faces the problem of silting (deposition of silt, pebbles, and sand etc) at the mouth of the river. This hinders smooth transportation of goods by ships within the harbor.

Pollution is another snag within the atmosphere.

Netherlands: Major Sea Ports

Poisonous gases are emitted on spaces from the chemical industries. This does not only contaminate drinking water but also oxygen needed for human consumption.

Traffic jam or ship congestion. During rush hours at a high tide levels more ships report at different docks and berth that which can be accommodated with convenience. This causes delays in transshipment of certain goods.

Accommodation: with the influx of people seeking for jobs it has been necessary to resettle these people in residential quarters and yet Netherlands is densely populated with her own people.