Article: Delta City Amsterdam, the Annexed Areas and Water Management
An article by Maarten Ouboter and Wilko Koning written for the Amsterdam Heritage Days 2021
Amsterdam has a long tradition in 'handling water'. This is already implied in the origin of the name: a Dam was built in the Amstel to establish a trade center at the meeting point of the river and the sea (the IJ was in open connection with the Zuiderzee). It is remarkable that such a location clearly entailed risks. Foreigners are often surprised by this: why would you live on the waterline, or in the case of the surrounding polders even below it? The same kind of question can be asked of people who live at the foot of a volcano. Apparently, the fertility of the soil there outweighs the risks of a volcanic eruption.
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