North Sea
The North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and France. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north, it is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres. The North Sea has long been the site of important European shipping lanes as well as a major fishery; the sea is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries and more has developed into a rich source of energy resources including fossil fuels and early efforts in wave power. The North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs in Northern Europe, it was important globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Vikings' rise. Subsequently, the Hanseatic League, the Netherlands, the British each sought to dominate the North Sea and thus access to the world's markets and resources.
As Germany's only outlet to the ocean, the North Sea continued to be strategically important through both World Wars. The coast of the North Sea presents a diversity of geographical features. In the north, deep fjords and sheer cliffs mark the Norwegian and Scottish coastlines, whereas in the south, the coast consists of sandy beaches and wide mudflats. Due to the dense population, heavy industrialization, intense use of the sea and area surrounding it, there have been various environmental issues affecting the sea's ecosystems. Adverse environmental issues – including overfishing and agricultural runoff and dumping, among others – have led to a number of efforts to prevent degradation of the sea while still making use of its economic potential; the North Sea is bounded by the Orkney Islands and east coast of Great Britain to the west and the northern and central European mainland to the east and south, including Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and France. In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean.
In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively. In the north it is bordered by the Shetland Islands, connects with the Norwegian Sea, which lies in the north-eastern part of the Atlantic; the North Sea is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres and a volume of 54,000 cubic kilometres. Around the edges of the North Sea are sizeable islands and archipelagos, including Shetland and the Frisian Islands; the North Sea receives freshwater from a number of European continental watersheds, as well as the British Isles. A large part of the European drainage basin empties into the North Sea, including water from the Baltic Sea; the largest and most important rivers flowing into the North Sea are the Elbe and the Rhine – Meuse watershed. Around 185 million people live in the catchment area of the rivers discharging into the North Sea encompassing some industrialized areas.
For the most part, the sea lies on the European continental shelf with a mean depth of 90 metres. The only exception is the Norwegian trench, which extends parallel to the Norwegian shoreline from Oslo to an area north of Bergen, it has a maximum depth of 725 metres. The Dogger Bank, a vast moraine, or accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris, rises to a mere 15 to 30 m below the surface; this feature has produced the finest fishing location of the North Sea. The Long Forties and the Broad Fourteens are large areas with uniform depth in fathoms; these great banks and others make the North Sea hazardous to navigate, alleviated by the implementation of satellite navigation systems. The Devil's Hole lies 200 miles east of Scotland; the feature is a series of asymmetrical trenches between 20 and 30 kilometres long and two kilometres wide and up to 230 metres deep. Other areas which are less deep are Fisher Bank and Noordhinder Bank; the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the North Sea as follows: On the Southwest.
A line joining the Walde Lighthouse and Leathercoat Point. On the Northwest. From Dunnet Head in Scotland to Tor Ness in the Island of Hoy, thence through this island to the Kame of Hoy on to Breck Ness on Mainland through this island to Costa Head and to Inga Ness in Westray through Westray, to Bow Head, across to Mull Head and on to Seal Skerry and thence to Horse Island. On the North. From the North point of the Mainland of the Shetland Islands, across to Graveland Ness in the Island of Yell, through Yell to Gloup Ness and across to Spoo Ness in Unst island, through Unst to Herma Ness, on to the SW point of the Rumblings and to Muckle Flugga all these being included in the North Sea area.
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these items available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary; the largest museums are located in major cities throughout the world, while thousands of local museums exist in smaller cities and rural areas. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public; the goal of serving researchers is shifting to serving the general public. There are many types of museums, including art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums, children's museums. Amongst the world's largest and most visited museums are the Louvre in Paris, the National Museum of China in Beijing, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C. the British Museum and National Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and Vatican Museums in Vatican City.
According to The World Museum Community, there are more than 55,000 museums in 202 countries. The English "museum" comes from the Latin word, is pluralized as "museums", it is from the Ancient Greek Μουσεῖον, which denotes a place or temple dedicated to the Muses, hence a building set apart for study and the arts the Musaeum for philosophy and research at Alexandria by Ptolemy I Soter about 280 BC. The purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve and display items of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. From a visitor or community perspective, the purpose can depend on one's point of view. A trip to a local history museum or large city art museum can be an entertaining and enlightening way to spend the day. To city leaders, a healthy museum community can be seen as a gauge of the economic health of a city, a way to increase the sophistication of its inhabitants. To a museum professional, a museum might be seen as a way to educate the public about the museum's mission, such as civil rights or environmentalism.
Museums are, above all, storehouses of knowledge. In 1829, James Smithson's bequest, that would fund the Smithsonian Institution, stated he wanted to establish an institution "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge."Museums of natural history in the late 19th century exemplified the Victorian desire for consumption and for order. Gathering all examples of each classification of a field of knowledge for research and for display was the purpose; as American colleges grew in the 19th century, they developed their own natural history collections for the use of their students. By the last quarter of the 19th century, the scientific research in the universities was shifting toward biological research on a cellular level, cutting edge research moved from museums to university laboratories. While many large museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution, are still respected as research centers, research is no longer a main purpose of most museums. While there is an ongoing debate about the purposes of interpretation of a museum's collection, there has been a consistent mission to protect and preserve artifacts for future generations.
Much care and expense is invested in preservation efforts to retard decomposition in aging documents, artifacts and buildings. All museums display objects; as historian Steven Conn writes, "To see the thing itself, with one's own eyes and in a public place, surrounded by other people having some version of the same experience can be enchanting."Museum purposes vary from institution to institution. Some favor education over conservation, or vice versa. For example, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum favored education over preservation of their objects, they displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a historic printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia; some seek to reach a wide audience, such as a national or state museum, while some museums have specific audiences, like the LDS Church History Museum or local history organizations. Speaking, museums collect objects of significance that comply with their mission statement for conservation and display.
Although most museums do not allow physical contact with the associated artifacts, there are some that are interactive and encourage a more hands-on approach. In 2009, Hampton Court Palace, palace of Henry VIII, opened the council room to the general public to create an interactive environment for visitors. Rather than allowing visitors to handle 500-year-old objects, the museum created replicas, as well as replica costumes; the daily activities, historic clothing, temperature changes immerse the visitor in a slice of what Tudor life may have been. This section lists the 20 most visited museums in 2015 as compiled by AECOM and the Themed Entertainment Association's annual report on the world's most visited attractions. For 2016 figures see List of most visited museums; the cities of London and Washington, D. C. contain more of the 20 most visited museums in the world than any others, with six museums and four museums, respectively. Early museums began as the private collections of wealthy individuals, families or institutions of art and rare or curious natural objects and artifacts.
These were displayed in so-called wonder rooms or cabinets of curiosities. One of the oldest museums known is Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum, built by Princess Ennigaldi at the end of the Neo-Babylonian Empire; the site dates from c. 530 BCE, contained artifacts from earlier M
Cornelis Lely
Cornelis Lely was a Dutch politician of the Liberal Union and civil engineer. He oversaw the passage of an act of parliament authorising construction of the Zuiderzee Works, a huge project – designed to his own plans – that turned the Zuiderzee into a lake and made possible the conversion of a vast area of former seabed into dry land. Cornelis Lely was born on 23 September 1854 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, son of an oilseed trader. Lely went to the Hogere Burgerschool, he studied at the Polytechnic School in Delft and graduated as civil engineer in 1875. Between 1886 and 1891, Lely led the technical research team that explored the possibility approved by a State Commission, of enclosing the Zuiderzee; the Dutch parliament passed the law creating the Zuiderzee Works in 14 June 1918. He served three times Minister of Transport and Water Management and in this role was hugely influential in advocating the implementation of his own plans; the scheme was approved and realised after severe flooding along the shores of the Zuiderzee in 1916.
In 1898 as minister he implemented a law on local railroads and tramways, which played a significant role in the development of the Dutch countryside. In 1895 Lely became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. Lely was governor of Surinam from 1902 to 1905. In Surinam he achieved the construction of the Lawarailroad; the city of Lelystad, situated in the Eastern Flevoland polder and capital of Flevoland province, was named after him. The flags of the province and of the city are both adorned with a white fleur-de-lys to note his contribution. In the city of Amsterdam "Cornelis Lelylaan", a major thoroughfare, is named after him and Amsterdam Lelylaan, one of the city's main railway stations, is sited on this road. In 1905, the Surinamese village of Kofi Djompo was renamed Lelydorp in his honour. Most of the railway has now gone, it lies on the road from Paramaribo to Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport. A statue of Lely stands on the western point of the Afsluitdijk, it was sculpted by Mari Andriessen and dedicated on 23 September 1954, the 100th anniversary of Lely's birth.
A replica of this statue stands in the center of Lelystad, on a 35-metre-high tower of basalt blocks, designed by Hans van Houwelingen. In Lelystad's city hall is a statue of Lely made by Piet Esser. Dr. C. Lely Parlement & Politiek Dr. C. Lely Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal Works by Cornelis Lely at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Cornelis Lely at Internet Archive
Engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, analyze and test machines, systems and materials to fulfill objectives and requirements while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, regulation and cost. The word engineer is derived from the Latin words ingenium; the foundational qualifications of an engineer include a four-year bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline, or in some jurisdictions, a master's degree in an engineering discipline plus four to six years of peer-reviewed professional practice and passage of engineering board examinations. The work of engineers forms the link between scientific discoveries and their subsequent applications to human and business needs and quality of life. In 1961, the Conference of Engineering Societies of Western Europe and the United States of America defined "professional engineer" as follows: A professional engineer is competent by virtue of his/her fundamental education and training to apply the scientific method and outlook to the analysis and solution of engineering problems.
He/she is able to assume personal responsibility for the development and application of engineering science and knowledge, notably in research, construction, superintending, managing and in the education of the engineer. His/her work is predominantly intellectual and varied and not of a routine mental or physical character, it requires the exercise of original thought and judgement and the ability to supervise the technical and administrative work of others. His/her education will have been such as to make him/her capable of and continuously following progress in his/her branch of engineering science by consulting newly published works on a worldwide basis, assimilating such information and applying it independently. He/she is thus placed in a position to make contributions to the development of engineering science or its applications. His/her education and training will have been such that he/she will have acquired a broad and general appreciation of the engineering sciences as well as thorough insight into the special features of his/her own branch.
In due time he/she will be able to give authoritative technical advice and to assume responsibility for the direction of important tasks in his/her branch. Engineers develop new technological solutions. During the engineering design process, the responsibilities of the engineer may include defining problems and narrowing research, analyzing criteria and analyzing solutions, making decisions. Much of an engineer's time is spent on researching, locating and transferring information. Indeed, research suggests engineers spend 56% of their time engaged in various information behaviours, including 14% searching for information. Engineers must weigh different design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best matches the requirements and needs, their crucial and unique task is to identify and interpret the constraints on a design in order to produce a successful result. Engineers apply techniques of engineering analysis in production, or maintenance. Analytical engineers may supervise production in factories and elsewhere, determine the causes of a process failure, test output to maintain quality.
They estimate the time and cost required to complete projects. Supervisory engineers are responsible for entire projects. Engineering analysis involves the application of scientific analytic principles and processes to reveal the properties and state of the system, device or mechanism under study. Engineering analysis proceeds by separating the engineering design into the mechanisms of operation or failure, analyzing or estimating each component of the operation or failure mechanism in isolation, recombining the components, they may analyze risk. Many engineers use computers to produce and analyze designs, to simulate and test how a machine, structure, or system operates, to generate specifications for parts, to monitor the quality of products, to control the efficiency of processes. Most engineers specialize in one or more engineering disciplines. Numerous specialties are recognized by professional societies, each of the major branches of engineering has numerous subdivisions. Civil engineering, for example, includes structural and transportation engineering and materials engineering include ceramic and polymer engineering.
Mechanical engineering cuts across just about every discipline since its core essence is applied physics. Engineers may specialize in one industry, such as motor vehicles, or in one type of technology, such as turbines or semiconductor materials. Several recent studies have investigated. Research suggests that there are several key themes present in engineers' work: technical work, social work, computer-based work and information behaviours. Among other more detailed findings, a recent work sampling study found that engineers spend 62.92% of their time engaged in technical work, 40.37% in social work, 49.66% in computer-based work. Furthermore, there was considerable overlap between these different types of work, with engineers spending 24.96% of their time engaged in technical and social work, 37.97% in technical and non-social, 15.42% in non-technical and social, 21.66% in non-technical and non-social. Engineering is an information-intensive field, with research finding that engineers spend 55
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is the remains of a ship that has wrecked, which are found either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be accidental. In January 1999, Angela Croome estimated that there have been about three million shipwrecks worldwide. Historic wrecks are attractive to maritime archaeologists because they preserve historical information: for example, studying the wreck of Mary Rose revealed information about seafaring and life in the 16th century. Military wrecks, caused by a skirmish at sea, are studied to find details about the historic event. Discoveries of treasure ships from the period of European colonisation, which sank in remote locations leaving few living witnesses, such as Batavia, do occur as well; some contemporary wrecks, such as the oil tankers Prestige or Erika, are of interest because of their potential harm to the environment. Other contemporary wrecks are scuttled in order to spur reef growth, such as Adolphus Busch and Ocean Freeze. Wrecks like Adolphus Busch and historic wrecks such as Thistlegorm are of interest to recreational divers that dive to shipwrecks because they are interesting to explore, provide large habitats for many types of marine life, have an interesting history.
Well known shipwrecks include the catastrophic Titanic, Lusitania, Empress of Ireland, Andrea Doria, or Costa Concordia. There are thousands of wrecks that were not lost at sea but have been abandoned or sunk; these abandoned, or derelict ships are smaller craft, such as fishing vessels. They may be removed by port authorities. Poor design, improperly stowed cargo and other human errors leading to collisions, bad weather and other causes can lead to accidental sinkings. Intentional reasons for sinking a ship include forming an artificial reef. A ship can be used as breakwater structure. Many factors determine the state of preservation of a wreck: the ship's construction materials the wreck becoming covered in sand or silt the salinity of the water the wreck is in the level of destruction involved in the ship's loss whether the components or cargo of the wreck were salvaged whether the wreck was demolished to clear a navigable channel the depth of water at the wreck site the strength of tidal currents or wave action at the wreck site the exposure to surface weather conditions at the wreck site the presence of marine animals that consume the ship's fabric temperature the acidity, other chemical characteristics of the water at the siteThe above - the stratification and the damages caused by marine creatures - is better described as "stratification and contamination" of shipwrecks.
The stratification not only creates another challenge for marine archaeology, but a challenge to determine its primary state, i.e. the state that it was in when it sank. Stratification includes several different types of sand and silt, as well as tumulus and encrustations; these "sediments" are linked to the type of currents and the type of water, which implies any chemical reactions that would affect potential cargo. Besides this geological phenomenon, wrecks face the damage of marine creatures that create a home out of them octopuses and crustaceans; these creatures affect the primary state because they move, or break, any parts of the shipwreck that are in their way, thereby affecting the original condition of amphorae, for example, or any other hollow places. In addition to the slight or severe destruction marine animals can create, there are "external" contaminants, such as the artifacts on and around the wreck at Pickles Reef and the over-lapping wrecks at the Molasses Reef Wreck, or contemporary pollution in bodies of water, that affect shipwrecks by changing the chemical structures, or further damaging what is left of a specific ship.
Despite these challenges, if the information retrieved does not appear to be sufficient, or a poor preservation is achieved, authors like J. A. Parker claim that it is the historical value of the shipwreck that counts as well as any slight piece of information or evidence, acquired. Exposed wooden components decay quickly; the only wooden parts of ships that remain after a century are those that were buried in silt or sand soon after the sinking. An example of this is Mary Rose. Steel and iron, depending on their thickness, may retain the ship's structure for decades; as corrosion takes place, sometimes helped by tides and weather, the structure collapses. Thick ferrous objects such as cannons, steam boilers or the pressure vessel of a submarine survive well underwater in spite of corrosion. Propellers, condensers and port holes were made from non-ferrous metals such as brass and phosphor bronze, which do not corrode easily. Shipwrecks in some freshwater lakes, such as the Great Lakes of North America, have remained intact with little degradation.
In some sea areas, most notably in Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland, salinity is low, centuries-old wrecks have been preserved in reasonable condition. However, bacteria found in fresh water cause the wood on ships to rot more than in seawater unless it is deprived of oxygen. Two shipwrecks, USS Hamilton and USS Scourge, have been at the bottom of Lake Ontario since they sunk during a violent storm on August 8, 1813, during the War of 1812, they are
Aviodrome
The Nationaal Luchtvaart-Themapark Aviodrome is a large aerospace museum in the Netherlands, located on Lelystad Airport since 2003. The museum was located at Schiphol Airport. In 1955 several organisations, such as the airline KLM and aircraft manufacturer Fokker, initiated a foundation called "Stichting voor het Nationaal Luchtvaartmuseum" with the single goal of creating a national aviation museum; the first installment of this aviation museum opened its doors in 1960 on Schiphol airport under the name Aeroplanorama and had only seven aircraft on display. It closed its doors in 1967 and a new museum called Aviodome was opened in 1971 on Schiphol; the main building was a large aluminium geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller, the largest in the world at the time, which housed most of the aircraft on display. Hence the'dome' in the name Aviodome. Over time, the location became too small for the growing aircraft collection and in 2003 the museum was moved to a new location on Lelystad Airport.
The building at Schiphol was demolished and the name was changed to Aviodrome. On the current location, it has three buildings: the main building where most of the aircraft on display are located and where there's a restaurant and a cinema, a replica of the old Schiphol terminal building from 1928 and a hangar for aircraft storage with limited access for visitors. Added to the aviation theme were several artifacts from several Dutch space programs, such as the backup flight-article of ANS, a mockup of IRAS and the high-speed windtunnel model of the Huygens probe. In doing so the aviation museum became an aerospace museum. Due to bankruptcy, the museum closed on 25 December 2011, but it reopened on 28 April 2012 after a takeover by the Libéma Group. Note that not all aircraft listed are on display or present at the museum; the museum frequently houses or is visited by aircraft that are not owned by the museum. Aérospatiale Dauphin 2 Agusta - Bell 204B UH-1 Alsema Sagitta ANR-1 airship gondola Antonov An-2 Auster J.1 Autocrat BAC Jet Provost B.
A. T. F. K.23 Bantam 4x balloon basket Ballooncapsule Dutch Viking Beechcraft D-18, used in the James Bond movie Octopussy Birdman Cherokee Blackburn Buccaneer Blériot XI Boeing 747-200 Louis Blériot Bölkow Bo 105 Cierva C.30A Autogiro Consolidated PBY5A Catalina Cessna 172 De Havilland Canada Beaver De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth 2x De Havilland DH.104 Dove DFS Olympia 2x Douglas C-47 Skytrain 2x Douglas DC-2 Douglas DC-3 Douglas DC-4 Skymaster Evans VP-1 Volksplane V-1 "Flying bomb" Firebird ultralight 2x Fokker Spin Fokker Dr. I Fokker F.2 Fokker B-4A Fokker C-5D Fokker F-7a Fokker F-8 "Duif" Fokker S-4 2x Fokker S-11 instructor Fokker S-12 Fokker S-13 Fokker S-14 machtrainer 2x Fokker F-27 Friendship Fokker F-27-050 Fokker 100 Mock-up cockpit Fokker 100 Fouga Magister 2x Grumman S2N Tracker Grunau Baby Hawker Sea Fury Hawker Hunter Mk.4 Hawker Sea Hawk Junkers Ju 52 Lilienthal Gleitflugzeug replica Lockheed L-749 Constellation 2x Lockheed F-104 Starfighter Lockheed SP2H Neptune MiG-21 PFM Fishbed-F 2x Mignet HM-14 Pou du Ciel N.
H. I. H.2 Kolibri N. H. I. H.3 Kolibri Noorduyn C-64 Norseman Noorduyn Harvard North American B.25 Mitchell Pander Zögling Piper J-3 Cub Raytheon Hawk missile Rienks R-1B giroglider Rogallo sailplane "Engel" prototype Rogallo sailplane Penguin Rogallo sailplane La Mouette Cobra Saab 91D Safir Saab Viggen 3x Schleicher Ka-4 Rhönlerche Schleicher Ka-8B Sikorski S-55 3x Stearman Hammond Y-1S Sud Aviation SE.210 Caravelle Supermarine Spitfire Van Ommeren VO-3 Westland WS-51 Dragonfly Wright Flyer replica Astronomical Netherlands Satellite Infrared Astronomy Satellite - IRAS Huygens probe In 2004 the last of KLM's classic Boeing 747-200's named Louis Blériot was sold to the Aviodrome for the symbolic amount of 1 euro. Though the aircraft could still fly, Lelystad Airport was too small to handle such a large aircraft so the aircraft was disassembled and moved over water on a barge with the wings and empennage removed and stored alongside the fuselage so the aircraft could fit under bridges along the way.
After the journey over water that attracted a lot of attention the aircraft was lifted from the barge at Harderwijk and the last bit of the trip took place over land. At its final location the aircraft was opened to the public; the tail was fitted with a top beacon since, the Boeing now is a building. One of the most spectacular pieces in the collection of the Aviodrome is the Lockheed L-749 Constellation just called Connie. After several years of restoration work it was flown over to the Netherlands in 2002 from the United States where it had been in storage. More work, including a new paintjob, was done to the aircraft in the Netherlands but sadly the aircraft suffered from engine problems in 2004. To resolve this, two replacement engines coming from the Korean Air museum were fitted. However, it hasn't flown since 2004, performances by the aircraft being limited to engine runs only. De Uiver was the name of a Douglas DC-2 that placed second in the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race, only being beaten by a purpose built de Havilland DH.88 racer Grosvenor House.
The real Uiver, an old Dutch word for Stork, no longer exists. The Aviodrome owns
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the capital city and most populous municipality of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 854,047 within the city proper, 1,357,675 in the urban area and 2,410,960 in the metropolitan area; the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country but is not its capital, Haarlem. The Amsterdam metropolitan area comprises much of the northern part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe, which has a population of 8.1 million. Amsterdam's name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city's origin around a dam in the river Amstel. Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age, as a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the city was the leading centre for trade. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, many new neighbourhoods and suburbs were planned and built.
The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Since the annexation of the municipality of Sloten in 1921 by the municipality of Amsterdam, the oldest historic part of the city lies in Sloten, dating to the 9th century; as the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered an alpha- world city by the Globalization and World Cities study group. The city is the cultural capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, including Philips, AkzoNobel, TomTom and ING. Many of the world's largest companies are based in Amsterdam or established their European headquarters in the city, such as leading technology companies Uber and Tesla. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment and infrastructure by Mercer; the city was ranked 4th place globally as top tech hub in the Savills Tech Cities 2019 report, 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009.
The Port of Amsterdam to this day remains the second in the country, the fifth largest seaport in Europe. Famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, philosopher Baruch Spinoza; the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city centre. Amsterdam's main attractions include its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, the Anne Frank House, the Scheepvaartmuseum, the Amsterdam Museum, the Heineken Experience, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, Natura Artis Magistra, Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, NEMO, the red-light district and many cannabis coffee shops, they draw more than 5 million international visitors annually. The city is well known for its nightlife and festival activity, it is one of the world's most multicultural cities, with at least 177 nationalities represented. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river and a dam across it, giving its name to the village: "Aemstelredamme".
The earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated 27 October 1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V. This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges and dams; the certificate describes the inhabitants. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam. Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century; this does not mean that there was a settlement since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat, for use as fuel. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306. From the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished from trade with the Hanseatic League. In 1345, an alleged Eucharistic miracle in the Kalverstraat rendered the city an important place of pilgrimage until the adoption of the Protestant faith.
The Miracle devotion was kept alive. In the 19th century after the jubilee of 1845, the devotion was revitalized and became an important national point of reference for Dutch Catholics; the Stille Omgang—a silent walk or procession in civil attire—is the expression of the pilgrimage within the Protestant Netherlands since the late 19th century. In the heyday of the Silent Walk, up to 90,000 pilgrims came to Amsterdam. In the 21st century this has reduced to about 5000. In the 16th century, the Dutch rebelled against Philip II of his successors; the main reasons for the uprising were the imposition of new taxes, the tenth penny, the religious persecution of Protestants by the newly introduced Inquisition. The revolt escalated into the Eighty Years' War, which led to Dutch independence. Pushed by Dutch Revolt leader William the Silent, the Dutch Republic became known for its relative religious tolerance. Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, Huguenots from France, prosperous merchants and printers from Flanders, economic and religious refugees
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listen)) is a municipality and a city in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the capital of the province of Flevoland. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who engineered the Afsluitdijk, making the reclamation possible. Lelystad is approximately 3 metres (9.8 feet) below sea level.
Lelystad travel guide from Wikivoyage
Lelystad
