AllAmsterdam

Without them Holland would still have been an area of lakes, with small rivers connecting them through swamps. Ever since they were built, the Dutch landscapes are dominated by them. Even in downtown Amsterdam many places still remind us of this 1000 year old landscape design. Indeed, Amsterdam isn't called Amsterdam without reason!

Medieval era

In the 10th century more and more people moved to Holland, while the water levels were rising. The usable land was scarce. Monks in the Northern part of Holland initiated plans to, bit by bit, gain more land by building a dike around parcels. Slowly they won so much land that more settlements could be founded, that could grow quite large. Amsterdam was one of these settlements, founded in the 12th century as a small fisher's village. Amsterdam was founded where the lake 'Het Y' (now a river), connected to the river Amstel. A dam was constructed on the Amstel. Obviously, that's where Amsterdam got its name from (as do many cities in Holland ending with -dam)

Dikes and dams within Amsterdam

The Dutch word for dike is dijk. Many streetnames can be found ending with -dijk, such as the Haarlemmerdijk, the Nieuwendijk, the Zeedijk, etc... Nowadays you wouldn't recognize it as dikes though, the crowded areas have simply flattened because of all houses built on them, aswel as thousants of people passing by each day. Near the end of the Haarlemmerdijk, near the Haarlemmerplein, the alleys that cross it still go down quite steep, which is a very nice detail.

Creating land from lakes: windmills, canals and more dikes

In the medieval era much land was secured against flooding, but in the 16th and 17th century this wasn't enough anymore. Holland was still dominated by large lakes. Windmills were constructed to pump the water out. The airport Schiphol is located on what used to be a large lake, the Haarlemmermeer. Windmills were used to empty those lakes, to use the gained land for agriculture. Canals were used to have a quick water-flow, so water from rainfall could escape quickly. Of course windmills were also used for other means, such as the production of mustard. Holland still counts a lot of them, which you should visit when you leave the crowded city for a day.

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