Amsterdam

===Founding===
{{Hatnote|See also [[Names of European cities in different languages: A|Other names of Amsterdam]]}}

The origins of Amsterdam are linked to the development of a [[dam]] on the [[Amstel]] River called ''[[Amstelland|Amestelle]]'', meaning 'watery area', from ''[[wikt:Aa|Aa(m)]]'' 'river' + ''[[wikt:stelling|stelle]]'' 'site at a shoreline', 'river bank'.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Plaatsnamen en hun betekenis |url=http://www.volkoomen.nl/Plaatsnamen%20en%20hun%20betekenis.htm|access-date=21 February 2021 |website=www.volkoomen.nl}}</ref> In this area, [[land reclamation]] started as early as the late 10th century.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 October 2008 |title=Amsterdam 200 jaar ouder dan aangenomen |url=http://www.nu.nl/news/1801750/80/rss/%27Amsterdam_200_jaar_ouder_dan_aangenomen%27.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025045803/http://www.nu.nl/news/1801750/80/rss/%27Amsterdam_200_jaar_ouder_dan_aangenomen%27.html |archive-date=25 October 2008 |access-date=22 October 2008 |publisher=Nu.nl |language=nl}}</ref> Amestelle was located along a side arm of the IJ. This side arm took the name from the eponymous land: Amstel. Amestelle was inhabited by farmers, who lived more inland and more upstream, where the land was not as wet as at the banks of the downstream river mouth. These farmers were starting the reclamation around upstream [[Ouderkerk aan de Amstel]], and later at the other side of the river at [[Amstelveen]]. The [[Van Amstel family]], known in documents by this name since 1019,<ref name=":6" /> held the stewardship in this northwestern nook of the ecclesiastical district of the [[Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht|bishop of Utrecht]]. The family later served also under the [[County of Holland|count of Holland]].

A major turning point in the development of the Amstel river mouth was the [[All Saints' Flood (1170)|All Saint's Flood of 1170]]. In an extremely short period of time, the shallow river IJ turned into a wide estuary, which from then on offered the Amstel an open connection to the [[Zuiderzee]], [[IJssel]] and waterways further afield. This made the water flow of the Amstel more active, so excess water could be drained better. With drier banks, the downstream Amstel mouth became attractive for permanent habitation. Moreover, the river had grown from an insignificant peat stream into a junction of international waterways.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gawronski |first=J. |date=2017 |title=Ontstaan uit een storm; De vroegste geschiedenis van Amsterdam archeologisch en landschappelijk belicht |trans-title=Born from a storm; The earliest history of Amsterdam from a landscape and archaeological perspective. |url=https://www.theobakker.net/pdf/TX_Gawronski2017JbAmstelodamum_10.pdf |journal=Jaarboek van het Genootschap Amstelodamum |language=Dutch |location=Amsterdam |publisher=University of Amsterdam |volume=109 |access-date=5 January 2021}}, pp. 75–77.</ref> A settlement was built here immediately after the landscape change of 1170. Right from the start of its foundation it focused on traffic, production and trade; not on farming, as opposed to how communities had lived further upstream for the past 200 years and northward for thousands of years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gawronski |first=J. |date=2017 |title=Ontstaan uit een storm; De vroegste geschiedenis van Amsterdam archeologisch en landschappelijk belicht |trans-title=Born from a storm; The earliest history of Amsterdam from afrom a landscape and archaeological perspective. |url=https://www.theobakker.net/pdf/TX_Gawronski2017JbAmstelodamum_10.pdf |journal=Jaarboek van het Genootschap Amstelodamum |language=Dutch |location=Amsterdam |publisher=University of Amsterdam |volume=109 |access-date=5 January 2021}}, pp. 84–85.</ref> The construction of a dam at the mouth of the Amstel, eponymously named [[Dam Square|Dam]], is historically estimated to have occurred between 1264 and 1275. The settlement first appeared in a document from 1275, concerning a [[Road toll (historical)|road toll]] granted by the [[Floris V, Count of Holland|count of Holland Floris V]] to the residents ''apud Amestelledamme'' 'at the dam in the Amstel' or 'at the dam of Amstelland'.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gawronski |first=J |date=2017 |title=Ontstaan uit een storm; De vroegste geschiedenis van Amsterdam archeologisch en landschappelijk belicht |trans-title=Born from a storm; The earliest history of Amsterdam from afrom a landscape and archaeological perspective. |url=https://www.theobakker.net/pdf/TX_Gawronski2017JbAmstelodamum_10.pdf |journal=Jaarboek van het Genootschap Amstelodamum |language=Dutch |location=Amsterdam |publisher=University of Amsterdam |volume=109 |access-date=5 January 2021}}, p. 55.</ref> This allowed the inhabitants of the village to travel freely through the [[County of Holland]], paying no tolls at bridges, locks and dams.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The toll privilege of 1275 in the Amsterdam City Archives |url=http://stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl/english/amsterdam_treasures/trade/toll_privilege/index.en.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106010052/http://stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl/english/amsterdam_treasures/trade/toll_privilege/index.en.html |archive-date=6 January 2016 |access-date=10 October 2010 |publisher=Stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl}}</ref> This was a move in a years-long struggle for power in the area between the count of Holland and the Amstel family who governed the area on behalf of the bishop of Utrecht.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Amsterdam |title=De geschiedenis van Amsterdam |url=https://www.amsterdam.nl/toerisme-vrije-tijd/over-amsterdam/geschiedenis/ |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=Amsterdam.nl |language=nl}}</ref> By 1327, the name had developed into ''Aemsterdam''.{{sfn|Berns|Daan|1993|p=91}}{{sfn|Mak|1994|pp=18–20}}

{{See also|van Dam}}