05/04/2020
Detourism: Eastern Docklands, Amsterdam
Guidor guide Pim van der Horst sent us this pic with bright skies and beautiful clouds, which can be appreciated so much better now that almost no airplanes are flying by.
The Eastern Docklands were constructed in the late nineteenth century to allow for increasing trade with the Dutch East Indies.
The industrial revolution had kicked in and the evolving city got a massive Central Station on 3 artificial islands constructed in the IJ laguna and old port.
The old quais could not be used anymore.
To compensate for the loss of that harbor area and to create quays that would allow bigger ships to dock Amsterdam's city engineer, Jacobus van Niftrik, planned a new quay to the east of the station, the Oostelijke Handelskade, 'Eastern Trade Quay'.
This quay was the start of the Eastern Docklands, which was developed contiguous to the already existing port area, the Spoorwegbassin, which would be used for the transloading of coal and iron ore; railroad tracks already crisscrossed the area.
Other decisions played a part in the construction of the area, such as the digging of the North Sea Canal, decided on in 1862.
The development of the Oostelijke Handelskade (1876) gave Amsterdam a deep-water harbor for the first time in its history.
Newly built brickstone warehouses such as Europa, Azië, and Africa jumpstarted economic activity in 1883.
The quay was designed according to modern requirements, with a railroad track and steam-powered cranes for loading and unloading.
The neighborhood consists of the districts: KNSM Island, Java-eiland, Oostelijke Handelskade, Cruquiuseiland, Borneo-eiland and Sporenburg.
The area, about 2/3 water and 1/3 land, consists of an extension of the Oostelijke Handelskade, east of the center of town, and four artificial "islands" (peninsulas), all of which were former industrial and harbor locations of the port of Amsterdam. In the early 2000s, after a large-scale reorganization, the city's biggest post-World War II building project, the Eastern Docklands were de-industrialized and became home to some 17,000 people living in some the highest population densities in the Netherlands.
To the left on this pic we see the Java Island, one of the four main artificial islands of the Docklands.
Java island was created by dredging water at the end of the 19th century and was used for shipping services. The Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland was located here.
SMN ran services to the Dutch East Indies, but after the Second World War and the 1945 independence of Indonesia, trade nearly came to a standstill.
In the 1980s, squatters, artists and the homeless had taken over many of the buildings in the area.
In the 1990s the area was transformed into residential units according to a master plan by Amsterdam architect Sjoerd Soeters,and named "Java Eiland".
Soeters aimed to create an ideal residential
environment with the city’s historic inner
cordon of canals as a model
Except for one building owned by port authorities, all the old buildings were razed.
Notable architecture includes four small canals with post-modernist canal houses from various architects, cycle and pedestrian bridges by Guy Rombouts and Monica Droste.
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Corné Bibo is a selfemployed tour guide. Bibo provides personal guiding services in museums and cities all over the Netherlands.
