Flevoland is the 12th and youngest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the Southern and Eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the country in the former Zuiderzee, which was turned into the freshwater IJsselmeer by the closure of the Afsluitdijk in 1932. Almost all of the land belonging to Flevoland was reclaimed in the 1950s and 1960s while splitting the Markermeer and Bordering lakes from the IJsselmeer. As to dry land, it is the smallest province of the Netherlands at 1,412 km2 (545 sq mi), but not gross land as that includes much of the waters of the fresh water lakes (meres) mentioned. The province has a population of 423,021 as of January 2020 and consists of six municipalities. Its capital is Lelystad and its most populous city is Almere.
The IJsselmeer, also known as Lake IJssel in English, is a closed off inland bay in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland. It covers an area of 1,100 km2 (420 sq mi) with an average depth of 5.5 m (18 ft). The river IJssel flows into the IJsselmeer.
The Zuiderzee or Zuider Zee was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km inland and at most 50 km wide, with an overall depth of about 4 to 5 metres (13–16 feet) and a coastline of about 300 km. It covered 5,000 km2 (1,900 sq mi). Its name is Dutch for "southern sea", indicating that the name originates in Friesland, to the north of the Zuiderzee. In the 20th century the majority of the Zuiderzee was closed off from the North Sea by the construction of the Afsluitdijk, leaving the mouth of the inlet to become part of the Wadden Sea. The salt water inlet changed into a fresh water lake now called the IJsselmeer after the river that drains into it, and by means of drainage and polders, an area of some 1,500 km2 (580 sq mi) was reclaimed as land. This land eventually became the province of Flevoland, with a population of nearly 400,000 (2011).
The Zuiderzee Works is a man-made system of dams and dikes, land reclamation and water drainage work, in total the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century. The project involved the damming of the Zuiderzee, a large, shallow inlet of the North Sea, and the reclamation of land in the newly enclosed water using polders. Its main purposes are to improve flood protection and create additional land for agriculture.
Almere is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. The municipality of Almere comprises six official areas that are the districts of Almere Stad, Almere Buiten and Almere Pampus, and the boroughs of Almere Haven, Almere Hout and Almere Poort. Four of them feature official district or borough offices. Furthermore, it also comprises the unofficial historic district and neighborhood Oostvaardersdiep, which has an active semi-self-governing community, and the planned district of Almere Oosterwold. Almere is part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA).
The Amsterdam Metro is a rapid transit system serving Amsterdam, Netherlands, and extending to the surrounding municipalities of Diemen and Ouder-Amstel. Until 2019 it also served the municipality of Amstelveen but this route has been closed for conversion into a tram line. The network is owned by the City of Amsterdam and operated by municipal public transport company Gemeente Vervoerbedrijf (GVB) which also operates trams, free ferries and local buses.
The Randstad is a conurbation in the central-western Netherlands consisting primarily of the four largest Dutch cities and their surrounding areas. Among other things, it contains the Port of Rotterdam, the Port of Amsterdam, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. With a population of approximately 8.4 million people it is one of the largest metropolitan regions in Europe, comparable in population size to the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region or the San Francisco Bay Area, and covers an area of approximately 11,372 km2 (4,391 sq mi). The Randstad had a gross regional product of €397 billion in 2017, making it the third most productive region in the European Union, behind the Paris Region and the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region. It encompasses both the Amsterdam metropolitan area and Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area. It is part of the larger Blue Banana megalopolis.
The IJ is a body of water, formerly a bay, in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is known for being Amsterdam's waterfront.
The Enneüs Heerma Bridge is a bridge in Amsterdam, Netherlands located in the new neighbourhood of IJburg, built on seven artificial islands in the IJmeer. It connects the district of Zeeburgereiland, on the eastern edge of the city, with Steigereiland, to the south.
Amsterdam Zuid is a railway station situated in the borough of Amsterdam-Zuid in Amsterdam, Netherlands. For a number of years, it was named Amsterdam Zuid WTC, in reference to the neighbouring World Trade Center Amsterdam. During 2006, in conjunction with the rapid development of the area surrounding the station, the station was enlarged and the reference to the WTC was formally dropped from the name.
IJburg is a residential neighbourhood under construction in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is situated in the IJmeer and is being built on artificial islands which have been raised from the lake. The Haveneiland, Rieteilanden, Steigereiland and Centrumeiland are already inhabited as of 2004. It is part of the municipality Amsterdam-Oost and also contains the Diemerpark, one of the city's largest parks.
Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA, previously named Amsterdam Bijlmer (1971–2006), is a railway station in the Bijlmermeer neighbourhood of stadsdeel (borough) Amsterdam-Zuidoost in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The station has five platforms and eight tracks; two for the Amsterdam Metro and six train tracks, along with a bus station. Train services are operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, commonly known as simply the Netherlands, is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with 98% of its territory and population in Western Europe and with several small West Indian island territories in the Caribbean.
Pampus is an artificial island and late 19th-century sea fort located in the IJmeer near Amsterdam. Pampus now belongs to the municipality of Gooise Meren and is open to visitors.
The port of Amsterdam is a seaport in Amsterdam in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the 4th busiest port in Europe by metric tonnes of cargo. The port is located on the bank of a former bay named the IJ and the North Sea Canal, with which it is connected to the North Sea. The port was first used in the 13th century and was one of the main ports of the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. Today, the port of Amsterdam is the second largest port in the Netherlands, the largest being the Port of Rotterdam. In 2014, the port of Amsterdam had a cargo throughput of 97.4 million tons, most of which was bulk cargo.
The Markermeer is a 700 km2 (270 sq mi) lake in the central Netherlands in between North Holland, Flevoland, and its smaller and larger neighbors, the IJmeer and IJsselmeer. A shallow lake at 3 to 5 m in depth, matching the reclaimed land to its west, north-west and east it is named after the small former island, now peninsula, of Marken on its west shore.
The Hollandse Brug is a bridge structure that crosses the Gooimeer and the IJmeer in the Netherlands. The bridge carries both the Flevolijn heavy rail railway and the A6 motorway, plus a cycleway and footway.
Almere Gate is a borough (stadsdeel) of Almere, Netherlands. It is the newest part of what is a new city itself, with the first building completed only in 2005. Although Almere is a planned city, Almere Poort was not in the original city plans, but is rather a result of revised urban planning in accordance to Almere's more recent development plans assuming much higher target population and more prominent role as a satellite urban centre to Amsterdam.
Teun Koolhaas was a Dutch architect and urban planner.
The Oosterdok is a former wet dock in Amsterdam. It was created in 1831-1832 by constructing the Oosterdoksdam and the Oosterdoksluis, forming a reliable deep port closed off from the tidal IJ.
