IJ (Amsterdam) in the context of "Zaan"

The port of Amsterdam (Dutch: Haven van Amsterdam) is an inland seaport in Amsterdam in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the 14th busiest port in Europe by total cargo tonnage. In 2023, the port of Amsterdam had a cargo throughput of 63 million tons.

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, after the Port of Rotterdam.

The Amstel (Dutch: [ˈɑmstəl] ) is a river in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It flows from the Aarkanaal and Drecht in Nieuwveen northwards, passing Uithoorn, Amstelveen, and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, to the IJ in Amsterdam, to which the river gives its name. Annually, the river is the location of the Liberation Day concert, Head of the River Amstel rowing match, and the Amsterdam Gay Pride boat parade.

The North Sea Canal (Dutch: Noordzeekanaal) is a Dutch ship canal from Amsterdam to the North Sea at IJmuiden, constructed between 1865 and 1876 to enable seafaring vessels to reach the port of Amsterdam. This man-made channel terminates at Amsterdam in the closed-off IJ Bay, which in turn connects to the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal.

The drainage of the canal to the North Sea is done through the IJmuiden sea lock, augmented by the largest pumping station in Europe. This system is vital to the groundwater management of the Western Netherlands.

Spaarndam (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌspaːr(ə)nˈdɑm]) is a village in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands, on the Spaarne river and the IJ lake. The oldest part of the village, on the western side of the Spaarne, belongs to the municipality of Haarlem; the newer part on the eastern side is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer. The village is built around a dam in the river, which is also the division line of the two municipalities.

Spaarndam was created around a dam where the river Spaarne flows into the IJ. This dam was built here by count Floris V of Holland in 1285. The village collected tolls at this dam, and people made their living from fishing. From 1812 to 1927, the western part of Spaarndam was an independent municipality.

Noorderkwartier (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈnoːrdərkʋɑrˌtiːr]; English: Northern Quarter) is a historical term referring to the part of the former Dutch province of Holland north of the river IJ, covering the regions Kennemerland, Zaanstreek, Waterland and West Friesland and now part of the modern province of North Holland. Other historical terms for this area were "North Holland", "Noordeland", and "Noorderland".

The Grachtengordel (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌɣrɑxtə(ŋ)ˈɣɔrdəl] , lit. 'canal belt/girdle'), known in English as the Canal District, is a neighborhood in Amsterdam, Netherlands located in the Centrum district. The seventeenth-century canals of Amsterdam, located in the center of Amsterdam, were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in August 2010. The Amsterdam Canal District consists of the area around the city's four main canals: the Singel, the Herengracht, the Keizersgracht, and the Prinsengracht. From the Brouwersgracht, the canals are generally parallel with one another, leading gradually southeast into the Amstel river.

Many of the canal houses in the Amsterdam Canal District are from the Dutch Golden Age, 17th century. Many of these buildings, however, underwent restoration or reconstruction in various centuries, meaning that the buildings display many different architectural styles and facades.

Amsterdam Ordnance Datum or Normaal Amsterdams Peil (NAP) is a vertical datum in use in large parts of Western Europe. Originally created for use in the Netherlands, its height was used by Prussia in 1879 for defining Normalnull, and in 1955 by other European countries. In the 1990s, it was used as the reference level for the United European leveling Network (UELN) which in turn led to the European Vertical Reference System (EVRS).

Mayor Johannes Hudde of Amsterdam is credited with beginning the first works for the creation of this vertical datum after he expanded the sea dike following a flood in Amsterdam in 1675. Between 1683 and 1684, he had daily measurements taken of the water level of the adjacent sea arm, Het IJ, during high tide. The calculated averaged was called the Amsterdams Peil ("Amsterdam level", AP) and used to calculate the minimum height of the sea dykes, which he set at "9 feet and 5 inches" (2.67 m) above AP.