ABSTRACT
Most notable for its picturesque beauty, Amsterdam’s tree-lined canals and distinguished brick houses gracefully conceal their utilitarian original function as an expansive and efficient mercantile port. Founded at the mouth of the Amstel river as it flows into the Ij basin and the sea beyond, Amsterdam’s canals are a comprehensive docking system dating to the thirteenth century. Beginning with the construction of a sluice dam, built near the site of the current Dam Square, that controlled the water flow between the river and the sea, and two subsidiary diversionary channels, the city itself transformed into a rational and functional berthing system. The concentric, gently curving canals, with quays and warehouses on both sides, allowed ships to arrive, dock and depart without rotating once inside the port (Braunfels 1988: 102). Each canal is four lanes wide: two lanes for quayside docking and two lanes for two-way ship traffic. The ships would enter at one end of the canal, move along the quays and exit at the other end. Over the course of several centuries, additional concentric canals were added to accommodate as many as several thousand ships at one time.
