Amsterdam

Amsterdam (; Dutch ) is the caipital an lairgest ceety o the Netherlands, wi an urban population o 1,364,422 an a metropolitan population o 2,158,372. The ceety is locatit in the province o North Holland in the wast o the kintra. It comprises the northren pairt o the Randstad, the saxt-lairgest metropolitan aurie in Europe, wi a population o approximately 8.1 million.

Its name is derived frae Amstellerdam,Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, Vol 1, p896-898. indicative o the ceety's oreegin: a dam in the river Amstel. Settled as a smaw fishin veelage in the late 12t century, Amsterdam became ane o the maist important ports in the warld durin the Dutch Gowden Age, a result o its innovative developments in trade. Durin that time, the ceety wis the leadin centre for finance an diamonds.Cambridge.org, Capitals of Capital -A History of International Financial Centres – 1780–2005, Youssef Cassis, ISBN 978-0-521-84535-9  In the 19t an 20t centuries, the ceety expandit, an mony new neebourheids an suburbs war formed.
The 17t-century canals o Amsterdam (in Dutch: 'Grachtengordel'), locatit in the hert o Amsterdam, wur eikit tae the UNESCO Warld Heritage Leet in Julie 2010.

The ceety is the financial an cultural caipital o the Netherlands.Efter Athens in 1888 an Florence in 1986, Amsterdam wis in 1986 chosen as the European Caipital o Cultur, confirmin its eminent position in Europe an the Netherlands. See  EC.europa.eu for an owerview o the European ceeties an caipitals o cultur ower the years.  Mony lairge Dutch institutions hae thair heidquarters thare, an 7 o the warld's tap 500 companies, includin Philips an ING, are based in the ceety.Forbes.com , Forbes Global 2000 Largest Companies – Dutch rankings. In 2010, Amsterdam wis ranked 13t globally on quality o livin bi Mercer, an previously ranked 3rd in innovation bi 2thinknow in the Innovation Cities Index 2009.

The Amsterdam Stock Exchynge, the auldest stock exchynge in the warld, is locatit in the ceety centre. Amsterdam's main sichts, includin its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, Anne Frank Hoose, its reid-licht destrict, an its mony cannabis coffee shops draw mair nor 3.66 million internaitional veesitors ilka year.

 Internaitional relations 
 Sister ceeties 

 Ceety Municipality / Destrict / Canton / Province / State / Region Kintra Syne 25px Algiers Algiers Province  Algerie Athens 25px|Attica's flag. Attica  Greece Beijing Beijing Municipality  Cheenae Beira Sofala Province  Mozambique 1993 25px Brasília 25px Brazilian Federal Destrict  Brazil  Istanbul Marmara  Turkey 25px Kiev Kiev Ceety Municipality  Ukraine 25px Los Angeles 25px Californie  Unitit States o Americae 25px Managua Managua Municipality  Nicaragua 25px Montreal 25px Quebec  Canadae 25px Moscow 25px Federal Ceety o Moscow  Roushie  New York Ceety 25px New York  Unitit States o Americae Nicosia Nicosia Destrict  Cyprus 25px Recife 25px Pernambuco  Brazil 2009 25px Riga Riga Municipality  Latvie 25px Sarajevo 25px Sarajevo Canton  Bosnie an Herzegovinae  Toronto 25px Ontario  Canadae

 References 


Category:Caipitals in Europe
Category:Ceeties in the Netherlands
Category:European Caipitals o Cultur
Category:Host ceeties o the Simmer Olympic Gemmes
Category:Populatit places established in the 13t century
Category:Populatit places in North Holland
Category:Port ceeties an touns in the Netherlands
Category:Port ceeties an touns o the North Sea