Home > IJ (bay)
right Satellite image of Amsterdam and surroundings showing what's left of the IJ, its polders, and the North Sea Canal. The IJ (sometimes shown on old maps as "Y" or "Ye") is a lake, formerly a bay, in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is known for being Amsterdam's waterfront. The name derives from the generic Germanic term for " water" and is similar to other Aa/Ee names for bodies of water.In historic times, the IJ was a long and narrow brackish bay that connected to the Zuiderzee (itself a bay of the North SeaThe North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. A bay of the North Sea is Skagerrak, bet) and stretched from Amsterdam in the east to VelsenVelsen (population: 66,798) is a municipality in the north-western Netherlands, in the province of North Holland, on both sides of the North Sea Canal. It covers an area of 52. 87 kmē (of which 6. 30 kmē water). The municipality of Velsen comprises the fo in the west. At its west end, only the natural duneAlternate meanings: Dune (novel), Dune (movie), Dune (TV miniseries), Dune (music) or Dune (computer game In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by eolian ( wind-related) processes. Bare dunes are subject to shifting location and size based ridge across the Dutch North Sea coastUnited States postal stamp. A coast is that part of an island or continent that borders an ocean, gulf, sea, or large lake. In geology and geography, the coast extends inland from the shoreline. The terms coast and coastal refer to the condition of being prevented the IJ, which grew ever larger in the course of the centuries, from directly connecting to the North Sea and so rendering the North Holland peninsulaA peninsula is a geographical formation consisting of an extension of land from a larger body that is surrounded by water on three sides. A peninsula can also be a headland, cape, promontory or spit. Peninsulas of the world: Continental Europe Apsheron, A an islandAdriatic sea An island is any piece of land smaller than a continent and larger than a rock, that is completely surrounded by water. Very small islands are called islets . Although seldom adhered to, it is also proper to call an emergent land feature on a. The isthmusSimplified diagram An isthmus is a narrow strip of land, bordered on two sides by water, and connects two larger land masses. The term is pronounced IS-mus with a silent th''. The plural form can either be isthmuses or isthmi''. The most famous isthmus is was known as "Holland op zijn smalst" ("Holland at Its Thinnest").
The IJ bay provided Amsterdam, situated on the mouth of the bay where the AmstelAmstel is the river in the Netherlands from which Amsterdam took its name. Amstel is also beer produced nearby. Rivers of the Netherlands. stream flows into it, with access to the sea through the Zuiderzee. By the seventeenth century, however, access to the IJ became troublesome due to sand bars across its mouth, and it was nearly impossible for seafaring vessels to reach the city. At the same time, the bay gnawed away at the surrounding farmlands, almost connecting with the Haarlemmermeer (Lake Haarlem) and seriously threatening the cities of Haarlem and Amsterdam.
Plans were put forth to close off both the Haarlemmermeer and the IJ and turn them into polders. The Haarlemmermeer was first, falling dry in 1852, and the largest part of the IJ followed suit between 1865 and 1876, with only a small lake remaining at Amsterdam that was closed off from the Zuiderzee by the Oranje locks. At the same time, the North Sea Canal was constructed in the former IJ basin to provide Amsterdam with access to the sea again and revive its ailing port. It cut through the isthmus to connect to the North Sea near the town of Velsen; a new port, IJmuiden ("Ymouth") was built at its west end. The east end of the IJ polders near Amsterdam was given over to industry, and a large new seaport area was constructed.
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