or AMSTELDAMME, a great maritime and commercial city of Holland, capital of the canton and province of North Holland, standing in N. Lat. 52. 22. and in E. Long. 4. 53. It derives its name from the river Amstel, on the banks of which it is built, somewhat in the form of a half-moon or crescent, with the horns projecting into the river Y, an arm of the Zuider Zee; while on the other sides it is surrounded by meadows, gardens, and country-houses.

Founded about the year 1203, Amsterdam, at the close of that century, was little more than a fishing village—its great advancement having taken place in the sixteenth century, when the persecutions of the Spaniards under the Duke of Alva drove great numbers of Flemish merchants and manufacturers to seek protection in Holland and in England; after which period it increased rapidly in wealth and importance, and during the succeeding century, and the first half of the eighteenth, maintained its pre-eminence as the metropolis of the commercial world. This city is said to be Amsterdam: 8 miles in circumference, covering an area of 900 acres, and containing upwards of 28,000 houses. It is surrounded by a deep fosse or canal 80 feet wide, and was regularly fortified in the fifteenth century; but the only remains of its defences are some picturesque "têtes de pont" on the Amstel, &c., and 26 bastions, each of which now supports a windmill for grinding corn. Its site having been originally a salt-marsh, all the buildings are supported on piles; whence Erasmus likened the inhabitants to storks, building on the tops of trees. These piles are from 50 to 60 feet in length; and after passing through a mixture of peat and sand of little consistence, at the depth of about 40 feet they enter a bed of firm clay, which forms a good foundation. When driven to the requisite depth, their ends are sawed level, and sometimes covered with thick planks, on which the masonry is constructed. Though many of the houses have declined from the perpendicular, they were considered to be quite secure against falling; yet that they are not altogether exempted from such a contingency was shown in 1822, by the sinking and total ruin of a large stack of warehouses heavily filled with corn. The streets in the oldest parts of the town are narrow and irregular, but the houses frequently present a picturesque sky-line, broken by fantastic gables, roofs, chimneys, towers, and turrets, of all forms and dimensions. Westward of the Amstel, which passes almost through the centre of the city, stands the more modern part, where the houses are often exceedingly handsome, the streets broad, and planted with rows of large trees between the houses and the canals.

Three great canals, viz., Prinsen Gracht, Kieser's Gracht, Heeren Gracht, and a smaller one, Singel, extend in the form of polygonal crescents, nearly parallel to each other, and to the great fosse or canal that surrounds the city. Each of the three first mentioned has a length of about two miles, and the Kieser's Gracht is about 140 feet wide. Numerous smaller canals intersect the city, dividing it into 95 islets, and are traversed by no fewer than 290 bridges. All heavy burdens are transported by water. The grand bridge over the Amstel is 610 feet long, 65 in width, and supported on 36 piers, between 11 of which large vessels pass when the bridges are open. Near to this is the Amstel-sluice, by which the waters are confined and let off at pleasure. Besides the basins within the city, it has five large docks. Enclosed by the Oosterlijk Dok, is the Ryk's Maritime Dok, and the islet of Kattenburg, on which stand the arsenal, the admiralty offices, and the warehouses of the Dutch East and West India Companies. The principal shops are in the Kalver straat, the Nieuwe dyk, and Warmoes straat, and may vie with the richest of Paris or London. The chief promenade is the Plantage or Park, near to which lie the Botanic and Zoological Gardens; and the old ramparts are now converted into boulevards. Of the public buildings, the principal is the palace, formerly the Stadhuis, an imposing structure built in 1648 by the architect Van Kampen, at the cost of 30,000,000 guilders, or L864,200. It is supported on 13,659 piles, is 282 feet in length, 235 in breadth, and 116 feet in height, exclusive of a cupola 41 feet high. It was built for the public offices of the legislature, but was appropriated by Louis Napoleon for a palace in 1808. The great hall or council-chamber of the Republic is now a ball-room, one of the most magnificent in Europe, measuring 120 feet by 57, and 90 in height; the walls are encrusted with white Italian marble to the lofty cornice which divides the upper tier of windows from the square mezzanine or upper row of lights, and some good emblematic sculptures are placed over the doors of the principal apartments. In front of the palace stands the Beurs or exchange, a fine tetraprostyle Ionic building, serving as the front to a large quadrangle with a handsome peristyle of the same order. The Oude Kerk with its fine stained windows, its splendid organ, and its tombs, is an interesting object. It is 300 feet long, has three aisles, and a steeple 240 feet in height. The Nieuwe Kerk, which was commenced in 1408, is remarkable for its finely carved pulpit, and the elaborate bronze castings of the choir, the magnificent monument to the famous admiral De Ruijer, with numerous others; and a cenotaph to the memory of the gallant Van Speyk, who in the year 1831 blew up his ship and perished, rather than yield to the Belgic enemies of Holland.

Amsterdam in 1830 contained 224,235 inhabitants, of whom about 23,000 were Jews, who reside in a particular quarter of the city. There are about fifty places of public worship, viz. fifteen of the Reformed religion, sixteen Catholic, fifteen Jansenist, three Lutheran, two Anabaptist, one Moravian, one Scottish Presbyterian, one English Episcopal, one Greek, one Armenian, and four Jewish Synagogues. The charitable institutions, which are supported chiefly by voluntary contributions, amount to twenty-three, and are admirably adapted to their several ends. These include hospitals for the sick, the aged and infirm, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the insane, widows, orphans and foundlings, and an establishment for the reformation of drunkards; besides a noble institution for promoting the education and improvement of the poor, which has branches in every town in Holland. The beneficial results are very apparent; beggars and drunken people are rarely to be seen in the streets. Among the public institutions may be noticed the Spinhuis, for the punishment of delinquents; and the Rasphuis, at present used merely as a temporary arrest-house.

Notwithstanding the humidity of the atmosphere, and the deficiency of spring water, Amsterdam is healthy, and the people are robust; which must be ascribed very much to that great attention to cleanliness for which they are proverbially noted above any other nation; the only exception being in the Jews' quarter, which is dingy and dirty. This city has no good potable water but what is collected in tanks on the roofs of the houses, or brought from a distance in stone jars, and in large water-barges for the supply of those who do not possess tanks. Many of the poorer people dwell in cellars below the houses: another class live entirely on the canals, bringing up their families in comfortable apartments erected on the decks of their vessels. These vessels, which are of various sizes, according to the wealth of the proprietors, are employed in inland navigation, and are remarkable for their neatness and cleanliness, the whole domestic economy being conducted with a view to the comfort of the inmates. Sometimes may be seen even a little flower-garden on the deck. Like all the towns in Holland, Amsterdam is remarkably clean, and has an air of newness, though surpassed perhaps in these respects by Rotterdam and the Hague.

The chief literary institutions are the Athenæum or college with eleven professors, the society called "Felix Meritis," from the first words of the inscription on their place of meeting, the Scientific Institute, and the Royal Academy of the Fine Arts, in all of which lectures are delivered on science and literature. The collections of pictures and antiquities are of great value. The Museum or picture gallery in 1847 contained 386 fine pictures, chiefly of the Flemish and Dutch schools, including some by Wouvermans, Rembrandt, Vander Helst, Both, and Reubens, of wonderful power. The famous "Night-guard" of Rembrandt, and the magnificent "Banquet of the Civic Guard," by Vander Helst, are in this collection; which also possesses a fine collection of prints in 200 portfolios. Among the private collections those of MM. Six and Vander Hoop stand pre-eminent; the latter containing between 80 and 90 pictures of the old masters, besides many others. Amsterdam has a Dutch and also a German theatre, an Italian opera-house, and several minor theatres. Its industry comprises manufactures of woollen, cotton, and silk; gold lace, perfumery, and jewellery: the cutting of diamonds has long been extensively practised here by the Jews: there are refineries of borax, sugar, salt, &c.; soap, oil, glass, iron, dye, and chemical works, distilleries, breweries, tanneries, tobacco and snuff factories, &c., &c. The commercial establishments are on a grand scale. The celebrated Bank of the Netherlands, founded in 1609, was dissolved in 1796; and the present bank, on the model of the Bank of England, was established in 1814. The commerce with all parts of the world is very extensive; though Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Hamburg, are powerful rivals. The prosperity of Amsterdam has been subject to vicissitudes: in 1785 the population is said to have amounted to 235,000; and in 1814, the epoch of its greatest depression, it had declined to 180,000; but the opening of the Helder Canal, in 1825, has done much to revive its commercial prosperity. This great work, which extends from Nieuwe Diep opposite the Texel to Amsterdam, a distance of 51 miles, has obviated the delays and dangers formerly encountered in the intricate navigation of the Zuyder Zee, and the formidable obstruction of a bar called the Pampas at the mouth of the Y, which obliged vessels to unload partially in the roadstead; but now the largest ships are brought direct to the city. See Navigation, Inland.

It may be noticed as a curious fact that there is not a water-mill in all Holland, owing to the flatness of the soil, which is in many parts, like Amsterdam, below the level of ocean; so that the utmost attention to the dikes is necessary to prevent the inundation of the country. The expense of keeping these dikes in repair is said to amount annually to a very large sum.

From 250 to 260 large ships belonging to Amsterdam trade to the East and West Indies, the Baltic, and Mediterranean, and the port is a scene of unceasing activity. The imports include sugar, coffee, tea, spices, tobacco, indigo, cochineal, cotton, hemp and flax, wine and brandy, linen, cotton and woollen stuffs, hides, hardware, rock-salt, tin-plates, iron, timber, pitch and tar, whale-oil, dried fish, coal, &c. The chief exports are the produce of Holland: cheese, butter, &c.; madder, clover, rape, hemp, linseed, rape and linseed oils, Dutch linen; the produce of East and West India possessions, and of other tropical countries; Spanish, German, and English wools, all kinds of grain, linens from Germany, gin from Schiedam, French, Rhine, and Hungarian wines, brandy, &c. Amsterdam has a large transit trade; and a very considerable business in insurance and in bills of exchange. The number of vessels laden that entered its port in 1850 was 2000, and in ballast 28, the total tonnage being 348,082; the number that left the port laden was 1457, and in ballast 524, making a total of 347,233 tons.

There are two railways, one connecting Amsterdam with Rotterdam, the Hague, Leyden, and Haarlem; the other with Utrecht, Arnhem, and Prussia; and there is regular communication by steam-vessels with Kampen, Enkhuizen, Harlingen, and Hamburg.

small town in New York, United States, on the Utica Railway, 32 miles north-west of Albany. It contains 5333 inhabitants, principally employed in the manufacture of carpets, saws, scythes, &c.

Tongataboo, an island in the South Sea, discovered by Tasman, a Dutch navigator. Its greatest extent from east to west is about 21 miles, and from north to south about 13. It is broad at the east end, and tapers towards the west, where it turns, and runs to a point due north. It is about six leagues to the west of Middleburg. The shore is surrounded by coral rocks, and its most elevated parts are not above six or eight yards above the level of the sea. It is wholly laid out in plantations, in which are cultivated plantains in great variety, bread-fruit, shaddock, yams, and the fruits of Tahitee, with taro, and other esculent vegetables in great abundance. The people are familiar with the use of the bow and spear, and are dexterous fishermen. Their manners are licentious; but they have some commendable qualities, according to the missionaries; though other accounts represent them as cruel, treacherous, and vindictive. Long. 175. W. Lat. 21. 11. S.

Amsterdam, New, a seaport town of British Guiana, on the right bank of the Berbice River, near the confluence of the Canje. Lat. 6. 14. 51. S. Long. 57. 31. 8. W. It was founded by the Dutch in 1796; but is now the seat of the British Colonial Government of Berbice, formerly at Georgetown. It is a healthy town; the houses, which are generally built of wood, being separated from each other by trenches which fill and empty with the tide. The whole town is intersected by canals, communicating with the sea. The harbour is good, though the passage to it is impeded at low water by a sand-bar. Three strong batteries protect the entrance of the river. Pop. about 3000.