Java-eiland (literally, "Java Island") is a neighbourhood of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is located on a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water and on the east by the KNSM Island neighbourhood.

History

The peninsula was created by dredging water at the end of the 19th century and was used for shipping services. The

Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland The Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland ("Netherlands Steamship Company") or SMN, also known as the Netherland Line or Nederland Line, was a Dutch shipping line that operated from 1870 until 1970, when it merged with several other companies to form ...

was located here which ran services to the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and the 1945 independence of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

, trade nearly came to a standstill. In the 1980s, squatters, artists and the homeless had taken over many of the buildings in the area. The name "Java Island" was given to the area when it was designated for housing in the 1990s. In the 1990s the area was transformed into residential units according to a master plan by Amsterdam architect

Sjoerd Soeters Sjoerd Soeters (born 2 August 1947 in Nes) is a well-known postmodern Dutch architect. Among other projects, he is known for his work on Amsterdam's Java Island and Houthaven, Copenhagen's Sluseholmen, the apartment complex "The Pyramids" (D ...

. Except for one building owned by port authorities, all the old buildings were razed. As for transport, tram line 7 terminates at ''Azartplein'' (Azart Square), on the eastern edge of Java-eiland. Notable architecture includes four small canals with post-modernist

canal house A canal house ( nl, grachtenpand) is a (usually old) house overlooking a canal. These houses are often slim, high and deep. Canal houses usually had a basement and a loft and attic where trade goods could be stored. A special beam or pulley in ...

s from various architects, cycle and pedestrian bridges by Guy Rombouts and Monica Droste, and at the ''Azartplein'' two building by the Swiss architectural firm Diener & Diener.

References

Neighbourhoods of Amsterdam Amsterdam-Oost {{NorthHolland-geo-stub