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

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. 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 was located here which ran services to the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

, particularly to the island of

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the independence of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, trade nearly came to a standstill. In the 1980s,

squatters Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

, 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. 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 houses 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. The neighbourhood is slated to be the future home of a national museum on slavery, which is to be opened in 2030. David Brandwagt, a worker for the municipality of Amsterdam, stating that Java-eiland was chosen as the location due to the public's desire that it was important for the museum to be near water, as well as have room for a park and to be in a prominent and central location but is still accessible.

References

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