Sloterdijk () was a village in the Dutch province of

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

. It now is a part of the municipality 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 ...

, and lies about 3 km northwest of the city centre.''ANWB Topografische Atlas Nederland'', Topografische Dienst and ANWB, 2005. Since 2010 Sloterdijk has formed part of the

stadsdeel A stadsdeel (; ; ) is the name used for urban or municipality districts in some of the larger municipalities of the Netherlands. Amsterdam calls 7 of its 8 '' deelgemeenten'' ''stadsdeel''. They form a level of government, both executive (''stad ...

Amsterdam-West Amsterdam-West () is a Boroughs of Amsterdam, borough (Dutch: ''stadsdeel'') of Amsterdam, Netherlands, to the west of the centre of the city. This borough was formed in 2010 through the merging of four former boroughs Amsterdam Oud-West, Oud West, ...

. Nearby is the site of Amsterdam Sloterdijk railway station.

Early history

To protect the area around Sloten from the as-yet undrained IJ the Spaarndammerdijk was laid along the south bank of this inlet. In this vicinity at the same time, a dam on the Slochter (or Slooter) river was built, the Slooterdam. Trade grew in the vicinity, and in 1465 a

weigh house A weighhouse or weighing house is a public building at or within which goods are weighed. Most of these buildings were built before 1800, prior to the establishment of international standards for weights, and were often a large and representative ...

(or waag) was established. A church was built in about 1479; however, it was destroyed in 1573 by the

Geuzen ''Geuzen'' (; ; ) was a name assumed by the confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles, who from 1566 opposed Spanish rule in the Netherlands. The most successful group of them operated at sea, and so were called ''Watergeuzen'' (; ; ). In the Eigh ...

, a group of nobles rebelling against Spanish control of Holland, following the

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

. In the 17th century the Petruskerk (St. Peter’s Church) was built, which stands to this day.

Rail and tram lines

The construction of the

Haarlemmertrekvaart The Haarlemmertrekvaart �haːrlɛmərˈtrɛkfaːrt(Haarlem's Tow-Canal) is a canal between Amsterdam and Haarlem in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. It was dug in 1631, making it the oldest tow-canal in Holland. Travel on such ...

in 1631 brought new prosperity to the village, and a toll was placed along the towpath. Industry grew around Sloterdijk in the 19th century. On 20 September 1839, the first train to operate in The Netherlands traveled from Sloterdijk to Haarlem. The new rail line between Amsterdam and Haarlem ran parallel to the Haarlemmertrekvaart, but for half a century the line passed through without stopping. From 1882, steam-powered

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

, and later horse-drawn trams ran to Amsterdam along the Haarlemmerweg. This was the last horse-tram in Amsterdam, and it was electrified in 1916. An electric tram from Amsterdam to Haarlem and

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

ran from 1904 to 1957.

New stations and new growth

The construction of the new Sloterdijk railway station in 1956 should have meant the end of the village. Earlier, in 1860, much of the town was destroyed in a great fire, but had been rebuilt. The construction of the

Coentunnel The Coentunnel (1966) is a tunnel in the A10 motorway under the North Sea Canal in western Amsterdam. The tunnel is named for the 17th-century colonizer Jan Pieterszoon Coen. The tunnel itself is 1283 metres long of which 587 metres are full ...

and a new business district almost led to the destruction of the entire village, but the Petruskerk and a few houses were spared in order to preserve the town’s history. The 1956 station was moved to the northwest in 1985, along a new rail spur to

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan ...

that had opened in 1983.Tram service also moved to the new station in 1985. The station was expanded to two levels in 1986 when the

Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport (, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipal ...

line was opened, and in 1997 the

Amsterdam Metro The Amsterdam Metro () is a rapid transit system serving Amsterdam, Netherlands, and extending to the surrounding List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipalities of Diemen and Ouder-Amstel. Until 2019, it also served the municipality o ...

came to Sloterdijk. On 21 April 2012, more than 100 passengers were injured when two trains collided head-on in Sloterdijk. Among those hurt, 56 suffered severe injuries and 13 were in a critical condition. Since the 1960s, three new business areas have been laid out in the vicinity of the old village. When Amsterdam was divided into boroughs, Sloterdijk became part of the new borough of

Bos en Lommer Bos en Lommer (; English: Wood and Shade) is a neighborhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands. From 1990 to 2010 it was considered a district of the municipality of Amsterdam in the province of North Holland. As of May 1, 2010, it was merged into the new A ...

. The business districts fell under the jurisdiction of Westpoort. In 2010 Sloterdijk became part of the new

References

{{Authority control Amsterdam-West Populated places in North Holland Geography of Amsterdam