IJ (Amsterdam)

The IJ (Dutch:) is a waterway in North Holland, Netherlands, running through Amsterdam between the IJmeer–Markermeer system to the east and the North Sea Canal to the west. Rijkswaterstaat gives its present length as 12 km (7.5 mi) and its width as between 150 and 600 m (490 and 1,970 ft). It forms a major part of Amsterdam's waterfront and separates the historic centre and other districts south of the water from Amsterdam-Noord.

Historically, the IJ was a much broader body of water and a bay of the Zuiderzee. Much of its western part was reclaimed during construction of the North Sea Canal in the nineteenth century, leaving the present waterway through the former bay.