Uitbreiding en centrumvorming van Amsterdam in twee kaartreeksen

Around 1850, Amsterdam was surrounded by water, on a tongue of land between the River IJ to the north, the Zuiderzee (then still an inlet of the North Sea) to the east and the Haarlemmermeer lake to the south-west. The Singelgracht canal, dug in the seventeenth century, still marked the boundary between the city and the countryside. Although the fortifications no longer served any military purpose, landward access to the city was still controlled via the city gates, so that municipal excise taxes could be levied. The western and eastern port islands were also protected by docks, and the River Amstel could be sealed off near the Damrak canal. Besides the port and work areas located inside the city boundaries (marked in grey) there was a large unbroken work area to the west of the city between the Singelgracht and Kostverloren Vaart canals, with large numbers of industrial mills...