North Holland Attractions

Like Zuid-Holland, Noord-Holland was a county from the earliest times, later becoming a province.

Until Noord-Holland was diked and poldered it was under constant threat of flooding, and as a result the Romans could advance no farther north than the line of the present-day North Sea Canal. With the construction of the first dikes of turf and clay around the year 1000 - the earliest was between Bakkum and Limmen, south of Alkmaar - the population of the area began to increase. The largest medieval project was the 126km/78mile long ring dike built in the 13th century round what was then West Friesland.

This led to the establishment of numerous small trading towns, particularly on the Zuiderzee, and many of them prospered as members of the Hanseatic League. Noord-Holland played a leading part in the northern provinces' fight for independence, and the Stadholder of Holland soon extended his authority to the other provinces. The North Holland Canal was constructed between 1819 and 1824 to give Amsterdam a link with the North Sea as an alternative to the passage through the Zuiderzee, which was subject to frequent storms. The North Sea Canal, which runs through the IJmuiden dunes to the sea, was constructed in 1865. Locks were built, the IJ - an arm of the IJsselmeer to the east of Amsterdam - was closed by a dam and the area between Haarlem and Amsterdam was poldered. Along the Zaanstreek and the seaward end of the North Sea Canal a large industrial agglomeration grew up. The first railroad line in the Netherlands, between Amsterdam and Haarlem, was opened in 1839. After the First World War the world's first airline was established at the military airfield of Schiphol, and the first regular air service began to operate between Amsterdam and London in 1920.