Archaeology of Oostenburg. The Amsterdam harbour extension of 1660 and the VOC ship yard

Summary

In the 1660s the city of Amsterdam witnessed the completion of a process of systematic urban extension which started 50 years earlier. This led to the creation of the characteristic highly renaissance conceived semicircular city plan. This comprised a wealthy residential area concentrated along the belt of canals with a middle class housing and labour quarter and fortification around it. The major feature of the 1660 extension was the creation of three large scale harbour islands along the eastern harbour front. One of these islands, called Oostenburg, was designed as the new industrial heart of the Amsterdam branch of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The VOC created a multitask shipyard, equipped with facilities to meet the highest standards of production of seagoing vessels for the Asian trade route in the 17th and 18th century. Archaeological research between 2000 and 2012 has revealed new details on the infrastructural and technological features of this multitask shipyard. The archaeological data on the infrastructural reality of the VOC shipyard contribute to a better notion of the importance of the port facilities for the urban success of 17th century Amsterdam.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014   •
• Coastal and Port Cities: Maritime Archaeology on Land and Underwater

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-57,03