The iconic canals of Amsterdam are now a tourist
attraction. Once of course these canals were purely functional as everything in
the manmade Dutch polders. Water cities like Amsterdam were not constructed for
their still apparent beauty, but are the only way of efficiently urbanizing low
lying sites in the delta. Apart from Amsterdam there are several other
dam-cities in the Netherlands i.e. Volendam, Monnikendam, Alblasserdam, Edam,
Stellendam, Giessendam, Werkendam, Spaarndam, Muntendam, Schiedam, Ilpendam, Oostendam,
Leerdam, Dubbeldam, Appingedam and the well known Zaandam and Rotterdam. The
prefix is most often the name of the water that was dammed. In Flanders
dam-cities are rare (only Damme on the Zwin). The same can be said of Germany
(Potsdam for instance doesn't refer to a dam but is derived from the Slavic for
amongst the oak trees).
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