KNSM Island 3.43

The KNSM Island is a man-made island in the Eastern Docklands of Amsterdam. It is named for the Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot-Maatschappij (KNSM), the Royal Dutch Steamboat Shipping company which used to have its headquarters and its docks on the island. It is now a large residential area containing modern architecture with a mostly well-off population.HistoryOriginally, the island was a breakwater for the Oostelijke Handelskade, just like the adjacent Java Island. Later its level was raised with soil dredged from the North Sea Canal. The ensuing harbor terrain was occupied in 1903 by the KNSM, which covered most of the island. In 1956 the KNSM celebrated its centennial, but the decolonization of the Dutch East Indies and the growth of cargo transport spelled the end of the company, which merged into Nedlloyd in 1981. KNSM moved some of its to the Western Docklands of Amsterdam and stopped others, and finally left the area in 1977. In the 1980s, squatters, artists, and urban nomads took over the area. In the 1990s, these groups that occupied what had come to be known as "sloaps" ("sites left over after planning") and had originally been tolerated, were slowly ordered out by the city.