The North Sea Canal, Amsterdam’s route to open water, is celebrating its 150th anniversary.
Regional broadcaster NH is marking the occasion with a three-part television series about the waterway and how it reshaped life for generations of people in North Holland.
Dug largely by hand
By the 19th century, Amsterdam needed a quicker way to reach the North Sea.
Ships had to sail up the Noordhollandsch Kanaal to Den Helder, a long, shallow route that struggled to handle ships as they grew larger.
Thousands of labourers spent eleven years digging the new canal, mostly by hand and in harsh conditions.
A fishing town grows at the canal mouth
After the canal opened in 1876, piers at its mouth gave fishermen a sheltered spot, drawing crews from Egmond, Urk, Katwijk, Scheveningen and elsewhere.
A fishing harbour followed, and with it a whole new town: IJmuiden.
One man who has worked in the fish trade for 66 years told NH that his family came from Egmond and were among the first generation of fishermen in IJmuiden.
He said he was raised around fish and has never known anything else.