146-625: The Amsterdam Metro ( Dutch : Amsterdamse metro ) is a rapid transit system serving Amsterdam , Netherlands , and extending to the surrounding municipalities of Diemen and Ouder-Amstel . Until 2019, it also served the municipality of Amstelveen , but this route was closed and converted into a tram line. The network is owned by the City of Amsterdam and operated by municipal public transport company Gemeente Vervoerbedrijf (GVB), which also operates trams, free ferries and local buses. The metro system consists of five routes and serves 39 stations, with
292-561: A common ancestor with languages such as English, German, and the Scandinavian languages . All Germanic languages are subject to the Grimm's law and Verner's law sound shifts, which originated in the Proto-Germanic language and define the basic features differentiating them from other Indo-European languages. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in
438-461: A schwa . The Middle Dutch dialect areas were affected by political boundaries. The sphere of political influence of a certain ruler often also created a sphere of linguistic influence, with the language within the area becoming more homogenous. Following the contemporary political divisions they are in order of importance: A process of standardisation started in the Middle Ages , especially under
584-459: A silvery look. In 2009, all trains were provided with a new interior design by different artists. As they are built to full metro carrying capacity , they were used mainly on the east line services, Routes 53 and 54, with occasional use on Route 50. As they neared the end of their life cycle and spare parts no longer became available, the entire fleet of M1-M3 trains was gradually taken out of service permanently from 2012 to 2015, being replaced by
730-584: A synod taking place in Corbridge , England , where the decisions are being written down " tam Latine quam theodisce " meaning "in Latin as well as common vernacular". According to a hypothesis by De Grauwe, In northern West Francia (i.e. modern-day Belgium) the term would take on a new meaning during the Early Middle Ages , when, within the context of a highly dichromatic linguistic landscape, it came to be
876-469: A 'sneltram' (express tram) service, and the vehicles were manufactured to light rail standards. The changeover between third rail and overhead tramline power took place at Zuid Station . From March 2019 onwards, the Amstelveenlijn as a sneltram ceased to exist, and is being replaced by a tram line terminating at Zuid station, including a €300 million rebuild of the original line. For connection to
1022-456: A bomb shelter which has never been used as such. In 1990, the Amstelveenlijn (Amstelveen Line) was opened, which is used for Route 51 . Under a political compromise between the city of Amsterdam and the municipality of Amstelveen , the northern section of the line was built as a metro line while the southern section is an extended tram line. Therefore, Route 51 was originally referred to as
1168-559: A comparison between the West Germanic languages, see the sections Phonology, Grammar, and Vocabulary. Dutch dialects are primarily the dialects that are both related with the Dutch language and are spoken in the same language area as the Dutch standard language . Although heavily under the influence of the standard language, some of them remain diverse and are found in the Netherlands and in
1314-461: A consequence evolve (along with Alemannic , Bavarian and Lombardic ) into Old High German. At more or less the same time the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law, moving over Western Europe from west to east, led to the development of Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Old Frisian and Old Saxon . Hardly influenced by either development, Old Dutch probably remained relatively close to the original language of
1460-488: A fascinating view during the ride. Over the years, these decorations have completely been covered with graffiti. Some of the station artworks have also disappeared. Plans to remove all artworks as part of the large-scale renovation of the East Line tunnel in 2012 were altered after citizens' protests stating their historical significance. Over the years, several stations along the East Line were expanded or renovated. Since 2003,
1606-471: A lantern for the local neighbourhood, creating a sense of warmth on street level and creating an instantly recognisable feature for the station" at night time. The design was awarded the 2014 EU Stirling Prize . A major overhaul of sixteen East Line stations was announced in June 2014. The renovation works taking place from 2015 until 2017 should bring more light and space to the stations. By removing paint layers on
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#17328592784981752-532: A long-term regional planning study of 2011, the Amstelveenlijn was to be upgraded to a fully-fledged metro service. On 12 March 2013, however, the regional council of the City Region of Amsterdam decided that Route 51 would be replaced by an improved express tram service running from Westwijk to Zuid Station and a separate metro service running from Zuid Station and Amstel Station . Passengers from Amstelveen would then be required to change at Zuid Station to
1898-420: A metro line, such as traffic disruption and the demolition of buildings. In 1964 and 1965, Bureau Stadsspoorweg presented four reports to the municipal government of Amsterdam, which were made available to the public on 30 August 1966. In March 1968, the aldermen and mayor of Amsterdam subsequently submitted a proposal to the municipal council of Amsterdam to agree to the construction of the metro network, which
2044-566: A minority language in Germany and northern France's French Flanders . Though Belgium as a whole is multilingual, three of the four language areas into which the country is divided ( Flanders , francophone Wallonia , and the German-speaking Community ) are largely monolingual, with Brussels being bilingual. The Netherlands and Belgium produce the vast majority of music , films , books and other media written or spoken in Dutch. Dutch
2190-657: A minority) and the province of Walloon Brabant . Brabantian expands into small parts in the west of Limburg while its strong influence on the East Flemish of East Flanders and eastern Zeelandic Flanders weakens towards the west. In a small area in the northwest of North Brabant ( Willemstad ), Hollandic is spoken. Conventionally, the Kleverlandish dialects are distinguished from Brabantian, but there are no objective criteria apart from geography to do so. Over 5 million people live in an area with some form of Brabantian being
2336-515: A north–south line from the northern district via Amsterdam Centraal to Weteringplantsoen traffic circle, with two branches at both ends; and a second east–west line from Geuzenveld district to Gaasperplas . The system would be constructed gradually and was expected to be completed by the end of the 1990s. The first part of the original plan to be carried out was the construction of the Oostlijn (East Line), which started in 1970. The East Line links
2482-420: A number of closely related, mutually intelligible dialects spoken in the former Old Dutch area. Where Old Dutch fragments are very hard to read for untrained Modern Dutch speakers, the various literary works of Middle Dutch are somewhat more accessible. The most notable difference between Old and Middle Dutch is in a feature of speech known as vowel reduction , whereby vowels in unstressed syllables are leveled to
2628-566: A political border, because the traditional dialects are strongly influenced by the national standard varieties. While a somewhat heterogeneous group of Low Franconian dialects, Limburgish has received official status as a regional language in the Netherlands and Germany, but not in Belgium. Due to this official recognition, it receives protection by chapter 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Afrikaans , although to
2774-545: A report published by the municipal government concerning the inner city of Amsterdam—known by the Dutch title Nota Binnenstad —suggested installing a commission to explore solutions to the traffic problems Amsterdam faced. This commission, which was headed by former director of the department of Public Works J.W. Clerx, was subsequently installed in March 1956, and published its report Openbaar vervoer in de agglomeratie Amsterdam in 1960. The aldermen and mayor of Amsterdam agreed with
2920-413: A result, Nederduits no longer serves as a synonym for the Dutch language. In the 19th century, the term " Diets " was revived by Dutch linguists and historians as well, as a poetic name for Middle Dutch and its literature . Old Dutch can be discerned more or less around the same time as Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Old High German , Old Frisian , and Old Saxon . These names are derived from
3066-505: A result, when West Flemings try to talk Standard Dutch, they are often unable to pronounce the g-sound, and pronounce it similar to the h-sound. This leaves, for example, no difference between " held " (hero) and " geld " (money). Or in some cases, they are aware of the problem, and hyper-correct the "h" into a voiced velar fricative or g-sound, again leaving no difference. The West Flemish variety historically spoken in adjacent parts in France
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#17328592784983212-464: A second or third language in the polyglot Caribbean island countries of Aruba , Curaçao and Sint Maarten . All these countries have recognised Dutch as one of their official languages, and are involved in one way or another in the Dutch Language Union . The Dutch Caribbean municipalities ( St. Eustatius , Saba and Bonaire ) have Dutch as one of the official languages. In Asia, Dutch
3358-516: A significant degree mutually intelligible with Dutch, is usually not considered a dialect but instead a separate standardised language . It is spoken in South Africa and Namibia. As a daughter language of 17th-century Dutch dialects, Afrikaans evolved in parallel with modern Dutch, but was influenced by various other languages in South Africa. West Frisian ( Westerlauwers Fries ), along with Saterland Frisian and North Frisian , evolved from
3504-473: A somewhat different development since the late Middle Ages. Two dialect groups have been given the official status of regional language (or streektaal ) in the Netherlands. Like several other dialect groups, both are part of a dialect continuum that continues across the national border. The Dutch Low Saxon dialect area comprises the provinces of Groningen , Drenthe and Overijssel , as well as parts of
3650-424: A source language, mainly for law and history students. In Indonesia this involves about 35,000 students. Unlike other European nations, the Dutch chose not to follow a policy of language expansion amongst the indigenous peoples of their colonies. In the last quarter of the 19th century, however, a local elite gained proficiency in Dutch so as to meet the needs of expanding bureaucracy and business. Nevertheless,
3796-409: A total length of 42.7 kilometers (26.5 mi). Three routes start at Amsterdam Centraal : Route 53 and Route 54 connect the city centre with the suburban residential towns of Diemen , Duivendrecht and Amsterdam-Zuidoost (the city's southeastern borough), while Route 51 first runs south and then follows a circular route connecting the southern and western boroughs. Route 50 connects Zuidoost to
3942-538: A unique prestige dialect and has a large dialectal continuum consisting of 28 main dialects, which can themselves be further divided into at least 600 distinguishable varieties. In the Netherlands, the Hollandic dialect dominates in national broadcast media while in Flanders Brabantian dialect dominates in that capacity, making them in turn unofficial prestige dialects in their respective countries. Outside
4088-415: A width of 2.65 metres (8 ft 8 in) which was the maximum width on the southern section of the line between Zuid Station and Westwijk . In order to bridge the gap between the trains and the platforms in northern section, the vehicles were equipped with retractable footboards at the doors. In addition, the vehicles were equipped with pantographs in order to retrieve power from the overhead wiring on
4234-531: Is kantor , handdoek "towel" in Indonesian is handuk , or bushalte "bus stop" in Indonesian is halte bus . In addition, many Indonesian words are calques of Dutch; for example, rumah sakit "hospital" is calqued on the Dutch ziekenhuis (literally "sickhouse"), kebun binatang "zoo" on dierentuin (literally "animal garden"), undang-undang dasar "constitution" from grondwet (literally "ground law"). These account for some of
4380-499: Is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family , spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the third most spoken Germanic language. In Europe, Dutch is the native language of most of the population of the Netherlands and Flanders (which includes 60% of the population of Belgium ). Dutch was one of the official languages of South Africa until 1925, when it
4526-466: Is a calque of the aforementioned Roman province Germania Inferior and an attempt by early Dutch grammarians to give their language more prestige by linking it to Roman times. Likewise, Hoogduits ("High German") and Overlands ("Upper-landish") came into use as a Dutch exonym for the various German dialects used in neighboring German states. Use of Nederduytsch was popular in the 16th century but ultimately lost out over Nederlands during
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4672-469: Is a monocentric language , at least what concerns its written form, with all speakers using the same standard form (authorised by the Dutch Language Union ) based on a Dutch orthography defined in the so-called " Green Booklet " authoritative dictionary and employing the Latin alphabet when writing; however, pronunciation varies between dialects. Indeed, in stark contrast to its written uniformity, Dutch lacks
4818-536: Is a dual metro overpass on the Gaasperplas Branch in the Bijlmermeer district between Ganzenhoef and Kraaiennest stations. This 1,100-metre (3,608 ft 11 in) long colonnade contains two single crossovers, each consisting of 33 pillars carrying 33-metre (108 ft 3 in) long beams. The center-to-center distance between the two overpasses is 15 metres (49 ft 3 in). This exceptional height
4964-521: Is also an official language of several international organisations, such as the European Union , Union of South American Nations and the Caribbean Community . At an academic level, Dutch is taught in about 175 universities in 40 countries. About 15,000 students worldwide study Dutch at university. In Europe, Dutch is the majority language in the Netherlands (96%) and Belgium (59%) as well as
5110-428: Is commemorated by the award plaques in the concourses of Centraal station and Gein station . As part of the city's policy that one percent of construction budgets for public works had to be spent on art, all stations on the Oostlijn have been decorated by different artists. In addition, the western wall of the tunnel was painted with lines and patterns which altered between the two stations, providing passengers with
5256-578: Is found in the Salic law . In this Frankish document written around 510 the oldest Dutch sentence has been identified: Maltho thi afrio lito ("I say to you, I free you, serf") used to free a serf. Another old fragment of Dutch is Visc flot aftar themo uuatare ("A fish was swimming in the water"). The oldest conserved larger Dutch text is the Utrecht baptismal vow (776–800) starting with Forsachistu diobolae ... ec forsacho diabolae (litt.: "Forsake you
5402-513: Is mostly Germanic; it incorporates slightly more Romance loans than German, but far fewer than English. In Belgium, the Netherlands and Suriname, the native official name for Dutch is Nederlands (historically Nederlandsch before the Dutch orthographic reforms ). Sometimes Vlaams (" Flemish ") is used as well to describe Standard Dutch in Flanders , whereas Hollands (" Hollandic ")
5548-530: Is now their northern terminus. The Gein Branch was extended in the southern direction on 27 August 1982, when the section between Holendrecht and Gein was completed. Spaklerweg station was then opened. In some plans for the Gein Branch, an extension to Weesp and Almere was being considered. According to the most recent regional planning study, that now seems unlikely. A notable part of the East Line infrastructure
5694-480: Is occasionally used as a colloquial term for the standard language in the central and northwestern parts of the Netherlands. English uses the adjective Dutch as a noun for the language of the Netherlands and Flanders. The word is derived from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz . The stem of this word, *þeudō , meant "people" in Proto-Germanic, and *-iskaz was an adjective-forming suffix, of which -ish
5840-556: Is so distinct that it might be considered as a separate language variant, although the strong significance of language in Belgian politics would prevent the government from classifying them as such. An oddity of the dialect is that, the voiced velar fricative (written as "g" in Dutch) shifts to a voiced glottal fricative (written as "h" in Dutch), while the letter "h" becomes mute (like in French). As
5986-573: Is sometimes called French Flemish and is listed as a French minority language . However, only a very small and aging minority of the French-Flemish population still speaks and understands West Flemish. Hollandic is spoken in Holland and Utrecht , though the original forms of this dialect (which were heavily influenced by a West Frisian substratum and, from the 16th century on, by Brabantian dialects ) are now relatively rare. The urban dialects of
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6132-614: Is spoken in Limburg (Belgium) as well as in the remaining part of Limburg (Netherlands) and extends across the German border. West Flemish ( Westvlaams ) is spoken in West Flanders , the western part of Zeelandic Flanders and also in French Flanders , where it virtually became extinct to make way for French. The West Flemish group of dialects, spoken in West Flanders and Zeeland ,
6278-575: Is taught in various educational centres in Indonesia, the most important of which is the Erasmus Language Centre (ETC) in Jakarta . Each year, some 1,500 to 2,000 students take Dutch courses there. In total, several thousand Indonesians study Dutch as a foreign language. Owing to centuries of Dutch rule in Indonesia, many old documents are written in Dutch. Many universities therefore include Dutch as
6424-639: Is the Modern English form. Theodiscus was its Latinised form and used as an adjective referring to the Germanic vernaculars of the Early Middle Ages . In this sense, it meant "the language of the common people". The term was used as opposed to Latin , the non -native language of writing and the Catholic Church . It was first recorded in 786, when the Bishop of Ostia writes to Pope Adrian I about
6570-404: Is the case with the ( standardised ) West Frisian language . It is spoken alongside Dutch in the province of Friesland . Dutch dialects and regional languages are not spoken as often as they used to be, especially in the Netherlands. Recent research by Geert Driessen shows that the use of dialects and regional languages among both Dutch adults and youth is in heavy decline. In 1995, 27 percent of
6716-576: Is the first to serve the Amsterdam North district, via a tunnel under the IJ . From there, it runs via Amsterdam Centraal to Amsterdam Zuid , which is planned to become the second biggest transport hub in the city, after Amsterdam Centraal. The line includes a mixture of bored tunnels and immersed tunnels under the IJ. The construction programme experienced several difficulties, mainly at Amsterdam Centraal, resulting in
6862-525: Is the sole official language, and over 60 percent of the population speaks it as a mother tongue . Dutch is the obligatory medium of instruction in schools in Suriname, even for non-native speakers. A further twenty-four percent of the population speaks Dutch as a second language . Suriname gained its independence from the Netherlands in 1975 and has been an associate member of the Dutch Language Union since 2004. The lingua franca of Suriname, however,
7008-519: The 2006 New Zealand census , 26,982 people, or 0.70 percent of the total population, reported to speak Dutch to sufficient fluency that they could hold an everyday conversation. In contrast to the colonies in the East Indies , from the second half of the 19th century onwards, the Netherlands envisaged the expansion of Dutch in its colonies in the West Indies . Until 1863, when slavery was abolished in
7154-659: The Amsterdam-West borough using a circular line, which it shares with Route 51. It is the only route that does not cross the city centre. A fifth route, Route 52, running from the Amsterdam-Noord ( north ) borough to Amsterdam-Zuid ( south ) via Amsterdam Centraal, came into operation on 21 July 2018. As opposed to the other routes, it runs mostly through bored tunnels and does not share tracks with any other route. The first plans for an underground railway in Amsterdam date from
7300-564: The Bergakker inscription , found near the Dutch city of Tiel , which may represent a primary record of 5th-century Frankish. Although some place names recorded in Roman texts such as vadam (modern Dutch: wad , English: "mudflat"), could arguably be considered as the oldest single "Dutch" words, the Bergakker inscription yields the oldest evidence of Dutch morphology. However, interpretations of
7446-450: The Brussels and Flemish regions of Belgium . The areas in which they are spoken often correspond with former medieval counties and duchies. The Netherlands (but not Belgium) distinguishes between a dialect and a streektaal (" regional language "). Those words are actually more political than linguistic because a regional language unites a large group of very different varieties. Such is
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#17328592784987592-548: The High German consonant shift , does not use Germanic umlaut as a grammatical marker, has largely abandoned the use of the subjunctive , and has levelled much of its morphology , including most of its case system . Features shared with German, however, include the survival of two to three grammatical genders – albeit with few grammatical consequences – as well as the use of modal particles , final-obstruent devoicing , and (similar) word order . Dutch vocabulary
7738-486: The Low Countries , its meaning being largely implicitly provided by the regional orientation of medieval Dutch society: apart from the higher echelons of the clergy and nobility, mobility was largely static and hence while "Dutch" could by extension also be used in its earlier sense, referring to what today would be called Germanic dialects as opposed to Romance dialects , in many cases it was understood or meant to refer to
7884-579: The Low Franconian languages, paired with its sister language Limburgish or East Low Franconian. Its closest relative is the mutually intelligible daughter language Afrikaans. Other West Germanic languages related to Dutch are German , English and the un-standardised languages Low German and Yiddish . Dutch stands out in combining some Ingvaeonic characteristics (occurring consistently in English and Frisian and reduced in intensity from west to east over
8030-494: The Noord-Zuidlijn (North–South Line) was added to the network. The line provides a fast connection from the north of the IJ waterway to the south of Amsterdam. From 1997 to 2018 the Amsterdam metro system consisted of four metro routes. The oldest routes are Route 54 (from Centraal station to Gein ) and Route 53 (from Centraal station to Gaasperplas ). Both routes are using the Oostlijn (East Line) infrastructure, which
8176-526: The Randstad , which are Hollandic dialects, do not diverge from standard Dutch very much, but there is a clear difference between the city dialects of Rotterdam , The Hague , Amsterdam and Utrecht . In some rural Hollandic areas more authentic Hollandic dialects are still being used, especially north of Amsterdam. Another group of dialects based on Hollandic is that spoken in the cities and larger towns of Friesland , where it partially displaced West Frisian in
8322-526: The Southern Netherlands (now Belgium and Luxembourg), developments were different. Under subsequent Spanish , Austrian and French rule , the standardisation of Dutch language came to a standstill. The state, law, and increasingly education used French, yet more than half the Belgian population were speaking a variety of Dutch. In the course of the 19th century, the Flemish Movement stood up for
8468-489: The antonym of *walhisk (Romance-speakers, specifically Old French ). The word, now rendered as dietsc (Southwestern variant) or duutsc (Central and Northern Variant), could refer to the Dutch language itself, as well as a broader Germanic category depending on context. During the High Middle Ages " Dietsc / Duutsc " was increasingly used as an umbrella term for the specific Germanic dialects spoken in
8614-471: The continental West Germanic plane) with dominant Istvaeonic characteristics, some of which are also incorporated in German. Unlike German, Dutch (apart from Limburgish) has not been influenced at all by the south to north movement of the High German consonant shift and had some changes of its own. The cumulation of these changes resulted over time in separate, but related standard languages with various degrees of similarities and differences between them. For
8760-434: The differences in vocabulary between Indonesian and Malay. Some regional languages in Indonesia have some Dutch loanwords as well; for example, Sundanese word Katel or "frying pan" origin in Dutch is " ketel ". The Javanese word for "bike/ bicycle " " pit " can be traced back to its origin in Dutch " fiets ". The Malacca state of Malaysia was also colonized by the Dutch in its longest period that Malacca
8906-630: The pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age . The Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups: East (now extinct), West , and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period . Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots , Frisian , Low German (Old Saxon) and High German . It is characterised by a number of phonological and morphological innovations not found in North or East Germanic. The West Germanic varieties of
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#17328592784989052-512: The 14th to 15th century onward, its urban centers ( Deventer , Zwolle , Kampen , Zutphen and Doesburg ) have been increasingly influenced by the western written Dutch and became a linguistically mixed area. From the 17th century onward, it was gradually integrated into the Dutch language area. Dutch Low Saxon used to be at one end of the Low German dialect continuum . However, the national border has given way to dialect boundaries coinciding with
9198-531: The 16th century and is known as Stadsfries ("Urban Frisian"). Hollandic together with inter alia Kleverlandish and North Brabantian , but without Stadsfries, are the Central Dutch dialects . Brabantian is named after the historical Duchy of Brabant , which corresponded mainly to the provinces of North Brabant and southern Gelderland , the Belgian provinces of Antwerp and Flemish Brabant , as well as Brussels (where its native speakers have become
9344-491: The 1920s: in November 1922, members of the municipal council of Amsterdam Zeeger Gulden and Emanuel Boekman asked the responsible alderman Ter Haar to study the possibility of constructing an underground railway in the city, in response to which the municipal department of Public Works drafted reports with proposals for underground railways in both 1923 and 1929. These plans stalled in the planning phase, however, and it took until
9490-424: The 1950s for the discussion about underground rail to resurface again in Amsterdam. The post-war population boom and increase in motorized traffic shifted the perception of underground rail transport in Amsterdam considerably: whereas in the 1920s, underground rail had been considered too expensive, halfway through the 1950s it was presented as a realistic solution to the problems caused by increased traffic. In 1955,
9636-668: The 7th century. It was replaced in France by Old French (a Romance language with a considerable Old Frankish influence). However, the Old Franconian language did not die out at large, as it continued to be spoken in the Low Countries, and subsequently evolved into what is now called Old Low Franconian or Old Dutch in the Low Countries. In fact, Old Frankish could be reconstructed from Old Dutch and Frankish loanwords in Old French. The term Old Dutch or Old Low Franconian refers to
9782-958: The Amsterdam Metro fleet is the M7 series, manufactured by the Spanish manufacturer CAF , which entered passenger service on February 28, 2023. Onwards, the M7 series departs radically from previous generation M5 units by coming in three-car articulated sets with gangway connections between all cars. The initial order of 30 M7 metro sets, was placed to replace all S1-S2 in 2024, and S3-M4 in 2027. As such, they are used on line 50, and later on 53 and 54. Full metro units for Routes 50, 53 and 54 Built by CAF (30 units total) (195 feet 6⁄ 64 in) Width: 3.0 m (9 ft 10 + 1 ⁄ 8 in) Weight: 95 t (209 439 lb) Maximum speed: 80 km/h (50 mph) Dutch language Dutch ( endonym : Nederlands [ˈneːdərlɑnts] )
9928-458: The Amsterdam Metro system. All use standard gauge track and operate on a 750 V DC third rail electrification system . The original, first-generation fleet consisted of types M1, M2 and M3, designed as four-axle, two-car sets manufactured by the German firm Linke-Hofmann-Busch and delivered between 1973 and 1980. These first-generation trains are nicknamed zilvermeeuw ( herring gull ) because of their body of unpainted steel creating
10074-417: The Dutch adult population spoke a dialect or regional language on a regular basis, but in 2011, that was no more than 11 percent. In 1995, 12 percent of children of primary school age spoke a dialect or regional language, but in 2011, that had declined to four percent. Of the officially recognised regional languages Limburgish is spoken the most (in 2011 among adults 54%, among children 31%) and Dutch Low Saxon
10220-479: The Dutch government remained reluctant to teach Dutch on a large scale for fear of destabilising the colony. Dutch, the language of power, was supposed to remain in the hands of the leading elite. After independence, Dutch was dropped as an official language and replaced by Indonesian , but this does not mean that Dutch has completely disappeared in Indonesia: Indonesian Dutch , a regional variety of
10366-415: The Dutch standard language is largely absent, and speakers of these Dutch dialects will use German or French in everyday speech. Dutch is not afforded legal status in France or Germany, either by the central or regional public authorities, and knowledge of the language is declining among younger generations. As a foreign language , Dutch is mainly taught in primary and secondary schools in areas adjacent to
10512-524: The Dutch standard language, it is not mutually intelligible with Dutch and considered a sister language of Dutch, like English and German. Approximate distribution of native Dutch speakers worldwide: Dutch is an official language of the Netherlands proper (not enshrined in the constitution but in administrative law ), Belgium, Suriname, the Dutch Caribbean municipalities (St. Eustatius, Saba and Bonaire), Aruba , Curaçao and Sint Maarten . Dutch
10658-408: The Dutch, was still spoken by about 500,000 half-blood in Indonesia in 1985. Yet the Indonesian language inherited many words from Dutch: words for everyday life as well as scientific and technological terms. One scholar argues that 20% of Indonesian words can be traced back to Dutch words, many of which are transliterated to reflect phonetic pronunciation e.g. kantoor "office" in Indonesian
10804-592: The Franks. However, the language did experience developments of its own, such as very early final-obstruent devoicing . In fact, the find at Bergakker indicates that the language may already have experienced this shift during the Old Frankish period. Attestations of Old Dutch sentences are extremely rare. The language is mostly recorded on fragmentary relics, and words have been reconstructed from Middle Dutch and loan words from Old Dutch in other languages. The oldest recorded
10950-735: The Gein Branch for Route 54 and Gaasperplas Branch for Route 53. Since 1980, the northern terminus for both routes is Amsterdam Centraal railway station . Ben Spangberg, an architect from the Government of Amsterdam , was asked to design the stations on the line. After two years of work, he told that it was too much for one person, and Sier van Rhijn [ nl ] was assigned to the project as well. Spangberg said that they avoided sharp corners and used smooth designs instead. He wanted to have elevators in all stations, but initially wasn't allowed due to cost issues and because Nederlandse Spoorwegen didn't want to stay behind. After further discussions,
11096-509: The M5 series departs radically from previous generation units by coming in six-car articulated sets with gangway connections between all cars. Although the trains are suitable for unmanned service , they remain controlled by drivers for the time being. However, the trains are compatible with Alstom's "Urbalis" communications-based train control system which will replace the current signalling system by 2017 and enable automatic train operation across
11242-568: The Netherlands and Flanders . In French-speaking Belgium , over 300,000 pupils are enrolled in Dutch courses, followed by over 23,000 in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia , and about 7,000 in the French region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais (of which 4,550 are in primary school). At an academic level, the largest number of faculties of neerlandistiek can be found in Germany (30 universities), followed by France (20 universities) and
11388-412: The Netherlands and Belgium, the dialect spoken in and around the German town of Kleve ( Kleverlandish ) is historically and genetically a Low Franconian variety. In North-Western France, the area around Calais was historically Dutch-speaking (West Flemish), of which an estimated 20,000 are daily speakers. The cities of Dunkirk , Gravelines and Bourbourg only became predominantly French-speaking by
11534-530: The Netherlands, although there are recognisable differences in pronunciation, comparable to the pronunciation differences between standard British and standard American English. In 1980 the Netherlands and Belgium concluded the Language Union Treaty . This treaty lays down the principle that the two countries must gear their language policy to each other, among other things, for a common system of spelling. Dutch belongs to its own West Germanic sub-group,
11680-689: The Ring Line were narrowed to accommodate the older but wider M1-M3 sets, the boards were permanently removed on all M4 sets, but not on the S3 sets due to the limited loading gauge of the Amstelveen line. A newer addition to the Amsterdam Metro fleet is the M5 series, manufactured by the Polish manufacturer Alstom Konstal based on its Metropolis family of high-capacity metro trains, variants of which are in use in several foreign metro systems. Delivered from June 2013 onwards,
11826-655: The United Kingdom (5 universities). Despite the Dutch presence in Indonesia for almost 350 years, as the Asian bulk of the Dutch East Indies , the Dutch language has no official status there and the small minority that can speak the language fluently are either educated members of the oldest generation, or employed in the legal profession such as historians, diplomats, lawyers, jurists and linguists/polyglots, as certain law codes are still only available in Dutch. Dutch
11972-603: The West Indies, slaves were forbidden to speak Dutch, with the effect that local creoles such as Papiamento and Sranan Tongo which were based not on Dutch but rather other European languages, became common in the Dutch West Indies. However, as most of the people in the Colony of Surinam (now Suriname ) worked on Dutch plantations, this reinforced the use of Dutch as a means for direct communication. In Suriname today, Dutch
12118-456: The architects were permitted to design two elevator shafts, with only one of them active. Construction on the tunnels started while the stations were still being designed. The architects frequently visited the construction sites to instruct the workers to do something specific to allow for possible changes in the future. Most underground areas of the line were built by using 40 metres (131 ft 3 in) long caissons . The caissons were built on
12264-652: The area known as the Low Countries goes back further in time, with the Romans referring to the region as Germania Inferior ("Lower" Germania). It is a reference to the Low Countries' downriver location at the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta near the North Sea . From 1551, the designation Nederlands received strong competition from the name Nederduytsch (literally "Low Dutch", Dutch being used in its archaic sense covering all continental West Germanic languages). It
12410-614: The borders of other standard language areas. In most cases, the heavy influence of the standard language has broken the dialect continuum . Examples are the Gronings dialect spoken in Groningen as well as the closely related varieties in adjacent East Frisia (Germany). Kleverlandish is a dialect spoken in southern Gelderland , the northern tip of Limburg , and northeast of North Brabant (Netherlands), but also in adjacent parts of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). Limburgish ( Limburgs )
12556-472: The case with the Gronings dialect , which is considered a variety of the Dutch Low Saxon regional language, but it is relatively distinct from other Dutch Low Saxon varieties. Also, some Dutch dialects are more remote from the Dutch standard language than some varieties of a regional language are. Within the Netherlands, a further distinction is made between a regional language and a separate language, which
12702-411: The city centre with the large-scale Bijlmermeer residential developments in the south-east of the city. It opened in 1977. The East Line starts underground, crossing the city centre and adjacent neighbourhoods in the eastern districts until Amsterdam Amstel railway station , where it continues above ground in southeastern direction. At Van der Madeweg metro station , the line splits into two branches:
12848-471: The city of Amsterdam decided to adjust the platforms at the stations between Amstelveenseweg and Isolatorweg , whereby the older rolling stock (M1, M2 and M3) serving on the East Line could also serve on the Ring Line. Such an operation was already taken into account during the construction of the stations. In 2002, the construction of the Noord/Zuidlijn (North–South line) was started. The new metro line
12994-553: The close of the 18th century, with (Hoog)Duytsch establishing itself as the Dutch exonym for German during this same period. In the 19th century Germany saw the rise of the categorisation of dialects, with German dialectologists terming the German dialects spoken in the mountainous south of Germany as Hochdeutsch ("High German"). Subsequently, German dialects spoken in the north were designated as Niederdeutsch ("Low German"). The names for these dialects were calqued by Dutch linguists as Nederduits and Hoogduits . As
13140-532: The conclusion of the report of the Clerx commission that an underground railway network ought to be built in Amsterdam in the near future. In April 1963 they installed the Bureau Stadsspoorweg which had the task to study the technical feasibility of a metropolitan railway, to propose a route network, to suggest the preferred order of construction of the various lines, and to study the adverse effects of constructing
13286-472: The council assented to on 16 May 1968 with 38 votes in favour and 3 against. Under the original plan, four lines were to be built, connecting the entire city and replacing many of the existing tram lines. The following lines were planned: an east–west line from the southeast to the Osdorp district via Amsterdam Centraal railway station ; a circle line from the western harbor area to the suburban town of Diemen ;
13432-413: The course of fifteen centuries. During that period, they forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, and influenced or even replaced Old Saxon spoken in the east (contiguous with the Low German area). On the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in present-day France and Germany. The division into Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, since
13578-400: The decision to limit the route to the route between Centraal Station and Zuid Station for nearly seven months, with replacement bus services on the remaining route into Amstelveen . In 2018, after the completion of the Noord-Zuidlijn (North–South Line), there would be no more room at Amsterdam Zuid station for Route 51 to continue as express tram service into Amstelveen . According to
13724-535: The declaration of independence of Indonesia, Western New Guinea , the "wild east" of the Dutch East Indies , remained a Dutch colony until 1962, known as Netherlands New Guinea . Despite prolonged Dutch presence, the Dutch language is not spoken by many Papuans, the colony having been ceded to Indonesia in 1963. Dutch-speaking immigrant communities can also be found in Australia and New Zealand. The 2011 Australian census showed 37,248 people speaking Dutch at home. At
13870-585: The development of a separate Dutch language. It was spoken by the descendants of the Salian Franks who occupied what is now the southern Netherlands , northern Belgium , part of northern France, and parts of the Lower Rhine regions of Germany. The High German consonant shift, moving over Western Europe from south to west, caused a differentiation with the Central and High Franconian in Germany. The latter would as
14016-469: The devil? ... I forsake the devil"). If only for its poetic content, the most famous Old Dutch sentence is probably Hebban olla vogala nestas hagunnan, hinase hic enda tu, wat unbidan we nu ("All birds have started making nests, except me and you, what are we waiting for"), is dated to around the year 1100, written by a Flemish monk in a convent in Rochester , England . Since the sentence speaks to
14162-482: The end of the 19th century. In the countryside, until World War I , many elementary schools continued to teach in Dutch, and the Catholic Church continued to preach and teach the catechism in Dutch in many parishes. During the second half of the 19th century, Dutch was banned from all levels of education by both Prussia and France and lost most of its functions as a cultural language. In both Germany and France,
14308-471: The entire network. The M4 sets have been similarly equipped with this system in early 2016. The initial order of 28 M5 metro sets, each carrying up to 1,000 passengers, was placed to replace all M1-M3 sets on the East Line as well as to increase overall capacity on the generally overstretched metro network. As such, they are used on all routes except Route 51. For Route 52 on the North–South Line an option
14454-422: The future. In August 2014, it was announced that the line was to be equipped with 4G mobile phone coverage, to be funded jointly by the major mobile phone operators. The tram line to IJburg in the east was originally planned to be a metro line. For this reason, a short tunnel was constructed eastwards from Centraal Station underneath the railway lines. As this line was eventually constructed for tram services,
14600-597: The gap between the trains and the platforms on sections built to full metro standards. They are due to be withdrawn by 2020 with the conversion of the Amstelveen line to express tram service . Types M4 and S3 were built by CAF in Spain to expand the fleet and have been in service since 1997. Type M4 was built for the new Ring Line service to Isolatorweg and is hence only third rail equipped. They mainly operate on Route 50 but can also be found on Routes 53 and 54, but never on route 51 due to their lack of pantographs. Four vehicles of
14746-415: The imagination, it is often erroneously stated as the oldest Dutch sentence. Old Dutch naturally evolved into Middle Dutch . The year 1150 is often cited as the time of the discontinuity, but it actually marks a time of profuse Dutch writing; during this period a rich Medieval Dutch literature developed. There was at that time no overarching standard language ; Middle Dutch is rather a collective name for
14892-635: The influence of the Burgundian Ducal Court in Dijon ( Brussels after 1477). The dialects of Flanders and Brabant were the most influential around this time. The process of standardisation became much stronger at the start of the 16th century, mainly based on the urban dialect of Antwerp . The 1585 fall of Antwerp to the Spanish army led to a flight to the northern Netherlands, where the Dutch Republic declared its independence from Spain. This influenced
15038-548: The language now known as Dutch. In the Low Countries Dietsch or its Early Modern Dutch form Duytsch as an endonym for Dutch gradually went out of common use and was gradually replaced by the Dutch endonym Nederlands . This designation (first attested in 1482) started at the Burgundian court in the 15th century, although the use of neder , laag , bas , and inferior ("nether" or "low") to refer to
15184-618: The least (adults 15%, children 1%). The decline of the West Frisian language in Friesland occupies a middle position (adults 44%, children 22%). Dialects are most often spoken in rural areas, but many cities have a distinct city dialect. For example, the city of Ghent has very distinct "g", "e" and "r" sounds that greatly differ from its surrounding villages. The Brussels dialect combines Brabantian with words adopted from Walloon and French . Some dialects had, until recently, extensions across
15330-465: The light rail ("sneltram") line to Amstelveen. Types S1 and S2, manufactured by La Brugeoise et Nivelles in Belgium, were the first units to be produced for use on this new line. In service since 1990, they currently operate exclusively on Route 51, although they could technically also be used on other lines though this has never been done. These vehicles are equipped with both third rail shoes and pantographs , along with retractable footboards to bridge
15476-494: The metro network. The southern sneltram portion was closed for conversion to be incorporated into the tram network . On 14 October 1977, the first metro train ran on the Oostlijn (East Line) from Weesperplein to Amsterdam-Zuidoost , with two branches respectively going to Gaasperplas (now Route 53) and Holendrecht (now Route 54). Spaklerweg station was completed as a shell, but opened later. On 11 October 1980, both routes were extended to Amsterdam Centraal Station , which
15622-458: The metro route for Amstel or to the new Route 52 for Centraal Station . It was also decided that Tram Route 5 would run between Amstelveen and Westergasfabriek . Conversion of the southern section of the Amstelveen Line to tram operation started in 2016. On 3 March 2019, the Amstelveen branch (the hybrid metro/tram line) was cut from route 51 as the tunnel connecting the metro line with
15768-617: The metro station at Amsterdam Centraal station has been continuously under construction in order to accommodate the new North–South Line station. As part of commercial development of the area surrounding the Amsterdam Arena football stadium, which included a new major business and shopping district, the Bijlmer Arena station was substantially enlarged in order to handle the increasing number of passengers. The new station, designed by Grimshaw and Arcadis Articon Architects, opened in 2007 and
15914-450: The metro, passengers will have to transfer at Zuid station. Line number 51 was retained for a new circular line between Isolatorweg and Central Station. In 1997, the Ringlijn (Ring Line), which is used for Route 50, was added to the system. The line provides a rapid transit connection between the south and the west of the city, eliminating the necessity of crossing the city centre. In 2018,
16060-437: The modern standard languages . In this age no standard languages had yet developed, while a perfect West Germanic dialect continuum remained present; the division reflects the contingent future contribution dialect groups would have to the later languages. The early form of Dutch was a set of Franconian dialects spoken by the Salian Franks in the 5th century. These happened to develop through Middle Dutch to Modern Dutch over
16206-470: The modern M5 trains. The last unit (No. 23) was retired after a farewell tour on 19 December 2015 and has been preserved as a heritage train . All the other units have been scrapped, with the last of these being scrapped in December 2015. Until the arrival of the new M5 units, the remainder of the fleet consisted of smaller, narrower two section, 6-axle units that could operate both on the main metro network and
16352-513: The north–south line to the airport and Hoofddorp . In June 2019, the province of North Holland outlined plans to extend the metro to Zaandam and Purmerend along with Schiphol and Hoofddorp. A station box has already been constructed for a potential underground station in Sixhaven , on the north–south line between Noorderpark and Centraal, to be opened at a later date. As of January 2016, there are 90 electric multiple unit train sets in use within
16498-526: The original Dutch language version dating from colonial times remains the authoritative version. Up to half a million native speakers reside in the United States, Canada and Australia combined, and historical linguistic minorities on the verge of extinction remain in parts of France and Germany. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English, and is colloquially said to be "roughly in between" them. Dutch, like English, has not undergone
16644-474: The original plans for an east–west metro line were cancelled. One of the sites where this line was to connect with the East Line had already been built underneath Weesperplein station. This lower level of Weesperplein station was never opened to the public, but its existence can still be noticed by the elevator buttons. Since the East Line was planned and built during the Cold War , Weesperplein station also features
16790-517: The predominant colloquial language out of the area's 22 million Dutch-speakers. Limburgish , spoken in both Belgian Limburg and Netherlands Limburg and in adjacent parts in Germany, is considered a dialect in Belgium, while having obtained the official status of regional language in the Netherlands. Limburgish has been influenced by the Ripuarian varieties like the Colognian dialect , and has had
16936-417: The project running more than 40% over budget and the opening being delayed several times. The project initially had a budget of €1.46 billion, but after several setbacks the total cost estimate has been adjusted to €3.1 billion (at 2009 prices). The original planned opening was for 2011, but eventually the line was opened on 21 July 2018. The North–South line might be extended to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in
17082-411: The provinces of Gelderland , Flevoland , Friesland and Utrecht . This group, which is not Low Franconian but instead Low Saxon and close to neighbouring Low German, has been elevated by the Netherlands (and by Germany) to the legal status of streektaal ( regional language ) according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . It is regarded as Dutch for a number of reasons. From
17228-509: The rest of the text lack any consensus. The Franks emerged in the southern Netherlands ( Salian Franks ) and central Germany ( Ripuarian Franks ), and later descended into Gaul . The name of their kingdom survives in that of France. Although they ruled the Gallo-Romans for nearly 300 years, their language, Frankish , became extinct in most of France and was replaced by later forms of the language throughout Luxembourg and Germany in around
17374-423: The rights of Dutch speakers, mostly referred to as "Flemish". However, the dialect variation was a serious disadvantage in the face of the standardised francophony . Since standardisation is a lengthy process, Dutch-speaking Belgium associated itself with the standard language that had already developed in the Netherlands over the centuries. Therefore, the situation in Belgium is essentially no different from that in
17520-406: The route from Zuid Station to Westwijk. Opened on 1 June 1997, the Ringlijn (Ring Line or Circle Line) is entirely built on embankments and viaducts, and has no level crossings. The line was initially for political reasons called "express circle tram", but since the opening of the Ring Line the transit service on the line is referred to as a Metro Route 50 (from Gein to Isolatorweg ). Because it
17666-517: The same branch of the West Germanic languages as Old English (i.e. Anglo-Frisian ) and are therefore genetically more closely related to English and Scots than to Dutch. The different influences on the respective languages, however, particularly that of Norman French on English and Dutch on West Frisian, have rendered English quite distinct from West Frisian, and West Frisian less distinct from Dutch than from English. Although under heavy influence of
17812-410: The same design, designated type S3, have been equipped with pantographs to also serve on Route 51, but these rarely appear on other lines. As the platforms on the Ring Line were originally built to a smaller loading gauge than those on Routes 53 and 54, M4 and S3 sets were also equipped with retractable footboards to permit boarding on the section that Route 50 shares with Route 54. When the platforms on
17958-451: The set of Franconian dialects (i.e. West Germanic varieties that are assumed to have evolved from Frankish ) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages , from around the 5th to the 12th century. Old Dutch is mostly recorded on fragmentary relics, and words have been reconstructed from Middle Dutch and Old Dutch loanwords in French. Old Dutch is regarded as the primary stage in
18104-476: The southern section into Amstelveen . The line was officially opened on 30 November 1990, replacing the overcrowded bus route 67. The equipment, lightrail series S1 and S2 , was built between 1990 and 1994 by Belgian manufacturer BN in Bruges. From 1994, a total of 25 light rail vehicles was in operation. Since the extension to Westwijk in 2004, a number of S3 series trains are sometimes used on this route, raising
18250-498: The southern section. From Zuid Station to Westwijk , the route operated as an express tram service. On the northern half of this section, Route 51 shared tracks with Line 5 of the tramway , with dual height platforms provided at the stops shared by both lines. Since 3 March 2019, the Amstelveen section of route 51 has been discontinued. Line 51 was upgraded to a full metro line and now runs between Central Station and Isolatorweg. Since December 2020, tram line 25 has been serving
18396-452: The spot and lowered into their place by blasting away the soil beneath. This method required the demolition the houses above the tunnel. The Wibautstraat station and the tunnels near it were constructed differently, using the cut-and-cover method . During the construction of the metro tunnel, the decision to demolish the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood in the city centre led to strong protests in
18542-409: The spring of 1975 from action groups consisting of locals and members of the highly active Amsterdam squatting movement. Wall decorations at the Nieuwmarkt metro station are a reference to the protests, which are known as the Nieuwmarkt riots ( Nieuwmarktrellen ). Despite the protests, construction of the metro line continued but plans to build a highway through the area were abandoned. In addition,
18688-534: The time are generally split into three dialect groups: Ingvaeonic (North Sea Germanic), Istvaeonic (Weser–Rhine Germanic) and Irminonic (Elbe Germanic). It appears that the Frankish tribes fit primarily into the Istvaeonic dialect group with certain Ingvaeonic influences towards the northwest, which are still seen in modern Dutch. The Frankish language itself is not directly attested, the only possible exception being
18834-402: The total number of vehicles available to 29. Shortly before the opening, two lightrail vehicles had collided during trial runs, which reduced the number of vehicles available for the route to 11. Because of the lack of equipment and startup problems, the route was initially operated with limited service. In February 1991 heavy snowfall, continuing technical problems and equipment shortages led to
18980-495: The tram network had to make way for an underground section of the A10 motorway. In December 2020, the Amstelveen Line would become tram line 25 . From Centraal Station to Amsterdam Zuid station , Route 51 ran as a full metro service and had no at-grade intersections. The light-rail vehicles on the line were powered by a third rail with the line being suitable for 3-metre (9 ft 10 in) wide trams. The BN vehicles, however, had
19126-463: The transition between them was very gradual. One of the few moments when linguists can detect something of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. The development of the Dutch language is illustrated by the following sentence in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch: Among the Indo-European languages , Dutch is grouped within the Germanic languages , meaning it shares
19272-480: The tunnel was abandoned, and there are plans to use it as part of a chocolate museum. There are still plans for the tram to IJburg to be upgraded to metro and connect to the nearby city of Almere . On completion of the north–south metro line, Amsterdam Municipality announced it was analysing a possible east–west line at a projected cost of €7 billion. In January 2019, CEO of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Dick Benschop announced that agreements had been reached to extend
19418-487: The underground station halls. It also included a sophisticated use of colour. For example, the red colour of the train doors in the original design was also used at major facilities such as billboards, gates, elevator doors, bins, and the platform signage. For the design of the entire East Line Spängberg and Van Rhijn received Merkelbach Award in 1979. The East Line was also awarded the Betonprijs (Concrete Award) in 1981, which
19564-477: The urban dialects of the province of Holland . In 1637, a further important step was made towards a unified language, when the Statenvertaling , the first major Bible translation into Dutch, was created that people from all over the new republic could understand. It used elements from various, even Dutch Low Saxon , dialects but was predominantly based on the urban dialects of Holland of post 16th century. In
19710-492: The walls, the original Brutalist architecture will become more pronounced. In addition, disused ticket offices are to be removed and lighting and signage will be improved. Following the Nieuwmarkt Riots in 1975, the next major expansion of the metro network into the bordering city of Amstelveen was politically sensitive. When the decision was made to begin construction of the Amstelveenlijn (Amstelveen Line) in 1984, it
19856-434: Was added to the network operating the Noord-Zuidlijn (North–South Line), which was completed and opened on 21 July 2018. There are 33 full metro stations, Since Route 52 on the new North-South Line opened, six additional stations and 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of route have been added to the metro system, yielding a new combined network length of 52 kilometres (32 mi). In 2019, sneltram Route 51 no longer operates into
20002-415: Was completed in 1977. Route 51 (from Centraal station to Amstelveen Westwijk ), using part of the East Line as well as the Amstelveenlijn (Amstelveen Line), was added in 1990. Route 50 (from Isolatorweg to Gein ) using the Ringlijn (Ring Line or Circle Line), which was completed in 1997, as well as part of the East Line infrastructure. A fifth line, Route 52 (from Noord station to Zuid station ),
20148-460: Was completed. Originally, the entire route of the Amstelveen Line from Spaklerweg , where it connects with the East Line, to Amstelveen was to be powered via overhead wiring. Eventually, it was decided to use a third rail between Spaklerweg and Zuid station in order to be able to increase metro service on this section of the line during exhibitions at the RAI convention centre, and overhead wiring on
20294-663: Was necessary because the metro had to bridge the main thoroughfares in the Bijlmermeer district which were built on a system of raised embankments and viaducts. The stations, the infrastructure and the Diemen-Zuid maintenance facility of the East Line were designed by Ben Spängberg and Sier van Rhijn, two architects at the former Public Works Department of the City of Amsterdam. Their designs in Brutalist style are characterized by large-scale application of bare concrete and excessive space in
20440-467: Was originally considered a tram line, the light rail vehicle width of 2,65 meters was to be applied; the width that was also used on the Amstelveen Line. The new "trams" (Series M4 and S3) have retractable running boards to bridge the space between the vehicle and the platform at existing stations. Since Route 50 proved hugely popular, the express tram vehicles were insufficient to handle the number of passengers. Instead of ordering additional vehicles, in 2000
20586-450: Was originally considered an express tram service rather than a fully-fledged metro route. On 1 December 1990 the section running from Spaklerweg to Poortwachter Station in Amstelveen was completed. As the sensitivity surrounding the metro expansion waned in the 1990s, the route was increasingly being referred to as a metro service. On 13 September 2004 an extension to Amstelveen Westwijk
20732-494: Was replaced by Afrikaans , a separate but partially mutually intelligible daughter language of Dutch. Afrikaans, depending on the definition used, may be considered a sister language , spoken, to some degree, by at least 16 million people, mainly in South Africa and Namibia , and evolving from Cape Dutch dialects. In South America, it is the native language of the majority of the population of Suriname , and spoken as
20878-530: Was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Another East Line station, Kraaiennest on Route 53, was reconstructed and upgraded in 2013 as part of the major urban renewal efforts in the Bijlmermeer district. The station designed by Maccreanor Lavington features a stainless steel facade with a floral design, which, according to the architects, "allows the station to be
21024-620: Was taken on a second series of 12 trains which was originally designated M6. However, the GVB now refers to all trains of this type as the M5 series. M7 The newest addition to
21170-517: Was under foreign control. In the 19th century, the East Indies trade started to dwindle, and with it the importance of Malacca as a trading post. The Dutch state officially ceded Malacca to the British in 1825. It took until 1957 for Malaya to gain its independence. Despite this, the Dutch language is rarely spoken in Malacca or Malaysia and only limited to foreign nationals able to speak the language. After
21316-455: Was used in the Dutch East Indies (now mostly Indonesia ) by a limited educated elite of around 2% of the total population, including over 1 million indigenous Indonesians, until it was banned in 1957, but the ban was lifted afterwards. About a fifth of the Indonesian language can be traced to Dutch, including many loan words . Indonesia's Civil Code has not been officially translated, and
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