Pampus fort island

Pampus is a shallow area in the former inland sea the Zuiderzee. At low tide it used to block the access of seagoing ships to the Amsterdam port. It was quite a handicap for the VOC, the Dutch East Indian Trading Company.

Late in the 19th century an island fort was built at the site as one of a ring of 42 fortifications surrounding Amsterdam. The fort was abandoned in 1933 when the Zuiderzee was closed off from the North Sea by a dam and became the lake IJsselmeer.

Since 1824, seagoing ships approach Amsterdam by canal, first the Noordhollandsch Kanaal and later the Noorzeekanaal. The Noordhollandsch Kanaal was dug to alleviate the difficulties caused by the Pampus shallow.