Amsterdam in the western Netherlands

Amsterdam in the western Netherlands Today’s Image of the Day from the European Space Agency features a Copernicus Sentinel-2B satellite view of Amsterdam, located in the western Netherlands. The capital city consists of 90 islands, more than 62 miles of canals, and thousands of bridges. 

Amsterdam originated as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, and became one of the world’s most important ports during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century. The economic boom led to the creation of the canals around the city, which were designed to quickly transport goods. 

Overall, about one-third of the country lies below sea level. Amsterdam is situated around two meters below sea level, while the lowest point in the Netherlands lies almost seven meters below sea level. North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be described as the northern subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean. Because it is on the North American Tectonic Plate, Greenland is included as part of North America geographically. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles), about 16.5% of the Earth’s land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. North America is the third-largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 579 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world’s population. North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge approximately 40,000 to 17,000 years ago. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago (the beginning of the Archaic or Meso-Indian period)

Image Credit: ESA 

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer