Bickerseiland, Princeneiland and Realeneiland are three separate islands each preserving a unique atmosphere and located right in central Amsterdam. The Western Islands form a microcosm in their own right, quiet and remote, off the tourist-trodden Jordaan and the busy at all hours artery of the Haarlemmerstraat. This neighborhood was recommended for walks as early on as in 1671 in a poem by John Antonides van der Goes. These days, the quiet and scenic neighborhood is often used as the setting for film shoots. In their early days, however, the Western Islands were destined for warehouses and shipyards. In 1610 the Nieuw Waal in the IJ was marked by a rows of wooden poles meant as an extension of the port of Amsterdam. Between 1611 and 1615, three large artificial islands were reclaimed from the sea and, thereafter, protected by the formidable city wall that ran to the IJ. This reclamation was part of the third urban expansion of Amsterdam which caused rampant land speculation in the quickly growing city. This problem was so serious that it resulted in a riot at the city council in 1614. If the speculators had got their way and hiked up the prices, this would have led to an extended financial crisis.
Initially, the three largest islands were supposed to be called (in Dutch) the Front Island, the Middle Island and the Back Island. They were supposed to be connected to one other via eight bridges. However, soon thereafter the first island was named after Jan Bicker, a scion of the affluent merchant family Bicker, who had directed the construction department in the city administration. The Back Island was quickly named Realeneiland after the shipbuilder Jacob Reael. Middle Island was possibly named Prinseneiland after the first three Princes of Orange. Among Amsterdammers, the islands received the moniker the Mokumse Archipelago. Mokum is the Yiddish word for “place” or “safe haven”.Among the Jews populating Europe before the war, the names of some cities in the Netherlands and Germany were shortened to Mokum plus the first letter of the name of the city, transliterated into the Hebrew alphabet, added to them. Among the cities named in this way were Amsterdam, Berlin, Delft, and Rotterdam, wherein Amsterdam used to be referred to as Mokum A.
Mokum, without Aleph, is still widely used by the locals as well as by many foreigners who have developed a longer bond with the city as an endearing moniker for Amsterdam. The nickname was initially considered to be Bargoens, a form of Dutch slang popular among the criminals and the thieves, but over the course the 20th century it lost its negative connotation and is now used as an endearing nickname for the city.
Unlike the Eastern Islands, which catered as the wharves and warehouses for the East India Company, the Western Islands were neither involved with that corporation nor with the Admiralty of Amsterdam. They did, however, serve the West India Company which traded in the Levant and in the Baltic. The shipyards on the islands built leisure boats, and - in the warehouses - herring, grain, tobacco, wine, salt, anchovies, cat skins, pitch and tar were kept. The streets on the islands owe their names to various trades which were represented on the islands.
Facilities for smoking and salting fish, as well as tar makers and warehouses where hulls, sails and fishing nets were preserved, had been set up here. Most of the commercial ships eventually became too large for this area of the port, and the development of the Eastern Docklands eventually took over the role the Western ones played for more than 200 years. In the first half of the 20th century the islands fell into the disrepair. Nevertheless, much of the history of the bustling past has been preserved.
Bickerseiland, as mentioned above, was named after the merchant family Bicker that owned much of land on the island. It is flanked by the Bickersgracht, the Realengracht and the Westerdok canals. A dozen or so shipyards had been erected here and a marina was constructed. A three-aisled wooden church served from 1660 to about 1736, when it was replaced by a stone building. In 1939, the island church was shut down and later demolished. The tombstones were used for the restoration of the floor in the Martini Church in Bolsward. Other building parts and church paraphernalia ended up in bars and restaurants along the Haarlemmerstraat. After the construction of the railway embankment between the Westerdok and Westerpoort in 1878, the island – technically speaking - stopped being an island.