The Prinseneiland, initially called the Middle Island, just like the Prinsengracht, was possibly named after the first three Princes of Orange. It is surrounded by the Prinseneilandsgracht, the Realengracht, the Bickersgracht and the Eilandsgracht.
After a real estate conflict that had lasted ten years, finally, in 1623 the first land plots on the Prinseneiland. The island was used mostly for storing wood and tar. Back in the Golden Age, the criminals used to be publicly executed (hanged or strangled) on the Dam and then brought by boat across the IJ to the north side where their bodies, tied to poles driven into the water, were publicly displayed until they rotted and were completely pecked out by the ravens. Supposedly, this street offered the best views for this spectacle.
Hardly anyone had lived on the Prinseneiland until after World War II. Of the 900 warehouses in Amsterdam, about one hundred had once been located on this island. It was ‘rediscovered’ by a group of artists active in the post-war era, who have contributed to the island's turning into an attractive, if fashionable, spot. Most warehouses were split and divided into apartments and lofts and the area still attracts mainly people from creative industries: actors, musicians, cabinet makers, events and concert organizers and painters. Approximately a dozen or so buildings on the island have been declared national monuments.