The Amstel (to Aeme-stelle, an Old Dutch word for "watery area") is a canalized river in the south of North Holland, partly on the border of North Holland with South Holland and Utrecht. The area along the river is referred to as Amstelland. Amsterdam owes its name to the Amstel river.
The Amstel river originally started at the confluence of the Drecht and the Kromme Mijdrecht, just southwest of Uithoorn. By canalization and construction of the Amstel-Drecht canal in 1825, the section between Uithoorn and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel became part of this canal.
This canal starts at the Tolhuissluis at the confluence of the Drecht and the Aarkanaal, just northwest of Nieuwveen, and runs via Uithoorn to Ouderkerk where the Bullewijk flows into. From there to Amsterdam the water is officially still called Amstel. The part of the Aarkanaal to the Bullewijk is 18.5 km long, from there to the mouth the water measures 12.5 km.
Apart from the Kromme Mijdrecht and the Bullewijk, the river Wavre flows into the Amstel, at the westernmost point of the polder the Ronde Hoep.
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