Edam

Town in the Netherlands on the IJsselmeer, North Holland province; municipality population (1997), including town of Volendam 26,500. Founded as a customs post in the 13th century, Edam's prosperity in the 16th and 17th centuries was based upon its cheese trade; it still produces round cheeses covered in red wax.

It was an important harbour and trading port in the 14th century, but the harbour later silted up. The town has a large Gothic church (rebuilt in 1602), a 16th-century bell-tower with carillon, a museum (1895) built by an 18th-century sea-captain in the likeness of a ship, and many 16th- and 17th-century houses.