History of Amsterdam

Some nine hundred years ago, a number of herring fishermen decided to settle at the mouth of the Amstel river. The fishermen started off building a breakwater in the Amstel and then continued with canals in order to lead the water away. And so the dykes, Oudezijds Voorburgwal and Oudezijds Achterburgwal, merged.

Amstelledamme, which was the first name of the little village, was just an unimportant place up until the late 16th century. The bishop of the region ruled from Utrecht and the closest university was situated in Leiden. The world trade, which had started off for real by this time, was first dominated by the Hansa, and then by the Antwerpers and the Spaniards. But when the harbour of Antwerp started to silt up, Amsterdam saw its chance, and soon the city developed into the world centre for trade. Gold and silver from the New World, pepper and nutmeg from Indonesia, rye from Russia and timber from Scandinavia were brought into the warehouses of Amsterdam before they were sold.

The canal network, the highways of the time, emerged, and the rich merchants displayed their wealth with ostentatious buildings along the canals. The Gentlefolks’ Canal – Herengracht – was the most glamorous canal in this new bourgeois world, more glamorous than both the Emperor Canal (Keizersgracht) and the Prince Canal (Prinsengracht).

The glories of Amsterdam found their end in the beginning of the 19th century. The Dutch lost their monopoly on spices from Indonesia, were defeated by the English on the seas and occupied by France. Fortunately for the Dutch, the merchants had already colonized Indonesia and gotten themselves Suriname in exchange for New York. Thanks to all the raw materials from the colonies, industrialism finally broke through and Amsterdam started to grow again. The luxury hotel Amstel opened and the area around the zoo Artis developed.

The Netherlands remained neutral throughout the First World War. The same strategy was however not successful during the Second World War. Despite Dutch neutrality, the Germans destroyed Rotterdam and soon the Netherlands surrendered. For the almost 100,000 Jews of Amsterdam, this was a catastrophe. Many died in concentration camps, like Anne Frank.

The Netherlands realized how helpless it was, sandwiched between the European superpowers. Since then, the country has been one of the most loyal supporters of European cooperation.