History of Amsterdam: from a dam in the Amstel to a world city

From a fishing village by a dam in the Amstel to the economic centre of the world: few cities have risen as steeply as Amsterdam.

The beginning: around 1200 residents built a dam in the Amstel, after which the city grew within its walls and chose freedom in the Revolt.
The Golden Age: read about the VOC and Rembrandt, the building of the canal ring and the Royal Palace on the Dam.
The modern city: follow the decline and recovery, the growth after 1850 and the Second World War with the Anne Frank House.
Experience it yourself: discover Amsterdam today and walk one of our historical walking routes or visit the museums about the city.

The beginning: a dam in the Amstel (1200 to 1300)

The city owes both its existence and its name to a simple piece of hydraulic engineering.

An uninhabitable swamp: in the twelfth century today's North Holland consisted largely of wet peat and marsh, criss-crossed by rivers; one of them was the Amstel, which flowed into the IJ.
The dam that decided everything: around 1200 residents built a dam in the river to keep out the seawater; the city owes its name to that dam, and the spot is still its heart: the Dam.
The oldest document (1275): in 1275 Count Floris V granted the residents of Aemstelledamme exemption from tolls, the first written mention of the place; town rights followed around 1306.
Living on fish and beer: the early economy ran on herring fishing and brewing; world trade was still far off.

The Middle Ages: growing within the walls (1300 to 1550)

The city expanded in rings from the Dam, each time it burst at the seams.

The Oude Kerk: the Oude Kerk was consecrated in 1306 and is the oldest building in the city.
The Miracle of Amsterdam (1345): a miracle in 1345 made the city a place of pilgrimage; the Stille Omgang, a silent night procession, still commemorates it every year.
The Nieuwe Kerk: early in the 15th century the Nieuwe Kerk rose on the Dam; Dutch kings and queens have been inaugurated there since 1814.
Ever new boundaries: by around 1420 the city was too small again; on the east side a new wall rose along today's Geldersekade and Kloveniersburgwal, and on the west side a canal was dug.
The Waag (1488): what remains of that city wall is the Waag, built in 1488 as a city gate, the Sint-Antoniespoort.
The Begijnhof: behind a small gate on the Spui lies the Begijnhof, with the oldest wooden house in the city.
The Burgundian boost: after Amsterdam became part of the realm of Philip the Good in the fifteenth century, the port grew into a transit hub for fish from the south and grain from the Baltic.
The largest in the country: with some thirty thousand inhabitants, Amsterdam was the largest city in the Netherlands by the end of that century.

Revolt and tolerance (1566 to 1675)

The sixteenth century brought religious conflict, and that is exactly what laid the foundations for later success.

The Alteration (1578): during the Eighty Years' War Amsterdam long sided with Spain, but in 1578 a coup removed the Catholic city government and the city joined the Revolt.
Refugees as a driving force: Protestants from the Southern Netherlands and Portuguese Jews persecuted elsewhere found refuge here and brought capital, knowledge and trading networks.
The fall of Antwerp (1585): when that city was blockaded in 1585, much of its trade moved to Amsterdam; that was the decisive move.
Hidden churches: Catholics could only practise their faith quietly, for example in the attic of Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder, a hidden church from the 17th century.
The Portuguese Synagogue (1675): in 1675 the Portuguese Jewish community was able to consecrate the monumental Portuguese Synagogue.
The roots of a reputation: the tolerant intellectual climate the city is still known for took shape in this period; philosophers such as Spinoza and Descartes could publish here what was banned elsewhere.

The Golden Age (1600 to 1672)

The seventeenth century briefly turned a trading city into the richest centre in the world.

The VOC (1602): after Spain annexed Portugal in 1580, the Dutch had to sail to Asia themselves; in 1602 the separate companies merged into the Dutch East India Company, more than half of whose capital came from Amsterdam.
The first listed company: ordinary citizens could also buy shares, making the VOC the forerunner of the modern public company and the Amsterdam stock exchange the oldest in the world.
A world class fleet: in the naval storehouse of 1656 the Maritime Museum tells this story, with the replica of the VOC ship Amsterdam moored alongside.
The other side: that wealth rested partly on colonial rule and on the slave trade, in which the West India Company played a major role from 1621; the city formally apologised for this in 2021.
Rembrandt: Rembrandt van Rijn lived and worked from 1639 to 1658 in the house that is now the Rembrandt House.
Civic guards and painters: wealthy citizens had themselves portrayed with their civic guard company; these group portraits hang in the Civic Guards Gallery.
Art in abundance: while Bredero, Vondel and P.C. Hooft shaped Dutch literature, the paintings you now see in the Rijksmuseum were created.

Building the canal ring (1613 to 1700)

The best known image of Amsterdam is the result of an expansion plan from 1613.

Three half rings: the canal ring was built in phases, with the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht as main axes around the old town.
Narrow and tall: because property tax was based on the width of the facade, people built narrow and high; hence the typical hoisting beams at the top.
The Westerkerk (1631): in the first half of the century the Zuiderkerk and the Westerkerk rose, the latter with the city's tallest church tower; Rembrandt was buried there in 1669.
A town hall as a palace: after the Gothic town hall burned down in 1652, the classicist building that is now the Royal Palace on the Dam was built; it stands on 13,659 wooden piles.
Living on the canal: see how wealthy families lived in Museum Van Loon on the Keizersgracht and the Willet-Holthuysen Museum on the Herengracht.
The story of the canals: the Canal Museum on the Herengracht shows how the canal ring was designed and built.
A district for workers: at the same time the Jordaan rose, with much narrower streets and houses; around 1700 the city had some two hundred thousand inhabitants.
World Heritage (2010): the canal ring has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2010.

Decline and recovery (1672 to 1900)

After the heyday came a long period of stagnation, until industrialisation changed everything.

The Disaster Year (1672): the Republic found itself at war with France and England at the same time, cutting the port off from the fleets from Asia.
The Amsterdam level (1684): in 1684 mayor Johannes Hudde had the water level recorded; this grew into the Normaal Amsterdams Peil, still the reference for heights in the Netherlands.
From port to banker: Amsterdam lost its position as staple market but became the financial heart of Europe, lending money to rulers for their costly wars.
A century of standstill: the eighteenth century and the French period brought poverty; only the opening of the North Sea Canal in 1876 gave the port direct access to the sea again.
New monuments: in a short time the Rijksmuseum (1885), the Concertgebouw (1888) and Amsterdam Central Station (1889) were built on a wave of renewed confidence.

A growing city (1850 to 1940)

Industrialisation drew thousands of people to the city, which then expanded rapidly.

New working class districts: towards the end of the nineteenth century districts such as De Pijp were built, and the Vondelpark was laid out as a green lung for the wealthy neighbourhoods around it.
Plan Zuid (1917): architect Berlage's expansion plan of 1917 is still regarded as a high point of urban planning, with the expressive brick architecture of the Amsterdam School.
In all directions: after 1920 large expansions followed to the west, south and east, and new districts also rose north of the IJ in Amsterdam-Noord.

The Second World War (1940 to 1945)

The occupation years are the darkest chapter in the city's history.

An old Jewish community: when war broke out Amsterdam had about eighty thousand Jewish residents, a community that had grown since the sixteenth century; the Jewish Museum tells its story.
The February Strike (1941): in February 1941 Amsterdammers stopped work in protest against the first raids, the only mass strike against the persecution of Jews in occupied Europe; the statue De Dokwerker on the Jonas Daniël Meijerplein commemorates it.
The deportations: the vast majority of the city's Jewish residents never returned; names and life stories are preserved in the National Holocaust Museum and the Hollandsche Schouwburg.
The Secret Annex: in the Anne Frank House on the Prinsengracht the Frank family hid for over two years; Anne's diary was read worldwide after the war.
Resistance: how Amsterdammers resisted, adapted or collaborated is shown in the Resistance Museum.
Hunger Winter and liberation (1945): the winter of 1944 to 1945 brought hunger and cold; liberation followed on 5 May 1945, commemorated every year at the National Monument on the Dam.

From reconstruction to today (1945 to now)

After the war Amsterdam became in turn a city of reconstruction, a breeding ground for counterculture and a world destination.

Building big: in the 1960s the Bijlmermeer rose in the south east, a modernist district of high rise flats and raised roads that was later thoroughly redesigned.
City of protest: in the same years Amsterdam became Europe's centre of counterculture, with Provo, the squatters' movement and the first coffeeshops.
Cruijff and Ajax: in the 1970s the city became world famous as the home of Johan Cruijff and Ajax, who have played in the Johan Cruijff ArenA since 1996.
Building on water: the new island of IJburg in the IJmeer has been under construction since the turn of the century, with room for tens of thousands of homes.
The city underground (2018): in 2018 the Noord/Zuidlijn opened, a metro line that after years of difficult construction connects the north and south of the city.
Cultural capital: Amsterdam is home to orchestras, ballet, theatre, dozens of museums, galleries, two universities and many colleges.

Experience history yourself in Amsterdam

With our free walking routes you walk through the centuries, each route with a map and stops in order.

Old centre (1275 to 1600): the old centre route takes you in ten stops through the medieval city, from the Dam to the Oude Kerk.
Western canal ring (1600 to 1660): the western canal ring route follows the first part of the canal ring in ten stops.
Southern canal ring (1660 to 1700): the southern canal ring route takes you past the grandest canal houses in seven stops.
Anne Frank: the Anne Frank route follows Anne Frank's life through the city, from her neighbourhood to the Secret Annex.
Rembrandt: the Rembrandt route leads past the places where Rembrandt lived, worked and was buried.

Museums about the history of Amsterdam

If you want to dive deeper into the past, these museums tell the story up close.

The medieval city: the Oude Kerk, the Nieuwe Kerk and the Begijnhof take you back to the fourteenth century.
The Golden Age: the Rijksmuseum, the Royal Palace and the Maritime Museum together tell the story of the seventeenth century.
Canal houses: Museum Van Loon, the Willet-Holthuysen Museum and the Canal Museum show life on the canals.
Archives: in the Treasury of the City Archives you can see original documents from eight centuries of city history.
The war years: besides the Anne Frank House, the Resistance Museum and the Jewish Cultural Quarter with the Jewish Museum and the National Holocaust Museum give a fuller picture.
The city's story in one museum: the Amsterdam Museum sums up eight hundred years of history.