Alright, let's dissect this city. Amsterdam. They call it the "Venice of the North." Cute. As if canals are some novel invention. It's the capital, the largest city, all that official nonsense. But you want the real story, don't you? The undercurrent.
Amsterdam
Capital city and municipality in North Holland, Netherlands
[Aerial view of the canals of Amsterdam]
Keizersgracht/Reguliersgracht
Royal Palace on Dam Square
Royal Concertgebouw
Rijksmuseum
Basilica of St. Nicholas
Nicknames: The Venice of the North, Mokum, Damsko Motto: Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig (Valiant, Steadfast, Compassionate)
Location of Amsterdam municipality
Location within the Netherlands
Location within Europe
Coordinates: 52°22′22″N 04°53′37″E / 52.37278°N 4.89361°E / 52.37278; 4.89361
Country: Netherlands Province: North Holland Region: Metropolitan Region Amsterdam Founded: c. 1275; 750 years ago (1275) City Hall: Stopera Boroughs: 7 boroughs, 1 urban area [1] • Centrum • Nieuw-West • Noord • Oost • Weesp • West • Zuid • Zuidoost
Government [2] • Body: Municipal council • Mayor: Femke Halsema (GL)
Area [3][4] • Municipality: 219.32 km 2 (84.68 sq mi) • Land: 165.76 km 2 (64.00 sq mi) • Water: 53.56 km 2 (20.68 sq mi) • Metro region: 2,580.26 km 2 (996.24 sq mi) • Randstad: 6,296.91 km 2 (2,431.25 sq mi)
Elevation: −2 m (−6.6 ft)
Population (June 2024) [9] • Municipality: 933,680 • Density: 5,277/km 2 (13,670/sq mi) • Urban: 1,477,213 • Metro region: 2,480,394 • Randstad: 8,116,000
Demonym: Amsterdammer
GDP (Metro region) [10][11] • Total: €201.100 billion (2022) • Per capita: €81,000 (2022)
Time zone: UTC+1 (CET) • Summer (DST): UTC+2 (CEST)
Postcode: 1000–1183 Area code: 020 GeoTLD: .amsterdam
Website: amsterdam.nl
Amsterdam [12][13] (Dutch: [ˌɑmstərˈdɑm] ( listen) ; lit. ' Dam in the Amstel' ) [14] is the capital [a] and largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 [15] within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the urban area [15] and 2,480,394 in the metropolitan area. [16] Located in the Dutch province of North Holland, [17][18] Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the "Venice of the North", for its large number of canals, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [19]
Amsterdam was founded at the mouth of the Amstel River, which was dammed to control flooding. [20] Originally a small fishing village in the 12th century, Amsterdam became a major world port during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, when the Netherlands was an economic powerhouse. Amsterdam was the leading centre for finance and trade, as well as a hub of secular art production. [21] In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded and new neighborhoods and suburbs were built. The city has a long tradition of openness, liberalism, and tolerance. [22] Cycling is key to the city's modern character, and there are numerous biking paths and lanes spread throughout. [23][24]
Amsterdam's main attractions include its historic canals; the Rijksmuseum, the state museum with Dutch Golden Age art; the Van Gogh Museum; the Dam Square, where the Royal Palace of Amsterdam and former city hall are located; the Amsterdam Museum; Stedelijk Museum, with modern art; the Concertgebouw concert hall; the Anne Frank House; the Scheepvaartmuseum, the Natura Artis Magistra; Hortus Botanicus, NEMO, the red-light district and cannabis coffee shops. The city is known for its nightlife and festival activity, with several nightclubs among the world's most famous. Its artistic heritage, canals, and narrow canal houses with gabled façades, well-preserved legacies of the city's 17th-century Golden Age, have attracted millions of visitors annually.
The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, founded in 1602, is considered the oldest "modern" securities market stock exchange in the world. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered an alpha-world city. The city is the cultural capital of the Netherlands. [25] Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters in the city. [26] Many of the world's largest companies are based in Amsterdam or have established their European headquarters there, such as technology companies Uber, Netflix, and Tesla. [27] Although Amsterdam is the official capital of the Netherlands, it is not the seat of government. The main governmental institutions, and foreign embassies, are located in The Hague.
In 2022, Amsterdam was ranked the ninth-best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit [28] and 12th on quality of living for environment and infrastructure by Mercer. [29] The city was ranked 4th place globally as a top tech hub in 2019. [30] The Port of Amsterdam is the fifth largest in Europe. [31] The KLM hub and Amsterdam's main airport, Schiphol, is the busiest airport in the Netherlands, third in Europe. The Dutch capital is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with about 180 nationalities represented. [32] Immigration and ethnic segregation in Amsterdam is a current issue. [33]
Amsterdam's notable residents throughout its history include painters Rembrandt and Vincent van Gogh, 17th-century philosophers Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, René Descartes, and the Holocaust victim and diarist Anne Frank.
History
• Main article: History of Amsterdam • For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Amsterdam.
It has been suggested that History of Amsterdam be merged into this article. ( Discuss ) Proposed since November 2025.
Prehistory
Due to its geographical location in what used to be wet peatland, the founding of Amsterdam is later than other urban centres in the Low Countries. However, around the area of what later became Amsterdam, farmers settled as early as three millennia ago. They lived along the prehistoric IJ river and upstream of its tributary Amstel. The prehistoric IJ was a shallow and quiet stream in peatland behind beach ridges. This secluded area was able to grow into an important local settlement centre, especially in the late Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the Roman Age. Neolithic and Roman artefacts have also been found in the prehistoric Amstel bedding under Amsterdam's Damrak and Rokin, such as shards of Bell Beaker culture pottery (2200–2000 BC) and a granite grinding stone (2700–2750 BC), [34][35] but the location of these artefacts around the river banks of the Amstel probably points to the presence of a modest semi-permanent or seasonal settlement. Until water issues were controlled, a permanent settlement would not have been possible, since the river mouth and the banks of the Amstel in this period in time were too wet for permanent habitation. [36][37]
Founding
• See also: Other names of Amsterdam
The origins of Amsterdam are linked to the development of a dam on the Amstel River called Amestelle , meaning 'watery area', from Aa(m) 'river' + stelle 'site at a shoreline', 'river bank'. [38] In this area, land reclamation started as early as the late 10th century. [39] Amestelle was located along a side arm of the IJ. This sidearm took its name from the eponymous land: Amstel. Amestelle was inhabited by farmers, who lived more inland and more upstream, where the land was not as wet as at the banks of the downstream river mouth. These farmers were starting the reclamation around upstream Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, and later at the other side of the river at Amstelveen. The Van Amstel family, known in documents by this name since 1019, [38] held the stewardship in this northwestern nook of the ecclesiastical district of the bishop of Utrecht. The family later served also under the count of Holland.
A major turning point in the development of the Amstel River mouth was the All Saint's Flood of 1170. In an extremely short time, the shallow river IJ turned into a wide estuary, which from then on offered the Amstel an open connection to the Zuiderzee, IJssel, and waterways further afield. This made the water flow of the Amstel more active, so excess water could be drained better. With drier banks, the downstream Amstel mouth became attractive for permanent habitation. Moreover, the river had grown from an insignificant peat stream into a junction of international waterways. [40] A settlement was built here immediately after the landscape change of 1170. Right from the start of its foundation, it focused on traffic, production, and trade; not on farming, as opposed to how communities had lived further upstream for the past 200 years and northward for thousands of years. [41] The construction of a dam at the mouth of the Amstel, eponymously named Dam, is historically estimated to have occurred between 1264 and 1275. The settlement first appeared in a document from 1275, concerning a road toll granted by the count of Holland Floris V to the residents apud Amestelledamme 'at the dam in the Amstel' or 'at the dam of Amstelland'. [42][14] This allowed the inhabitants of the village to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, locks and dams. [43] This was a move in a years-long struggle for power in the area between the count of Holland and the Amstel family who governed the area on behalf of the bishop of Utrecht. [44] By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam . [45][46]
• See also: van Dam
Middle Ages
The Oude Kerk was consecrated in 1306 AD. The bishop of Utrecht granted Amsterdam zone rights in either 1300 or 1306. [47] The Mirakel van Amsterdam [nl] in 1345 rendered the city an important place of pilgrimage. During the heyday of the Stille Omgang , which became the expression of the pilgrimage after the Protestant Reformation, [48][49] up to 90,000 pilgrims came to Amsterdam.
From the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League. From the 15th century on the city established an independent trade route with the Baltic Sea in grain and timber, cutting out the Hanseatic League as middlemen. The city became the staple market of Europe for bulk cargo. This was made possible due to innovations in the herring fishery, from which Amsterdam reaped great wealth. [13] Herring had demand in markets all around Europe. Inventions of on-board gibbing and the haringbuis in 1415, made longer voyages feasible and hence enabled Dutch fishermen to follow the herring shoals far from the coasts, giving them a monopoly in the industry.
The herring industry relied on international trade cooperation and large initial investments in ships. This required many highly skilled and unskilled workers to cooperate, as well as the import of the necessary raw materials to turn an unfinished product into a marketable one. This required merchants to then sell it throughout the continent and bookkeepers and accountants to divide the profit. In short, the herring industry was setting up the foundations for what would later become the transcontinental trade system and the Dutch Golden Age, with Amsterdam at its centre, [15] hence the saying "Amsterdam is built on Herringbones". [20]
Conflict with Spain
Amsterdam citizens celebrating the Peace of Münster, 30 January 1648. Painting by Bartholomeus van der Helst
The Low Countries were part of the Habsburg inheritance and came under the Spanish monarchy in the early sixteenth century. The Dutch rebelled against Philip II of Spain, who led a defense of Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation. The main reasons for the uprising were the imposition of new taxes, the tenth penny, and the religious persecution of Protestants by the newly introduced Inquisition. The revolt escalated into the Eighty Years' War, which ultimately led to Dutch independence. [50] Strongly pushed by Dutch Revolt leader William the Silent, the Dutch Republic became known for its relative religious tolerance. Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, Protestant Huguenot from France, prosperous merchants, and printers from Flanders, and economic and religious refugees from the Spanish-controlled parts of the Low Countries found safety in Amsterdam. The influx of Flemish printers and the city's intellectual tolerance made Amsterdam a centre for the European free press. [51]
Centre of the Dutch Golden Age
Courtyard of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange by Emanuel de Witte, 1653. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange was the first stock exchange to introduce continuous trade in the early 17th century. [52]
During the 17th century, Amsterdam experienced what is considered its Golden Age, during which it became the wealthiest city in the Western world. [53] Ships sailed from Amsterdam to the Baltic Sea, the Caribbean, North America, and Africa, as well as present-day Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Brazil, forming the basis of a worldwide trading network. Amsterdam's merchants had the largest share in both the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company. These companies acquired overseas possessions that later became Dutch colonies.
Amsterdam was Europe's most important hub for the shipment of goods and was the leading financial centre of the Western world. [54] In 1602, the Amsterdam office of the Dutch East India Company became the world's first stock exchange by trading in its own shares. [55] The Bank of Amsterdam started operations in 1609, acting as a full-service bank for Dutch merchant bankers and as a reserve bank.
From the 17th century onwards, Amsterdam also became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. The city was a major destination port for Dutch slave ships participating in the triangular trade, which lasted until the United Netherlands abolished the Netherlands' involvement in the trade in 1814 at the request of the British government.
Decline and modernization
Amsterdam's prosperity declined during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The wars of the Dutch Republic with England (latterly, Great Britain) and France took their toll on the city. During the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, Amsterdam's significance reached its lowest point, with Holland being absorbed into the French Empire. However, the later establishment of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815 marked a turning point.
View of Vijzelstraat looking towards the Muntplein, 1891
The end of the 19th century is sometimes called Amsterdam's second Golden Age. [56] New museums, a railway station, and the Concertgebouw were built; At the same time, the Industrial Revolution reached the city. The Amsterdam–Rhine Canal was dug to give Amsterdam a direct connection to the Rhine, and the North Sea Canal was dug to give the port a shorter connection to the North Sea. Both projects dramatically improved commerce with the rest of Europe and the world. In 1906, Joseph Conrad gave a brief description of Amsterdam as seen from the seaside, in The Mirror of the Sea .
20th century – present
• This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2025) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Photochrom of Amsterdam's Dam Square at the beginning of the 20th century
Shortly before the First World War, the city started to expand again, and new suburbs were built. Even though the Netherlands remained neutral in this war, Amsterdam suffered a food shortage, and heating fuel became scarce. The shortages sparked riots in which several people were killed. These riots are known as the Aardappeloproer (Potato Rebellion). People started looting stores and warehouses to get supplies, mainly food. [57]
The rebuilt Magere Brug, around 1938.
On 1 January 1921, after a flood in 1916, the depleted municipalities of Durgerdam, Holysloot, Zunderdorp and Schellingwoude, all lying north of Amsterdam, were, at their own request, annexed to the city. [58][59] Between the wars, the city continued to expand, most notably to the west of the Jordaan district in the Frederik Hendrikbuurt and surrounding neighbourhoods.
Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 and took control of the country. [60] Some Amsterdam citizens sheltered Jews, thereby exposing themselves and their families to a high risk of being imprisoned or sent to concentration camps. More than 100,000 Dutch Jews were deported and murdered in Nazi concentration camps, [60] including 56,521 victims in Auschwitz and a further number of 34,082 accounted for in Sobibor. Around 60,000 Jewish inhabitants, including Jewish prewar refugees from Austria and Germany, were living in Amsterdam at the time of the Nazi occupation. Only those provided with a safe haven, avoiding deportation and denunciation, or the very few who returned from the camps at the end of the war, managed to survive.
At first the German occupation authorities were very cautious, wanting to convince the city inhabitants of their sincerity. However, their outlook soon turned to cynicism and brutality. A cause in the change of their behaviour was an attack by a Dutch resistance fighter against a collaborator belonging to the paramilitary Dutch fascist organisation, the NSB. The injured man died and in response Heinrich Himmler ordered reprisals. 427 Amsterdam Jews were arrested on 22 February 1941 [61] and sent to Mauthausen concentration camp. Only two people survived.
Incensed, a broad spectrum of passive resistance was organized by the Dutch Underground. Trade unions, among them socialist and Communist Party activists, led the protest. Their outcry received support from white collar employees in the civil service and support from the local diocese of the Church. Approval was also given and encouraged by the Dutch government-in-exile under Queen Wilhelmina in London.
The German authorities were taken completely by surprise by the level of resistance known as the February strike. 300,000 people participated in the protest against the arrests of Jews. However, the occupier soon responded crudely and brutally, smashing union and illegal party activity. With the edifice of resistance removed the SS and German police apparatus, supported by collaborators in the Dutch auxiliary police, arrested thousands of defenceless Jews in Amsterdam's Jewish Quarter. The two main waves of arrest, culminating in deportation, occurred on 26 May 1943 and on 20 June 1943.
The most famous deportee was the young Jewish girl Anne Frank, whose safe hiding place with her family was betrayed and discovered in August, 1944. After a spell at the 'holding camp' in Westerbork Anna and her family were sent to Auschwitz, where her mother was murdered. From there she and her sister Margot were moved onto Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where they died amidst appalling and inhumane conditions in early 1945. [62]
At the end of the Second World War, and as a consequence of the Nazi occupation, Amsterdam was in a state of crisis. Communication with the rest of the country broke down, and food and fuel became scarce. Many citizens traveled to the countryside to forage. Dogs, cats, raw sugar beets, and tulip bulbs—cooked to a pulp—were consumed to stay alive. [63] Many trees in Amsterdam were cut down for fuel, and wood was taken from the houses, apartments and other buildings of deported Jews. The city was finally liberated by Canadian forces on 5 May 1945, shortly before the end of the war in Europe.
People celebrating the liberation of the Netherlands at the end of World War II on 8 May 1945
Many new suburbs, such as Osdorp, Slotervaart, Slotermeer and Geuzenveld, were built in the years after the Second World War. [64] These suburbs contained many public parks and wide-open spaces, and the new buildings provided improved housing conditions with larger and brighter rooms, gardens, and balconies. Because of the war and other events of the 20th century, almost the entire city centre had fallen into disrepair. As society was changing, [clarification needed] politicians and other influential figures made plans to redesign large parts of it. There was an increasing demand for office buildings, and also for new roads, as the automobile became available to most people. [65] A metro started operating in 1977 between the new suburb of Bijlmermeer in the city's Zuidoost (southeast) exclave and the centre of Amsterdam. Further plans were to build a new highway above the metro to connect Amsterdam Centraal and the city centre with other parts of the city.
The required large-scale demolitions began in Amsterdam's former Jewish neighborhood. Smaller streets, such as the Jodenbreestraat and Weesperstraat, were widened and almost all houses and buildings were demolished. At the peak of the demolition, the Nieuwmarktrellen (Nieuwmarkt riots) broke out; [66] the rioters expressed their fury about the demolition caused by the restructuring of the city.
As a result, the demolition was stopped and the highway into the city's centre was never fully built; only the metro was completed. Only a few streets remained widened. The new city hall was built on the almost completely demolished Waterlooplein. Meanwhile, large private organizations, such as Stadsherstel Amsterdam , were founded to restore the entire city centre. Although the success of this struggle is visible today, efforts for further restoration are still ongoing. [65] The entire city centre has reattained its former splendor and, as a whole, is now a protected area. Many of its buildings have become monuments, and in July 2010 the Grachtengordel (the three concentric canals: Herengracht, Keizersgracht, and Prinsengracht) was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. [67]
The 17th-century Canals of Amsterdam were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2010, [68] contributing to Amsterdam's fame as the "Venice of the North". [69][ unreliable source? ] [70][ unreliable source? ] Along with De Wallen, the canals are the focal point for tourists in the city.
In the 21st century, the Amsterdam city centre has attracted large numbers of tourists: between 2012 and 2015, the annual number of visitors rose from 10 to 17 million. Real estate prices have surged, and local shops are making way for tourist-oriented ones, making the centre unaffordable for the city's inhabitants. [71] These developments have evoked comparisons with Venice, a city thought to be overwhelmed by the tourist influx. [72]
Construction of a new metro line connecting the part of the city north of the IJ to its southern part was started in 2003. The project was controversial because its cost had exceeded its budget by a factor of three by 2008, [73] because of fears of damage to buildings in the centre, and because construction had to be halted and restarted multiple times. [74] The new metro line was completed in 2018. [75]
Since 2014, renewed focus has been given to urban regeneration and renewal, especially in areas directly bordering the city centre, such as Frederik Hendrikbuurt. This urban renewal and expansion of the traditional centre of the city—with the construction of artificial islands of the new eastern IJburg neighbourhood—is part of the Structural Vision Amsterdam 2040 initiative. [76][77]
Geography
Satellite photo of Amsterdam, 2020 Topographic map of Amsterdam Large-scale map of the city centre of Amsterdam, including sightseeing markers, as of April 2017 [update].
Amsterdam is located in the Western Netherlands, in the province of North Holland, the capital of which is not Amsterdam, but rather Haarlem. The river Amstel ends in the city centre and connects to a large number of canals that eventually terminate in the IJ. Amsterdam's elevation is about −2 m (−6.6 ft) below sea level. [78] The surrounding land is flat as it is formed of large polders. An artificial forest, Amsterdamse Bos, is in the southwest. Amsterdam is connected to the North Sea through the long North Sea Canal.
Amsterdam is intensely urbanised, as is the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam surrounding the city. Comprising 219.4 km 2 (84.7 sq mi) of land, the city proper has 4,457 inhabitants per km 2 and 2,275 houses per km 2 . [79] Parks and nature reserves make up 12% of Amsterdam's land area. [80]
Water
Amsterdam has more than 100 km (60 mi) of canals, most of which are navigable by boat. The city's three main canals are the Prinsengracht, the Herengracht, and the Keizersgracht.
In the Middle Ages, Amsterdam was surrounded by a moat, called the Singel, which now forms the innermost ring in the city, and gives the city centre a horseshoe shape. The city is also served by a seaport. It has been compared with Venice, due to its division into about 90 islands, which are linked by more than 1,200 bridges. [81][ unreliable source? ]
Climate
Nieuwendammerdijk en Buiksloterdijk, Amsterdam-Noord, winter 2010
Amsterdam has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb ) [82] strongly influenced by its proximity to the North Sea to the west, with prevailing westerly winds.
Amsterdam, as well as most of the North Holland province, lies in USDA Hardiness zone 8b. Frosts mainly occur during spells of easterly or northeasterly winds from the inner European continent. Even then, because Amsterdam is surrounded on three sides by large bodies of water, as well as having a significant heat-island effect, nights rarely fall below −5 °C (23 °F), while it could easily be −12 °C (10 °F) in Hilversum, 25 km (16 mi) southeast.
Summers are moderately warm with several hot and humid days with occasional rain every month. The average daily high in August is 22.1 °C (72 °F), and 30 °C (86 °F) or higher is only measured on average on 2.5 days, placing Amsterdam in AHS Heat Zone 2. The record extremes range from −19.7 °C (−3.5 °F) to 36.3 °C (97.3 °F). [83][84][ unreliable source? ] Days with more than 1 mm (0.04 in) of precipitation are common, on average 133 days per year.
Amsterdam's average annual precipitation is 838 mm (33 in). [85] A large part of this precipitation falls as light rain or brief showers. Cloudy and damp days are common during the cooler months of October through March.
| Climate data for Amsterdam Airport Schiphol