Amsterdam Walking Tour

First of all where are we? This is where the original dam was in the river Amstel back in the year 1200, right there at the tram track. Later they replaced it more back in the direction of the Dam square to hold stronger against the floods. Left, in direction of the street you still see a nice “bit“ of the original river Amstel. That’s where the name came from: Amstel and Dam = Amsterdam! The first people living on this swampy piece of land were fishermen.

In 1648 the 80 Years War was over and amazingly tiny little Netherlands defeated mighty superpower Spain. They overthrew the King of Spain but didn’t replace him with, say, the King of the Netherlands, instead they became one of the first republics in Western Europe! By 1648, Amsterdam was well into its Golden Age. They were incredibly rich and powerful with a vast navy and trading fleet travelling the world. Most of what we will see today comes from this time. This was when the Canal Belt was built and when Rembrandt was painting.

Find out more by embarking on a journey of history and culture.