Explore Amsterdam's History

[ed the head]

"Amsterdam’s digital map archive was already one of the best municipal resources on the internet, and it just got even better. You may recall when CityLab first obsessed over the archive’s troves of information. We’re returning now to dive into the new maps, videos and archives that provide vivid, fascinating details on how the city has developed, some reaching back to the 1600s.

The Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, was kind to Amsterdam. Within 100 years, rapid settlement tripled the city’s geographic size and dramatically expanded its network of canals and ramparts, as illustrated in this “Game of Thrones”-like video created by the City Archives.

Watch the reconstruction of Amsterdam’s defenses and you get an idea of the sheer effort it must have taken to expand this city built on marshy ground. Not only were the old ramparts demolished and rebuilt further out, but new canals had to be cut and old ones filled in."
- FEARGUS O'SULLIVAN

[Lemming]

Fan-bloody-tastic! I really enjoyed that. Thanks for posting.

[Waldo Swan]

Fantastic! The Dutch, what an amazing microcosm of humanity!

[OneHighMofo]

Super cool - really enjoyed that. Thanks for posting

[Kenshiro]

Amazing what they could do back then to create what is there now.
Coastal cities built with reclaimed land fascinate me.

[ed the head]

Fan-bloody-tastic! I really enjoyed that. Thanks for posting.

Cool, I'm really glad you all enjoyed that.

I remember thinking on my first trip, how did they build this city!? I first saw this video in the Amsterdam History Museum, a very fascinating place, centrally located and well worth a visit. I think it is still one of the museums that is free with the iAmsterdam pass.

https://www.amsterdammuseum.nl/en
https://www.google.com/maps/search/amst ... a=!3m1!4b1