Amsterdam has a long and eventful history. The origins of the city lie around 1000 CE, when inhabitants settled at the mouth of the Amstel and began peatland reclamation. After the All Saints' Flood (1170), a dam was built in the Amstel to protect the lower lands from floods.
In 1275, Amsterdam was granted a toll privilege by Count Floris V which exempted it from a bridge toll. This made Amsterdam popular for international traders to sell goods at lower prices. During the Middle Ages, it developed into one of the largest trading cities in the world. The 17th century was a Golden Age, Amsterdam was the most important trading hub in Europe and the leading financial center of the western world. Amsterdam is colloquially called the "Venice of the North" for its numerous canals. It is also ranked as a top sin city due to the adult entertainment. As the capital city of the Netherlands, it is the largest with over 930,000 inhabitants in 2024.
Toponymy The oldest document referring to the settlement of comes from a document dated 27 October 1275 CE. Inhabitants of the village were, by this document, exempted from paying a bridge toll in the County of Holland by Count Floris V.
The old charters that are preserved in the IJzeren Kapel mention 18 different spellings of the name Amsterdam. In chronological order from 1275 till 1596: Amestelledamme, Aemstelredamme, Amestelredamme, Amstelredam, Aemsterdam (1389), Aemstelredam, Amstelredamme, Aemsterdamme, Amstredamme, Amsterdam (1440), Ampsterdam, Amstredam, Amsterdamme, Aemstredam, Haemsterdam, Amsterledam, Ambsterdam, Ambstelredam.
The Amstel river was also called Goudewater. Goude means gouwe, 't gouwewater is the river that flows through the gouw. This water belonged to the Lord and later the Count. The Count gave the water in perpetual leasehold to the city in 1389. The city donated in 1480 the visscherij (fishery) to the handen voetboogschutters (hands foot archers) whom returned it to the city in the middle of the 17th century. The name changed from Goudewater to Guldewater. The fishery in the Rokin, the Binnen-Amstel and Buiten-Amstel till the veer (ferry) at Meerhuizen (now Meerhuizenplein) were leased under this name.
Prehistory Excavations between 2005 and 2012 found evidence that the origins of Amsterdam are much older than the 12th century. During the construction of the Metro Line 52 (aka Noord/Zuidlijn) archaeologists discovered many objects from the bottom of the Amstel river, where the Damrak and Rokin are now located. Some 30 meters below street level, archeologists found pole-axes, a stone hammer, shards of Bell Beaker culture pottery under Rokin (2200–2000 BCE) and a granite grinding stone under Damrak (2700–2750 BCE)., pp. 69–71. Many objects date from the Neolithic era (up to 4600 years ago), and the Roman era (circa 2000 years ago).
This means Amsterdam, or its predecessor, had human habitation since about 2600 BCE. However, these settlements were probably semi-permanent or seasonal, because the Amstel's river mouth and the banks were too wet for permanent habitation., pp. 62–63.
Middle Ages
Settlement at the Amstel (1000-1250) Amsterdam proper began when the first inhabitants settled at the mouth of the Amstel river around 1000 CE. These were not day laborers who returned to their old area after work. According to historical geographer Chris de Bont, they probably moved into the peatland in search of a new existence and went to the mouth of the IJ because they had to fight for usable land in the coastal dunes and the Gooi area of Holland. Parts of the rivers Amstel and Zaan were dug. Between 800 and 1000 CE the IJ was not a river, but a swampy peat mass.
The marshy area called Amestelle was gradually reclaimed. Drainage ditches were dug on either side of various existing peat streams and a farming community of land reclaimers emerged. When the peat began to subside as a result of drainage, dikes had to be built to protect the now lower-lying land from the water. The construction of dikes along the Amstel was the final stage of peat extraction. The catastrophic All Saints' Flood (1170) overflowed large parts of the Northern Netherlands. The Amestelle area gained an open connection to the sea, and a dam was built in the Amstel to protect the land from future floods.
The people living along the banks of the Amstel built a bridge across the waterway near the IJ, which was a large saltwater inlet connected to the Zuiderzee. Wooden locks under the bridge served as a dam protecting the village from floods by the rising waters of the IJ. The mouth of the river Amstel (present Damrak) formed a natural harbor, which became important for transferring cargo from seagoing kogge ships into smaller vessels that carried the merchandise deeper into the hinterland.
The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Amestelle was established around 1100. The bishop of Utrecht needed an official to exercise jurisdiction on his behalf and to collect the obligatory levies in the new deanery. This task was given to Wolfgerus van Amstel (1075–1131), who acted in 1105 as a scultetus (schout) of Amestelle (Amstelland). Wolfgerus was a servant of Burchard (bishop of Utrecht). His son Egbert van Amstel (1105–1172) built a small castle or keep (fortified manor house) in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.
Struggle for power (1200-1318)
The yearbooks of Egmond Abbey chronicle 1204, when an army band of Kennemers arrived with a fleet to cross the dam of the Amstel. The fields were flooded with water. The Kennemers moved to Amstelland to pillage and destroy the pastures with fire. The fortified house of Gijsbrecht II van Amstel in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel was burned to the ground. The Van Amstel family, ruled the area by name of the Bishop of Utrecht. This event was later used by the Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel to write a historical play, the Gijsbrecht van Aemstel. A hundred years later (circa 1300), Jan I van Amstel (son of Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel and Johanna van der Lede), was brought into the newly with city rights recognized Amsterdam and admitted as their lord and was somewhat restored as lord of Amstelle. He was also ruler of Amsterdam during the siege of Amsterdam that followed shortly thereafter. After about a year he had to flee again. Chroniclers thought that he had left for Prussia (modern-day Northern Poland). However, he actually left for the Duchy of Brabant, where he already owned the lordships of Heeswijk and Dinther and the areas of Lopik and Schalkwijk in the Betuwe. In November 1203, the Count of Holland, Dirk VII died. William I became the Count of Holland and won the county after the Loon War (1203–1206) against Louis II.
An important year in the history of Amsterdam was 1275. While Aemstelland fell under the administrative jurisdiction of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, Count Floris V of the County of Holland -the hindland of Aemstelland, granted traders, sailors and fishermen exemption from tolls. This "Gift Letter" document, dated 27 October 1275, is the oldest recorded usage of the name "Amestelledamme" - Amsterdam. This meant the inhabitants from the vicinity of Amestelledamme acquired a right to travel freely through the County of Holland without having to pay tolls at bridges, locks, and dams. This was the very start of the later richness of the young evolving city: by not having to pay tolls, traders could sell merchandise, shipped to Amestelledamme harbour from everywhere (Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany), at a more competitive price in Amsterdam and the hinterland.The toll privilege at the Amsterdam City Archives After the murder of Count Floris V in 1296, Amstelland again belonged to the Sticht. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam.
Late Middle Ages Shortly after 1300, the first church was built which is now the Oude Kerk. Early Amsterdam around 1300 consisted of six hamlets (buurtschap): west of the Amstel the Windmolenzijde near the Nieuwezijds Kolk, Kalverstraat and the Dam and Bindwijk near the Spui, and east of the Amstel the Kerkzijde near the Oude Kerk, Gansoord near the Dam and Grimmenes near the Grimburgwal at the bend in the Amstel.
In 1306, Gwijde van Henegouwen, bishop of Utrecht, gave Amsterdam city rights. After his death (1317), Count Willem III inherited the Aemstelland, whereby Amsterdam fell under the County of Holland.
In 1323, Willem III established a toll on the trade of beer from Hamburg. The main economic sectors at that time were brewing beer and fishing. The customs law for Hamburg beer granted in 1323 made a significant contribution to this.Merian: Amsterdam. Hoffmann & Campe, ISBN 3-455-27807-8 The contacts laid through the beer trade formed the basis for subsequent trade with cities of the Hanseatic league in the Baltic Sea, from where during the 14th and 15th centuries the Amsterdammers increasingly acquired grain and timber. In 1342, Count Willem IV awarded the city "Groot Privilege", which greatly strengthened the position of the city. During the 15th century, Amsterdam became the granary of the northern low countries and the most important trading city in Holland.
According to legend, on 12 March 1345, the miracle of Amsterdam occurred and Amsterdam became an important pilgrimage town. The town grew considerably thanks to the pilgrims. A Roman Catholic procession (Stille Omgang) occurs every year to celebrate the miracle.
Two great fires swept through the city in 1421 and 1452. After the second, when three quarters of the city were destroyed, Emperor Charles decreed that new houses were to be built from stone. Few wooden buildings remain from this period, a notable example being the Het Houten Huys ("The Wooden House") at the Begijnhof.
Religious strife and revolt
In the 16th century, Amsterdam was part of the Seventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands, which comprised approximately the Benelux countries. Since 1555, King Philip II of Spain was the Lord of the Seventeen Provinces.
In the first half of the 16th century, with the beginning of the Reformation, an important Mennonite (usually called Anabaptist) community formed in Amsterdam. Religious tension grew throughout the Empire until in 1534 the anabaptists of Munster rebelled and Emperor Charles V decreed a persecution of all members of this church. In two years, the authorities of Amsterdam executed 71 Mennonites and exiled many others. Executions would continue more sporadically until the 1550s.
The second half of the 16th century brought a rebellion of the Low Countries against the sovereign, the Hapsburg king Philip II of Spain. From 1566, the uprising was mainly caused by the lack of political power for the local nobility and by the religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics, the latter supported by The Crown. The Catholic king insisted on the relentless persecution of heretics, on the other hand, he sought to expand his powers at the expense of the urban bourgeoisie. Amsterdam began the war on The Crown's side. In 1572, almost all Dutch cities sided with the insurgents led by William I of Orange - only Amsterdam remained loyal to the Spanish king. This had catastrophic consequences: the Dutch rebels now blocked the port of Amsterdam, so that the city quickly became impoverished. In 1578, after six years, Amsterdam finally switched sides to the insurgents with a bloodless revolution called the Alteratie and gave its support to William. The rebellion led to the Eighty Years' War and eventually Dutch independence.