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Amsterdam

Amsterdam history (2)-War and Peace

Introduction

Amsterdam contents

Hotels in Amsterdam

Amsterdam dancings, discotheque and Amsterdam Plage!!!!

Amsterdam
History

Amsterdam by foot or public transport

Amsterdam History (1)-From the origins

Amsterdam History (2)-War and Peace 

Amsterdam History (3)-the Golden Century

Amsterdam-Modern times and involvment in World War II

Amsterdam and Jews

Kroller Muller Museum

About 1550 later the city counts 30,000 inhabitants.  It disposes of an interior port (the actual Damrak) and a system of canals and locks which could regulate the level of the Amstel, partially diverted out of town, and to clean the canals by using the current of the stream and the tides of the Zuiderzee. The city lives from its fishery and commercial exchanges.
But times change. The radical ideas of the Protestant Reformation are quickly taken up by the traditionally independent-minded and tolerant Amsterdammers. The ideas of Luther and Calvin spread all over Europe and coincide with the reattachment of the Netherlands to the very catholic Spain The city, now ruled by Philip II of Spain (1527-1598), patron of the notorious Spanish Inquisition, nevertheless became a refuge for Protestants from all over Europe. Soon they turned into armed resistance in 1568 with prince Willem of Oranje (Willem the Silent), and his “Geuzen" against the brutal occupation of Amsterdam by the duke of Alva. Finally the Spanish troops are evicted from the country and Amsterdam is besieged and surrenders to Willem in 1578.The country (present Netherlands) frees itself from the yoke of the Spanish invaders and becomes the republic of the Nine United Provinces, while the southern part (today’s Belgium) stays under Spanish domination. The overthrow of Spanish rule ushered in a Golden Age while its greatest former rival, Antwerp, stays in Spanish hands. Antwerp is sacked in 1584-85 and refugees from there brought wealth and new skills to Amsterdam.
The instability in England and France and also the occupation of its main competitors (Lisbon in 1580 and Antwerp in 1585) by the Spaniards will give Amsterdam, during a whole century, a disproportional and  overwhelming commercial supremacy and produce an unheard material, financial and cultural wealth! The city becomes a haven for painters and philosophers. The 17th century will become for Amsterdam the “Golden Century”.
Mid 17th century Amsterdam is the home for more than 200,000 people. Prosperity and intellectual eclecticism! The fall of Antwerp and Lisbon attracts a huge immigration of Portuguese and Jewish merchants to the new Republic, mostly to Amsterdam. Works began as early as 1613 on the three concentric canals (Herengracht, Keizergracht and Prinsengracht) on the other side of the Singel, closed by a new fortified canal, the “Buitensingel”, separating historical old Amsterdam from the later outer suburbs. Rich merchants build luxurious townhouses along the new canals and their wealth trickles down to painters and craftsmen. The houses are like said “with the feet in the water”.
The wealthiest merchants living in the Gouden Bocht (Golden Curl) of the Herengracht, while the peripheral area of the Jordaan between the Prinsengracht and Buitensingel houses the work and craftsmen (today the area becomes trendy again but the workmen are still  very faithful to the neighbourhood). Four Protestant churches which divide the city into squares (the Noorderkerk, Westerkerk, Zuider and Oosterkerk) are built in this new areas.
The elite commissioned Rembrandt and his peers, visitors were awed by the city’s prosperity, clean streets and public works. By 1670, cities like London and Paris were mostly sewage-scented slums, while Amsterdam boasted streets lit each night by 2,000 oil lanterns.
This history will continue in next article….

Bibliography

Holland, by Adam Hopkins (Faber and Faber, 1988), Penguin Guide to Amsterdam (ed.Vincent Westzaan, Penguin 1990), Guide du Routard 1998 (ed.Hachette), De Nederlandse Realiteit, by J.Oostkamp (own folders).-Die Niederlande in Europa Geschichte (Dieter Verlag-Munchen 1986)