Amsterdam is the biggest, most liberal and most international Village on earth!
Well, that's our opinion.
Amsterdam is very small in size. Fantastic for tourists because all attractions are within walking distance.
Amsterdam became the capital of the Netherlands some time after 1833. Before that era the capital of the Netherlands was Brussels. Our parliament is in Den Haag (the Hague or 's Gravenhage).
Amsterdam has roughly 800.000 inhabitants, slightly more than Rotterdam.
In Amsterdam house blocks are built on "islands" separated by the Amstel river and many canals, all connected by more than 2000 bridges. There used to be many more canals. Streetnames like "Rozengracht" (Roses canal) and "Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal" (New-side front-castle-wall) remind on that.
Steetnames in Amsterdam can sometimes be very long and difficult to pronounce. And usually make no sence at all.
In a planned city, "Raamsteeg", "Raamgracht" and "Raamplein" would be close to each other, but not in Amsterdam! Somehow they got completely spread over the city. There are many examples like this.
Fortunately, the old city centre was never bombed during one of the 2 World Wars, so it has been well preserved.
The oldest street in Amsterdam is presumably the Warmoesstraat and the oldest house still standing is from early 14th century.
One of the most impressive buildings is the former City Hall on Dam Square, today one of the royal palaces. see below this page.
Some people wonder why Amsterdam is such a liberal city. Well, it might be because from 14 century onwards, Amsterdam has been The city in medieval Europe where many of the forbidden books could be legally printed. A liberal mentality has always been here.
Since 1814 the official name of our country is
Kingdom of the Netherland's.
Before that era, our country was a republic, the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands founded in 1568 (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden). history
The Netherlands is a unique country with the highest population density of Europe.
There are almost 17 million inhabitants living on a piece of land half the size of the island of Tasmania. (Australia has little over 20 million inhabitants in the entire country.) About 10 million dutch people actually live below sea level.
This might be another reason why no other country in Europe is as progressive in its laws as the Netherlands. We simply are forced to live and let live caused by a lack of space.
Some information about dutch people.
The Dutch are known for their direct approach. They say what they think and do what they say.
This mostly counts for people in major cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag and Utrecht. In the country side you will find people to be less direct and more conservative.
The Dutch the tallest people in the world!
The vast majority of dutch men is uncircumcised. However circumcision is promoted in Holland.
Our main means of transportation beside the car is the bicycle. Therefore strong legs tend to be commen here.
90% of the dutch people live in major cities and speak good english.
Our television is one of the reasons why dutch people presumably speak english so well.
We've got lots of english programs and movies on our telly that are subtitled instead of dubbed.
Royal Palace Amsterdam Dam squar.
This building was designed and build by Jacob van Campen as City Hall. It was once the biggest office building on earth!
