A brief history of the city

Around the year 1275 a dam was built by fishermen at the Amstelriver, just before the Amstelriver entered the IJ-river. This dam was called the Aemstelledamme (Dam on the Amstel). In the year 1300 Aemstelledamme became cityrights from Floris V. During the years the name was transferred into Amsterdam.

In the 14th and 15th century Amsterdam grew very quickly and became the most important trading city of The Netherlands. At that time The Netherlands (also known as the Low Countries) was under control by the dukes of Bourgogne. During the 16th century the control over the Low Countries was given to Spain. The oppressive rules of the Catholic Spanish led to an independence war by the Dutch and lasted 80 years. At that moment there were a lot of religious wars throughout Europe and the first thing The Dutch reinstated was the freedom of religion.. Because of the freedom of religion The Netherlands, and specifically Amsterdam, became a refugee place where people did not get condemned because of their believes. You might consider this as the foundation for the Dutch tolerance policy towards cannabis.

During the 17th century Amsterdam grew more rapidly then ever and became the most important financial center of Europe. The Netherlands was in that time the foremost commercial and maritime power of Europe and ships from Amsterdam sailed across the world to Indonesia, Brazil and Africa gathering an impressive empire. During this period there seemed to be no end to all the wealth. In the historical center of the city there is still an innumerous amount of fantastic buildings showing the wealth of that period. This was also the period of the painter Rembrandt and the construction of the canals throughout the city. The Dutch like to call this period of Dutch history 'the Golden Age'.

All this wealth did not come to them in only a positive way; to reach their goals the Dutch became very skilled in slave trading, which became very quickly a common source for western countries for cheap labor during hundreds of years. This aspect of Dutch history is not that much highlighted in Dutch history books; we wonder why.

The Dutch Golden Age came to an end during the 18th and 19th century after wars with England and France. These wars took their toll on The Netherlands and Amsterdam lost its supremacy over Europe.

During the sixties of the 20th century Amsterdam got back on the map again and this time it got there to stay. In this period Amsterdam became known and famous for its liberal view on Sex and Drugs. This liberal vibe throughout the city is upon today different then all other places, making Amsterdam one of the best hangout places of this planet.