While the oldest archeological finds in the area of Amsterdam date back to Roman times, indicating that some people were there at the time, the region of shifting lakes, swamps, and bogs did not see a town until the 12th Century when farmers and fishermen began to tame the are with ditches and dykes. After the 13th Century, the city grew rapidly as it became a center of trade between the North and Baltic Seas and Southern Europe. Amsterdam became a center of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century as the Calvinist took the city from its Catholic Spanish master, King Philip II of Spain, and then declared it the capital of an independent republic led by William of Orange, an ancestor of the current Dutch royal family.

The golden age of Dutch trading took place between 1580 and 1740, making Amsterdam a major merchant center. Money replaced trade as the major industry by the late 18th Century. Amsterdam and Holland suffered under Napoleonic rule in the early 19th century and became a backwater as Britain began to rule the seas. In the 20th Century, Amsterdam became an industrial center. The country and the city suffered greatly under Nazi occupation. In the post war era, Amsterdam has become a center of radical politics, in which drug use and alternate lifestyles have become accepted. The city has attracted a large Asian and African community, now numbering a quarter of the city’s population, which has caused some degree of tension in the post 9/11 world. Still it remains a curious blend of radical chic and old world charm that seems to work and attract travelers from all over the world.

Begijnhof

Accessed by a narrow, vaulted passageway, Begijhof is a secluded courtyard garden dating back from the early 14th century, a kind of oasis of peace and quiet in the midst of the city. It used to be a Beguine convent, an order of women who cared for the elderly and lived a religious life without actually taking vows. The last true Beguine Sister died in 1970.

The oldest house facing the courtyard dates from 1465, making it the oldest extant wooden house in the country. There is also a medieval church in the midst of the garden.