Must Tell Stories- Anne Frank Route

¬The History¬

The beginning

• Amsterdam is just about to celebrate its 750^th anniversary

• It started as a small fishing village, mainly catching haring

• Then in 1306, it received city rights, which gave it an edge over other cities when it came to trading

• Amsterdam had a very liberal attitude- everyone was welcome if they have something to offer like skills or products

• This meant Amsterdam was an attractive place for political and religious freedom.

• Due to the increase in population, the first canal belt was introduced in 1613

Beer

In 1321 Amsterdam received the sole rights to the import of beer out of Hamburg

¬The Dutch East India Trading Company¬

• But -The Dutch East India Trading Company was a big contributor to the wealth of the city

• The spice trade was extremely lucrative due to its rarity in Europe

• With pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg being the most expensive 

• Peperduur is an expression meaning as expensive as pepper

¬Canals and Canal Houses¬

Canals

• The first canal belt was built in 1613, around the medieval centre

• There are 165 canals in Amsterdam

• There are 3 main purposes: water control, disposal of sewage and transportation of goods around the city

• Hand dug, which is why they are very deep

• Amsterdammers like to say they are 3 metres deep: 1 meter of water, 1 meter of dirt and 1 metre of bikes

Canal Houses

• These beautiful houses by the canal were also used to store spices on the top floor to protect them from water damage

• Had to pay tax on the width of the house, so they built them tall to maximize storage and save money

Stairs

• Stairs inside these houses are very steep and narrow – you may have experienced this with your Airbnb or hotel?

• This makes it very difficult to carry up super heavy bags of spices

• Which is why, if you look at the top of the house you can see this hook sticking out

• They use this hook and rope to hoist the bags of spices to the top floor and push it through the window

• This method is still used today when moving house

The Amstel

• Here we have the only natural waterway flowing through Amsterdam: the Amstel

• "Ame" means water and "stelle" is a dry safe place - together they mean "land in water"

• Amsterdam is the dam over the Amstel

• The dam protects the city from the tides and refreshes the canals

• In the 17th century, Amsterdam's water was not so good and Amsterdam was known as "the beautiful lady with the stinking breath"

• But now the water quality is much better; it's really common to swim in the river in the summer on nice days

• You can even drink it! It's called "Amstel chardonnay"

• There are 10,000 different species of plants and animals living in and around Amsterdam

• The IJ has even salmon and sea trout at certain times of year

The Herengracht

• Historically the canal where rich merchants lived and is still one of the most prestigious areas

• Do you notice anything different on this canal? (wider houses)

• The houses are wide to show the wealth

• They have staircases to create distance between the house and the street

• Now it's mainly companies that are based here as it's too expensive for families

• We'll pass the most expensive house shortly

The Seven Bridges

• Coming up, if you are lucky and there are no other boats, you can get a really good picture of the 7 bridges

• Here there are 7 identical stone bridges in a row

• Most canals make a curve, so here is the only place you can see through so many bridges at once

• Also really pretty at night with all the lights

The Golden Bend

• Here we are on the Gouden Bocht

• This place was reserved for the top wealthiest families in the 16-1700s including Mr. Staets, who was responsible for the design of the canal belt

• Most people living here were invested in the East India Trading Company in some way

• The VOC was a true international superpower which led to more exploring around the world

• You see this a lot in the US with New Amsterdam, Haarlem and Staten Island...

Bikes

• As you have probably seen, there are a LOT of bikes in the Netherlands

• There are 900,000 bikes just in Amsterdam, and that's not even counting the ones in the canals

• The government fishes 1,200 bikes from the canal each year

• You may have noticed that bikes are really at the top of the food chain and then pedestrians

• In the 2nd World War, owning a bike was actually prohibited; all of them were seized and sent to Germany to use in the weapons industry

• So some people threw their bikes into the canal so that the Nazis couldn't take them

• Before this though, the Nazis introduced a few rules about biking

• Have you seen it when couples bike next to each other holding hands?

• This was one of the things that was forbidden

• Anne Frank wrote a little bit about flirting on a bike

Coat of Arms

• Have you seen around the 3 X's?

• Well this is the flag of Amsterdam, and comes from the coat of arms

• There's no official record of the coat of arms though there are a few theories

• Many people connect the 3 crosses to the city motto: Heroic, Determined, Merciful

• This motto was given to Amsterdam by Queen Wilhelmina after a huge strike in 1941, where 300,000 people joined a protest against the Nazis