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Fishermen settled at the mouth of the Amstel river, building huts on man-made mounds calledterps for flood protection. With the growth of the new settlement came feudal conflict between the self-made Counts of Holland and Lords van Amstel.

In the earliest document to refer to Amsterdam, Count Floris V of Holland granted its citizens exemption from tolls when transporting their goods by river across his territory at The Hague.

At a house in Kalverstraat, a priest gave a dying man the last sacraments. He was unable to keep down the communion wafer, so it was thrown on the fire. Next morning, the wafer was found intact among the embers. News of the miracle spread, and Amsterdam soon became a place of pilgrimage.

As Protestantism swept northern Europe, Dutch Calvinists rebelled against their intolerant Spanish Catholic ruler, Philip II. In theBeeldenstorm or Iconoclasm, the Calvinists stormed the Catholic churches and destroyed their religious artifacts. The city finally became Protestant, in a peaceful revolution known as theAlteratie or Alteration.

The dawn of the Golden Age, when the arts flourished in Amsterdam, saw ambitious plans for a triple canal ring around the city (see The Grachtengordel). Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht were built in two stages, starting in 1613 and 1663.

The Dutch passion for tulips dates from the late 16th century, when the first bulbs were imported from Asia. In 1634, the tulip was quoted on the Stock Exchange, and speculation began. Fortunes were made overnight as the craze led to spectacular price increases; the inevitable crash caused scores of bankruptcies.

After the formation of the Batavian Republic in 1795, rule was shared between the invading French and the Dutch Patriots. In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte took over the Republic, created the Kingdom of the Netherlands and installed his brother, Louis Napoleon, as head of state.

Despite Dutch neutrality, Germany invaded Holland in May 1940. With the deportation of Jews to concentration camps from 1942 onwards, the Dutch Resistance became active and underground newspapers thrived. Canadian troops liberated Amsterdam on 5 May 1945.

The radical Provo movement took off in the 1960s, fuelled by antagonism to the city’s transport and housing policies. Street demonstrations turned into fullscale rioting on 10 March 1966, the day of Princess Beatrix’s wedding to German aristocrat Claus von Amsberg. The Provos won seats on the city council, but their popularity was short-lived.

On 2 February 2002, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander married Máxima Zorreguieta in the Nieuwe Kerk, followed by a reception in the Koninklijke Paleis. After a difficult start, due to her father’s involvement with the Videla regime in Argentina, Máxima won the hearts of the Dutch public.