Holland by Night

For most Dutchmen Den Haag (The Hague) represents the politics of national government. While technically not the national capitol, Den Haag is the place for ministers and parliament. This political sc...

There is a small brook, originating in the dunes, flowing along the Great Market, and running into the Spaarne. A dam was laid in it's mouth in the Spaarne, to protect the city from possible flooding....

The Fish and Fleshmarket near the Bavo both date from the beginning of the seventeenth century. They were a means for the city council to control the quality of the meat sold.  The fleshmarket is the...

The countship in Haarlem was inextricably connected to the existence of a parish church. In the earliest records this parish was a subsidiary of the parish church in nearby Velzen. Velzen in it's turn...

When the Count of Holland was in Haarlem, he did not come alone. He brought a large number of knights. It were these knights that fought the Frisians from the Drecht (a small river) in 1155 and saved ...

The place of the modern City Hall is where De Beek (the Brook) crosses the old Roman road. It's history is very complicated, as is the lay-out of the building itself. The eldest part is the right-angl...

Haarlem originated on the location where three important geographical characteristics in the landscape met.  1. An old range of dunes, the second row parallel to the coastline. Next to the high dune ...

In 1585 Amsterdam's great competitor, the harbour city Antwerp, was conquered by the Spanish. Afterwards its link to the sea, the river Schelde, was blocked. As a consequence Amsterdam became the bigg...

The 16th century would be a very tumultuous time for the city. As a result of the trade freedom and the relationship with Baltic cities like Riga and Danzig, Amsterdam developed to one of the biggest ...

After 1400 Amsterdam and the other cities in Holland achieved a favourable trading position with the Baltic States and broke the monopoly of the Hanseatic League. After the Wendic trade war of 1438-14...

In the year 1270 a dam was placed in the river Amstel. This turned a small village in the estuary of the Amstel in the river Y into Amsterdam, or Amstelledamme as it was called. The dam created a natu...

In the tenth century the west of the Netherlands was little more than an underdeveloped region on the periphery of the Holy Roman Empire. The majority of the land was wild and uncultivated marshland, ...