Facts for Kids

Water shapes Amsterdam’s story. People began reclaiming land here over a thousand years ago, using dikes and canals to make dry ground. Big floods, like one in the 1100s and another in 1916, changed the shoreline and led the city to grow and sometimes to add nearby villages.

The city’s canal ring helps control water and move goods by boat. In recent times, new neighborhoods such as IJburg were built on islands and reclaimed land. Amsterdam continues to plan how to live with water — by building strong banks, designing houses for wet ground, and making room for boats and canals.

Canals are long, narrow waterways that circle and cross Amsterdam. Many were dug in the 1600s to control water and make room for trade. The ring of canals, with bridges and tree-lined streets, looks like a map made of water.

Canals are used for boats, houseboats, and small tour boats. Houses built along them often have narrow fronts and special hooks on the top to lift furniture in. Walking or biking along the canals is one of the best ways to see how the city grew and why water is so important here.

Museums in Amsterdam show art, history, science, and personal stories. The big ones are the Rijksmuseum for Dutch art and history and the Van Gogh Museum for paintings by Vincent van Gogh. The Anne Frank House tells the story of a girl who wrote a famous diary; it helps visitors learn about a difficult time in history in a calm way.

There are also fun places for kids, like the hands-on NEMO science museum and the Maritime Museum about ships. Many museums have special activities for families, so you can touch, try, and discover as you learn.

The name Amsterdam comes from a dam built on the Amstel River. Long ago, this area was wet and people learned to reclaim land, which means making dry ground from water and marshes so they could farm and build.

In the 1100s a big flood changed the nearby water and made the spot at the river mouth good for boats and trade. People built a dam between about 1264 and 1275. That dam helped the village grow into a town, and from the 1200s it began to appear in written records as a place where traders passed through.

Architecture means the way buildings are designed and put together. In Amsterdam you can see very old buildings, like the wooden house at the Begijnhof and the 700-year-old Oude Kerk, and later brick houses with stepped gables from the Renaissance. In the 1600s and 1700s, grand buildings such as the Royal Palace show a richer, baroque style.

Later styles, like neo-gothic and Art Nouveau, appear near the museums, and the Amsterdamse School gives some neighborhoods bold, decorative façades. Most old canal houses were merchants’ homes, so they look tall and narrow along the water.

Amsterdam is the capital and biggest city of the Netherlands. It sits in the province of North Holland and has just under a million people living in the city itself. Because the city has so many canals, people sometimes call it the “Venice of the North.” The canals and the ring of old streets around them are special — they are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Amsterdam began as a small fishing village and grew into a busy port in the 1600s. Today it is famous for museums like the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, places such as Dam Square and the Anne Frank House, lots of bicycles, and people from many countries.

In the early 1900s Amsterdam grew outward with new neighborhoods. During World War I the Netherlands stayed neutral, but people still faced shortages and sometimes protests over food.

In World War II the city was occupied by the Nazis. Many Jewish residents were deported and died; some residents risked their lives to help others. The city held a large strike in 1941 to protest these roundups. After the war, Amsterdam rebuilt homes and parks, saved many of its old buildings, and later added new neighborhoods and a metro line that links north and south parts of the city.

Diversity is one of the things that makes Amsterdam lively. People from many countries have come to live here over hundreds of years. Long ago, refugees and traders arrived from places like France and Spain. In the 1900s and 1970s, new groups came from Indonesia, Turkey, Morocco, Suriname, and parts of Europe. Today the city includes people from many nationalities who speak many languages and celebrate different holidays.

Because of this variety, you can try foods from all over the world, meet neighbors with different stories, and hear many languages in one street. The city helps newcomers learn Dutch and find work, and neighborhoods keep changing with each new wave of people.

The 1600s are called the Dutch Golden Age when Amsterdam became extremely rich and busy. Ships from the city sailed all over the world to trade goods like spices, cloth, and timber. Amsterdam merchants helped start large trading companies that ran voyages, set up trade posts, and connected many countries.

Because of this trade, Amsterdam also started the world’s first modern stock market in 1602 and a big bank in 1609. While the city grew richer, it also took part in sad parts of world trade, including the trade in enslaved people. This is an important and difficult part of Amsterdam’s history to remember.

De Wallen is Amsterdam’s oldest and most famous red-light area. It has small canals, narrow alleys, and rows of windows lit with red lights. The neighborhood includes shops, cafés, and the Oude Kerk, and many people visit to learn about its history.

The city treats the area differently than other streets: some activities are legal but carefully controlled so people are safer. In recent years authorities have worked to reduce the number of red-light windows and make the neighborhood quieter and more family-friendly during the day. If you visit, go with an adult and be respectful of people who live and work there.