'Amsterdam 750 Years' tells the city’s history as it has never been told before. Through hundreds of stories – about unknown Amsterdammers, remarkable places, and the many people who passed through the city – it reveals a vibrant and complex past. Migrants, traders, scientists, church ministers, slum landlords, laborers, scavengers, and capitalists are brought to life. This isn’t a history of the great white men with starched white collars. Instead it is about Rembrandt’s Black neighbors, the construction of the Greek Orthodox church, the day an elephant arrived in the city, the battle between socialists and police in Café Zincken, and how immigrants from the former Dutch East Indies brought rock ‘n’ roll to the Geuzenveld neighborhood in the 1950s. “So much history, so many stories, so many lives: Our Amsterdam is the city’s most exciting treasure trove.” – Geert Mak FOREWORD JOB COHEN 11 PREFACE 15 0 ROMANS ON THE AMSTEL 16 1100 THE CITY SEAL 20 1105 WOLFGER 23 1225 THE BLACKSMITH ON NIEUWENDIJK 25 1275 THE TOLL PRIVILEGE OF FLORIS V 28 1280 THE CASTLE OF AEMSTEL 31 1300 CHARTER AND RIGHT 35 1310 THE HERON FOREST 37 1342 THE LATIN SCHOOL 39 1345 THE MIRACLE 41 1390 CARTHUSIANS 46 1414 SAINT LUCIA’S MONASTERY 48 1421 THE GREAT FIRE OF 1421 51 1460 THE FRIARS MINOR 56 1488 THE EARLY YEARS OF THE WAAG 58 1489 MAXIMILIAN SELLS HIS CROWN 61 1508 AMSTERDAM REPELS AN ATTACK BY GELRE 66 1515 JACOB CORNELIS VAN OOSTSANEN 68 1529 REINOUD OF BREDERODE GAMBLES AWAY HIS LANDS 71 1531 WOMEN DEFEND SACRED GROUND 73 1542 DANCING WITH THE DEVIL 80 1573 WOMEN SPYING FOR THE GEUZEN 83 1573 ALVA DEPARTS 86 1578 BAERDESEN SEIZES POWER 89 1578 THE CONTRABAND OF CORNELIS BAM 93 1585 ELISABETH BAS 96 1590 THE FIRST DIAMOND MERCHANTS 99 1602 ISAAC LE MAIRE OPPOSES THE VOC 102 1611 “THE FILTHY FOLK” 106 1608 SAMUEL PALLACHE SETTLES IN AMSTERDAM 109 1647 ELEPHANT FALLS THROUGH BRIDGE 111 1650 REMBRANDT’S BLACK NEIGHBOURS 114 1656 THE STRUGGLE FOR GHANA LOPES 117 1660 AMSTERDAM ACQUIRES URK 120 1672 PANIC AND FEAR 123 1675 DEDICATION OF THE ESNOGA 127 1682 SURINAMESE KINGS 131 1686 THE WORLD’S FIRST YIDDISH NEWSPAPER 133 1690 ESCAPED FROM FRENCH GALLEYS 136 1696 A KINGFISHER MEDAL 139 1714 AN ARMENIAN QUARREL 142 1718 THE REAL JACO 145 1746 “NEFARIOUS DECEPTIONS” 148 1754 A BLACK NEW YORKER IN THE JORDAAN 152 1760 ABANDONED SLAVES 155 1764 GREEK AMSTERDAMMERS FOUND A CHURCH 158 1764 POULTRY DEALER DIES A SODOMITE 161 1766 MOZART CELEBRATES HIS BIRTHDAY 164 1780 INNKEEPERS FROM SURINAME 167 1782 HIJACKING OF A SHIP ON THE HAARLEMMERMEER 170 1787 CAPTAIN PIETER CLOCKENER RESIGNS 173 1793 CHINESE SAILORS 177 1813 COSSACKS CHASE AWAY THE FRENCH 179 1816 JOHAN WILMS COMPOSES THE NATIONAL ANTHEM 183 1840 CHIMNEYSWEEPS 189 1848 HOP, HOP, HOP! HANG THE BURGOMASTER! 194 1858 ASSAULT IN THE SCOTTISH MISSION CHURCH 197 1860 ‘JAPPANEZE’ VISIT AMSTERDAM FOR THE FIRST TIME 202 1873 SPIRITS AT HENDRIK JAN SCHIMMEL’S HOUSE 205 1883 “A DISPLAY OF HUMAN FLESH” 207 1885 BATTLE IN CAFÉ ZINCKEN 211 1892 BEDOUINS ON THE WEESPERZIJDE 214 1892 THE TOWN HALL OF NIEUWER-AMSTEL 220 1900 A FRISIAN WOMAN IN ATJEHSTRAAT 222 1911 CHINESE CHARACTERS 225 1914 BELGIAN REFUGEES 229 1921 THE TRAITOR OF SLOTEN 233 1921 THE FIRST AJAX-FEYENOORD 237 1926 SS KARADENIZ 242 1932 THE GREAT RENT STRIKE 246 1933 EXIL-ARTISTS 250 1936 ‘NEGRO CABARETS’ 254 1939 RAPENBURGERSTRAAT 258 1940 THE “THIRD FIVE” IN TIME OF WAR 261 1943 WOMEN ON THE TRAM 264 1944 JAAP KNOL PREVENTS DEPORTATION OF SINTI AND ROMA 268 1944 KEESJE BRIJDE 271 1945 LIBERATION CELEBRATIONS 273 1945 SURINAMESE SISTERS 277 1950 MOLUCCAN SAILORS 280 1966 STRESS IN THE FLAT 283 1967 HAI IN THE RAI 287 1967 TIMIDLY OUT OF THE CLOSET 290 1971 THE LAST BEGUINE DIES 294 1974 DRUGS DEN IN SPUISTRAAT 297 1977 DANCING AT JANSEN 300 1977 A WEDDING AND A SHOOTING 303 1980 TANKS IN EERSTE CONSTANTIJN HUYGENSSTRAAT 307 1986 THE RECOVERY OF ZEEDIJK 311 2022 WATER, BEER AND GIN FROM WEESP 316