An Amsterdam Introduction: A Self-Guided Audio Tour of the City's Origins

Join me on this self-guided audio introduction to the history of Amsterdam, and find out how this fisherman’s hamlet in a swamp became Europe’s most powerful trading hub in the 17th century.

How did this happen? Let’s trace the clues along the canals and dykes, and uncover the history buried beneath these cobbled streets. Our walk takes us along the old port and the remains of the medieval city defences to the maze of little streets around the oldest building in Amsterdam. We’ll take in the Red Light District and Chinatown along the way, and end our exploration at Nieuwmarkt. There’s a marvel of engineering at the centre of the story too because for trade to flourish, Amsterdam had to keep the waters at bay.

The tour’s highlights include:

• How the disastrous consequences of the drainage of the original peat marshes still affect us today.
• Why the Dutch have a reputation for tolerance
• You’ll also find out why there’s so little of medieval Amsterdam left.