Amsterdam is a relatively new city, by the standards of European capitals, first mentioned about 700 years ago. It is also unusual, that such a large city grew in an empty region - it was almost uninhabited until the Middle Ages. The city and its surroundings were marshland, lakes, and peat bog until about the year 1000. The present Amsterdam urban region probably had a few thousand inhabitants - perhaps only a few hundred. A tidal estuary, the river IJ, divided the region: the present North Sea Canal follows approximately its centre ... (more)