Berlitz: Amsterdam Pocket Guide

Catastrophic fires destroyed a large part of the city in 1421 and again in 1452. Following the second fire, legislation made it illegal to build with wood, and brick became the material of choice

The first wooden houses were built on the site of Amsterdam in around AD 1200, on artificial mounds called terps.

more than 500,000 cycles on the streets – and an estimated 30,000 at the bottom of the canal system at any one time.

When there wasn’t enough housing on the land, they looked at the empty canals and decided that houseboats would help. There are now more than 2,500 on the city’s waterways.

Amsterdam contains more than 1,200 bridges crossing more than 100 canals, with a combined length of over 100km (65 miles).