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In-Depth Information
to make an inland lake. More than 100,000 ships a year reach the
open waters by sailing west through the North Sea Canal, making
Amsterdam Europe's fifth-busiest seaport.
Local landowners are concerned that the tunneling for the
new subway line will cause their buildings to settle. The snoopy-
looking white cameras mounted on various building corners (such
as the Beurs) are monitoring buildings to check for settling.
•helongbrickbuildingwiththesquareclocktower,alongtheleftside
of Damrak, is the...
Stock exchange (Beurs)
Built with nine million bricks on about 5,000 tree trunks ham-
mered into the marshy soil, the Beurs stands as a symbol of the
city's long tradition as a trading town.
Back when “stock” meant whatever could be loaded and
unloaded onto a boat, Amsterdammers gathered to trade. Soon,
rather than trading goats, chickens, and kegs of beer, they were
exchanging slips of paper and “futures” at one of the world's first
stock exchanges. Traders needed moneychangers, who needed
bankers, who made money by lending money...and Amsterdam
of the 1600s became one of the world's first great capitalist cities,
loaning money to free-spending kings, dukes, and bishops.
This impressive building, built in 1903 in a geometric, mini-
mal, no-frills style, is one of the world's first “modern” (i.e., 20th-
century-style) buildings, emphasizing function over looks. In 1984,
the stock exchange moved next door (see the stock prices readout)
to the Euronext complex—a joint, if overly optimistic, attempt by
France, Belgium, and the Netherlands to compete with the power
of Britain's stock exchange. The old Beurs building now hosts con-
certs and a museum for temporary exhibits.
Amsterdam still thrives as the center of Dutch business and
is home to Heineken, Shell Oil, Philips Electronics, and Unilever.
Amsterdammers have always had a reputation for putting business
above ideological differences, staying neutral while trading with
both sides.
•Damrakopensinto...
Dam Square
The city got its start right here in about 1250, when fishermen in
this marshy delta settled along the built-up banks of the Amstel
River. They blocked the river with a damme and created a small vil-
lage called “Amstel-damme.” With access to the sea, the fishermen
were soon trading with German riverboats traveling downstream
and with seafaring boats from Stockholm, Hamburg, and London.
Dam Square was the center of it all.
The dam on the Amstel divided the damrak (meaning “outer
 
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