A Quick History of Amsterdam

Here's a quick zip through the almost 800 years of Amsterdam's history. I always do a short history summary at the start of my walking tours and have missed giving these during the corona lockdown. I decided to make a film of the summary and it ended up doubling in length. Here it is, I hope you enjoy it!
Clips used and references:
Count Floris playing chess - uit ‘ Floris’ (1969) by Paul Verhoeven • Video
Drawing of miracle - guy in bed being given the host = (Gemeente Amsterdam)
www.amsterdamsdagblad.nl/geme...
Drawing of a monastery / cloister meesterhenksgeschiedenis.yurl...
Drawing of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange - beurs amsterdam Job Adriaensz. Berckheyde commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
1400s Hansa Map - www.writework.com/essay/summa...
Replica cog ship - Jaco Roeleveld • kamper kogge replica 1...
Map used for Phillip’s domains - freepik.com
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition - • Video
Carl Dryer - Joan of Arc - • Video
Dune reference - Dune (1984) by David Lynch
New York pic - trekearth.com
Pirate game footage - • Ac4: Pirate Class 101 ...
Drawing of coffee plantation - mudancaedivergencia.blogspot....
Schilderij Goudsbloemgracht - Willem Hekking Junior
Brother Louie, Louie, Louie - Modern Talking - • Modern Talking - Broth...
Video of Dutch royals waving - RTL Nieuws • Koningspaar zwaait Ora...
1922 footage of Amsterdam - • Video
Bombardment of Rotterdam - • TERUG IN DE TIJD: Het...
Photo of Jewish Amsterdammers - Stadsarchief aMSTERDAM
German Intocht into Amsterdam - • 1940: Intocht Duitse t...
Hipppies in the Vondel Park - • 1973: Het Vondelpark t...
Flags i.ytimg.com/vi/xu_oh4oCBHw/ma...
Afsluitdijk footage - Rijkswaterstaat • Afsluitdijk 2.0 (Neder...

[@nancye220]

Great and understandable overview! So glad you continued with virtual tours - I love them and I hope everyone seeing this video subscribes. See you on you next live youtube tour!

[@philipshuker8835]

Congratulations, this is a fantastic introduction to Amsterdam. Not (as so often the case) a touristy journey but a well presented gallop through the city's 800 years or so.

[@lindabny0205]

Wow! What an excellent presentation! It’s difficult to sum up hundreds of years of history succinctly, but you did it. This provided a wonderful comprehensive overview of Dutch history, thank you!

[@ThatDamGuide]

Thanks!

[@dutchchatham1]

Thanks for your excellent video on my most favorite place in the universe. I fell in love with Amsterdam and the Netherlands twenty years ago. Not a day goes by that I don't think fondly of the low, low lands. Cheers!

[@lslovetravel]

WOW! Just WOW! Blown away by this video. Mark, you grabbed my interest w/in the first 3 to 5 mins! You'd have kids lined up around your classroom door if you taught History. You bring excitement, fun, suspense, humor beautifully combined with an calming, easy-going smoothly presented story-line of perfectly chronological historic facts. Superb graphics, videos, music & editing. Fantastic mini-intro- summary of Amsterdam! I hope this beings a series of more detailed videos of each section.

[@ThatDamGuide]

Thanks!

[@WangHongGuang2012]

This is a very brief and clear introduction of the Amsterdam history!!! Thank you for your wonderful introduction.

[@ThatDamGuide]

It's a pleasure, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

[@sirgalahad1470]

I am in my 50s, and just went here for the first time in my life. It is so amazing and so beautiful. Everyone should put this city at the top of their bucket list. Awesome video.

[@Noscope-pn5qm]

I needed this thanks

[@fabiancalvo8074]

Amazing! really interest, I learnt so much!

[@I_unar]

Why does such a hardworking nice calm guy only have 300 subscribers in only two years

[@ThatDamGuide]

Hi, well I'm just a tour guide! I'm not really trying to make a KZbin channel, but I do keep intending to add more content. I'm crazy busy giving online virtual turs at the moment though and loving it!

[@8yh451]

I loved the info you shared, your criticism is valid as much as your positive points you refer to! Looking forward to watching everything you have

[@lillymcsniff1849]

Fantastic work! Thank you so much for this video

[@bostonphyllis]

Very interesting and informative. I will be in Amsterdam next August to take a cruise. Perhaps I will be able to take one of your in person walking tours.

[@fabianalvaradodavid7193]

very good video! fantastic summary and very goods explications of the facts

[@karenneus5531]

Moving over from Heygo! So glad you are posting these videos!

[@davidvandenbroeck5068]

Great video with some good info. I might avail myself of your tour guide services the next time I visit Amsterdam. As I am planning on retiring in the NL in a few years, this sort of information really helps.

[@nikolassoros1760]

thank you for your presentation

[@vanderquast]

Great summary of Dutch history 👍

[@beverlymoore9774]

Wonderful introduction to Amsterdam. Thankyou.

[@frankie1944]

Excellent informative vid. Thanks!

[@nicolemathis6155]

Thank you!

[@ThatDamGuide]

You're welcome!

[@miguelelasmar]

Solid little video - thanks

[@JijeshDevan]

Hey Mark my family and I enjoyed your video. We are looking forward to our family tour of the Dam !

[@Lunavii_Cellest]

one small correction, after germany said that they were gonna bomb rotterdam the netherlands surrendered but the germans didn't got the message so they still bombed rotterdam

[@merovekh]

Well done! Heel professionele video. Ik kijk er naar uit om een keer rondgeleid te worden.

[@EmersonSalmeron]

Great video!

[@Publiopf]

Great video! Thanks.

[@vincenzodigrande2070]

This video is so well made! It deserves so many more views! 😳👌😳👌😳👌😳👌

[@ThatDamGuide]

Thank you!

[@serenisiktasdelen8932]

nice narration thank you

[@baarbacoa]

I visit the NL every couple of years or so. This video filled in many knowledge gaps. Thanks!

[@jovo524]

What a wonderful video and guide! Thank you so much for this, incredibly well made! Will refer you to any visitors of our BnB!

[@ThatDamGuide]

Thank you!

[@aakaankshpothukutchi8526]

This was great.

[@carolynmalone5877]

Wonderful video!

[@antoniof90]

great video!

[@juansebastianmottaperdomo7428]

Great channel and video!!!!

[@ThatDamGuide]

Thank you!

[@krillicool]

Fantastic introduction! Best 15 minutes of my day at work :)

[@ThatDamGuide]

Hi, great to hear you enjoyed it, thanks for saying! :o)

[@rrpal10]

Great video

[@BoninBrighton]

Very interesting

[@thomaslucia3059]

Hello Mark! This is a wonderfully fact-packed video and so succinctly narrated...and all with a great smile! I am VERY eager to move to the Netherlands after visiting SEVEN times in the last four years. So, hopefully you can give me a tour in the very near future :-)

[@nathamiekemp1975]

Thanks Mark Mooie intro geschiedenis van Amsterdam Groetjes uit Enschede

[@Paeoniarosa]

Thank you for the nice overview. Have you ever considered narrating books?

[@ThatDamGuide]

Thanks Donna, making this video was quite a step for me. I've always hated the sound of myself in recordings!

[@Paeoniarosa]

@@ThatDamGuide I think you have a calm and pleasant voice. The problem I have with podcasts and audible books is that the narrator's voice is often off-putting. Your voice would be much better!

[@familiahoman4706]

Bedankt.

[@atzonaftaniel4798]

You really have a very soothing voice

[@ramirinot6560]

All I get is this brief history that is widely known. Do you recommend a book to dive deep into Amsterdam's history? Any way, very interesting, thanks!

[@ThatDamGuide]

Hi, yes certainly. My favourite book is by Russell Shorto and is called "Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City".

[@ramirinot6560]

@@ThatDamGuide Awesome, thanks so much!

[@ronaldderooij1774]

Agreed in broad lines. The facts, nah, not so much. It is a bit sloppy. But, whatever, the broad line is good.

[@ThatDamGuide]

Hi Ronald, what don't you like? I'm really open to chatting about stuff.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

@@ThatDamGuide 1. Amsterdam is around 900 years old. 2. When you are talking about the beginnings of Amsterdam, the drawing behind you is from later. Whatever place it is, it has walls around it. That was only permitted for cities with city rights. That came later (don't know exactly when). 3. The war with the Hanseatic leagues, were in fact a series of conflict. Not fought only in Denmark. It was about trade with the baltics. The war was not Amsterdam against the Hanseatic league, but the Duchy of Holland against the Hanseatic league. The Duchy of Holland asked and got permission from the Habsburg emperor to fight it. So, there is no reason to state that the Duchy of Holland acted independently (-ish) as you say. 4. The Spanish inquisition was expected, not unespected! It was a result of the "beeldenstorm" (iconoclasm). Not the other way around as you say. 5. The Spanish inquisition was not brutal. We learn that at school, but that is believing the Dutch propaganda at the time. Historical evidence shows that 99% of cases were done with a fine and "conversion". 6. The fact that the Dutch survived 1672 was indeed (as you say) by hiding behind the water line, but even more by the numerous maritime battles at a scale hardly seen before that hindered invasion from the sea. I think you should have mentioned that too. 7. The French were not welcomed here, nor did they make a democracy as you say. 8. The house of Orange is not exceptionally expensive as you say. In fact they are quite modest. Compared to a president, I think it would be equally expensive. I don't know why you say this. I am not an Orangist, but please stick to the facts. 9. the first world war was very damageing to the Dutch economy. The UK blockaded our cost and let through barely enough to feed ourselves. There was even a hunger uprising in the Jordaan! So you cannot imply that the first world war was good for some companies because of lack of competition. Not true. 10 The German invasion was not unexpected. The government knew about all the dates and postponements by good spywork of our military attaché in Berlin. In fact most of the rich inhabitants of Bloemendaal were gone by the 8th of May 1940 (gone to England or America). 11. The Netherlands already surrendered before the bombing of Rotterdam. Why Rotterdam was bombed is still unclear. 12. You should have mentioned the February 42 strike, beginning in Amsterdam, and spreading over the country because of the deportations of Jews. 13 The sixties generation did not rebel because their parents comitted crimes during the war. It was much more complicated than that. Mainly because of Vietnam and the Cold War and materialism, is my thinking. Historical research is ongoing, but what you say sound very improbable to me. Your summary of the last 800 years was appealing. I would like to add that the motto of that period could be "let us make ourselves as safe and comfortable together as possible".

[@ThatDamGuide]

@@ronaldderooij1774 Hi Ronald, thank you for your detailed reply. The video I made is only intended as a brief romp through the centuries, picking out some interesting things along the way. I always start my 3 hour Amsterdam walking tours with a similar summary. This was taking too much time with the online (corona) tour version. So I made this short video for people to watch so they get a broad framework before joining an online tour of Amsterdam. I agree with many of your comments. But I cannot even begin to give a comprehensive historical overview in such a short video. You may not agree with all the things that I've included / excluded and some connections I draw and they do absolutely only tell part of the story. There is a much wider scope and discussion about many of your points on a full walking tour!

[@Thyme2sea]

@@ronaldderooij1774 8: A president doesn’t have to cost more than your Prime Minister. So, yes the Monarchy cost extra money and more than the costs of a republic, certainly when they have a working President. But even a ceremonial President, like in some countries, will cost less than a Monarch.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

@@Thyme2sea True, but the same goes for a king. You can pay a king also anything you want.

[@jsb7975]

This is a beautiful and compact oversight with a clear vision of Amsterdam and partly even The Netherlands as a whole. Yet ...it all depends on the historical and current information you choose from. That's the risk you take and I don't say you shouldn't. The part of the 2nd worldwar is far from the facts and is much too short to name fact's on which interpretation is, or has been coloured by historians from -indeed- the sixties and seventies . Still , I find the composition , timing , illustrations and the way you present it all to be quite talented.

[@ThatDamGuide]

Thank you Pieter for your kind words, I greatly appreciate that you see the bigger picture of what I was trying to do and that you are not mean or dismissive! I'm amazed at how this video has been seen by so many people! I'm a tour guide and really just intended to send this link to people before they joined a tour so that they could get an overview and have a think about what periods they are most interested in. Yes, it's very brief, and yes, I'm also influenced by the sources that I am reading. I know a lots on some of the subjects and not so much on others and I try and learn all the time. Some people love to drill down and freak out about some or other fact that they disagree with or can be interpreted differently, forgeting the context and intention of this very short flight through 800 years!

[@ThatsJustMyBabyDaddy]

Ted Lasso brought me here. ❤

[@josephinevandenbroek7492]

I am homesick sometimes and dream of haring and all the good food!!e

[@timothyriley8558]

i didn't ecpect the spanish inquisition but here we are

[@vanderquast]

We revolted against the Spanish Inquisition and will do so against Islamic Sharia

[@timothyriley8558]

@@vanderquast letssss goooooo

[@cvb6089]

🤔 Hahahahahahaha Monty Phyton?

[@michaelhusada2276]

They fought the Portuguese for the spice and end up with Indonesia. They also traded with the British and got an island in Indonesia rich with mace for the price of a little town called Neui Amsterdam. I imagine that would be a good deal then. Their slave trade also brought Javanese slaves to Suriname. The descendants of those slaves still speak a form of the Javanese Language.

[@NoreeneSweeney]

Watch, like, subscribe! Doing what I can to keep on your list, Mark. ;)

[@sahinguntekin4093]

❤

[@enigmaamgine8048]

👏👏

[@classesanytime]

That 800 years has changed the world to what it is!! Yeah, the British have their unfortunate part in it!! 😕 The just couldn't control that colony (US) of theirs that the Dutch fairly traded with them for some things less violent!!

[@beverlymoore9774]

Just found you on KZbin

[@atzonaftaniel4798]

Are you btw Dutch or British? Your accent sounds very British.

[@ThatDamGuide]

I am 3 now! I was born South African, then I became British lastly I became Dutch! British and Dutch were through naturalisation.

[@sirrom5155]

Dam, son.

[@Grelety03]

Create!

[@rolandrothwell4840]

Brilliant 👏 apart from the disparaging remarks on the Orange 🍊 Family who are a good royal family

[@ThatDamGuide]

Thank you! I don't have anything against the Oranges but they are very expensive to run. As I always say on my tours... I'd be king for half that, actually, I'd be queen for half that!

[@rolandrothwell4840]

@@ThatDamGuide when I'm next in Amsterdam I'd take your tour. The Oranges are far cheaper than the Presidents of France 🇫🇷 and Germany 🇩🇪 however, your are correct that the executive should tighten their belts in a cost of living crisis. I believe your neighbour, Belgium 🇧🇪 have a Royal family which is far cheaper than the Dutch

[@mamalama9888]

First written history around 1200s.... but it exists longer than 800 years

[@ronaldderooij1774]

How much longer?

[@therealdutchidiot]

Bought. BOUGHT. They didn't catch them They bought them. From whom you ask? The people who sold them off. Those who did catch the slaves.

[@almarodriguez5651]

CHEVERE !!!

[@debbiedewaal9588]

I’m sorry

[@Mr.MW_26]

The Prince-Bishop of Utrecht sold that little village to the count of Holland, A big Mistake...

[@Briggsbuckman21]

It was good. Wish you didn’t say gentrification so much. It’s a meaningless word.

[@ThatDamGuide]

Glad you liked it. I mean gentrification in this sense: 'The restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people, often resulting in displacement of lower-income people.' It is not meaningless to me as I have seen Amsterdam change and the arty and alternative culture that gave the city so much of its charm (for me) have been frozen out. So many of these people are my friends so it is not meaningless to them either, it is very sad.