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Amsterdam

capital and most populous city of the Netherlands

50 dated entries naming Amsterdam, drawn from 48 separate years between 1275 CE and 2009 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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13th century

  • 1275October 27 – Floris V, count of Holland, grants the city of Amsterdam freedom from taxes (called a road toll).source
  • 1287December 14 – A huge storm and associated storm tide in the North Sea and English Channel, known as St. Lucia's flood in the Netherlands, kills thousands and reshapes the coastline of the Netherlands and England. In the Netherlands, a fringing barrier between the North Sea and a shallow lake collapses, causing the fifth-largest flood in recorded history – which creates the Zuider Zee inlet, and kills over 50,000 people. It also gives sea access to Amsterdam, allowing its development as an important port city.source

14th century

  • 1345March 15 – The Miracle of the Host occurs (as commemorated in Amsterdam).source
  • 1367November 19 – In Germany, the Kölner Konföderation is founded by eight German members of the Hanseatic League (Lübeck, Rostock, Stralsund, Wismar, Kulm and Thorn, and five non-League Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Brielle, Harderwijk,Elbing and Kampen) to fight against the Kingdom of Denmark, whose ruler King Valdemar IV, has been seizing land to expand the territory owned by the Danish crown.source

15th century

  • 1472December 31 – The city council of Amsterdam prohibits snowball fights: "Neymant en moet met sneecluyten werpen nocht maecht noch wijf noch manspersoon." ("No one shall throw with snowballs, neither men nor (unmarried) women.")source

16th century

  • 1535May 10 – In Amsterdam, a small troop of Anabaptists, led by the minister Jacob van Geel, attacks the city hall, in an attempted coup to seize the city. In the counter-attack by the city's militia, the burgemeester, Pieter Colijns, is killed by the rebels. In another incident this year in Amsterdam, seven men and five women walk nude in the streets; and Anabaptists rebel in other cities of the Netherlands.source
  • 1572April 1 – Capture of Brielle: The Sea Beggars, Netherlandish Calvinist rebels, capture the port city of Brielle. This leads to a wave of uprisings in Holland and Zeeland against Spanish Habsburg rule, leaving most of those provinces (with the exception of Amsterdam) under rebel control.source
  • 1578May 26 – The Alteratie takes place in Amsterdam, expelling the 24 Catholic members of the 40-man city government, and forming a new council is formed with 30 Calvinist Protestants and 10 Catholics.source
  • 1594In Amsterdam, the Compagnie van Verre is created, with the goal of breaking the Portuguese monopoly on spice trade.source
  • 1597August 14 – First Dutch Expedition to Indonesia: A Dutch expedition commanded by Cornelis de Houtman returns to Amsterdam, after having successfully reached Java. This achievement opens the Spice trade, which had until then been monopolised by the Portuguese, to the Dutch, who in the next years launch several more expeditions to the Indies.source
  • 1599July 17 – Second Dutch Expedition to East Indies: A Dutch fleet returns to Amsterdam from what is now Indonesia, carrying 600,000 pounds of pepper and 250,000 pounds of cloves and nutmeg.source

17th century

  • 1602March 20 – The United East India Company is established by the United Provinces States-General in Amsterdam, with the stated intention of capturing the spice trade from the Portuguese.source
  • 1609April 4 – English explorer Henry Hudson, in the service of the Dutch East India Company, sets out from Amsterdam in the Halve Maen.source
  • 1614July – Dutch merchant Adriaen Block returns to Amsterdam in the Onrust, having become the first European to enter Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River, and determined that Long Island is an island. He publishes a map of "New Netherland".source
  • 1614October 11 – Adriaen Block and a group of Amsterdam merchants petition the States General of the Northern Netherlands for exclusive trading rights, in the area he explored and named "New Netherland".source
  • 1618June 14 – Joris Veseler prints the first Dutch newspaper Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. in Amsterdam (approximate date).source
  • 1622November 25 – King Christian IV of Denmark invites the Sephardic Jews of Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic to settle in the newly-built Danish town of Lykstad, promising them the free exercise of their religion without persecution. The city remains part of Denmark until 1864 until it is captured in the Second Schleswig War and is now part of Germany as Glückstadt.source
  • 1632January 31 – The dissection of a body for the benefit of medical students is carried out by Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, the anatomist for the city of Amsterdam, and will be immortalized in Rembrandt's painting The Anatomy Lesson.source
  • 1635Willem and Joan Blaeu publish the first edition of their Atlas Novus, in Amsterdam.source
  • 1642Rembrandt finishes his painting The Night Watch (Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq) in Amsterdam.source
  • 1651March 4 – St. Peter's Flood: Another storm tide in the North Sea strikes the Netherlands, flooding Amsterdam.source
  • 1665Joan Blaeu completes publication of his Atlas Maior (Theatrum Orbis Terrarum) in Amsterdam.source
  • 1666The first completed printed Bible translation into Armenian, Astuacašunč hnoc' ew noroc' ktakaranac (Oskanean Bible), is published in Amsterdam, edited by Bishop Oskan Yerevantsi.source
  • 1669October 4 – Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn dies at the age of 63, after completing his final known work Self-Portrait at the Age of 63. Despite his wealth, is buried in an unmarked grave in Amsterdam's Westerkerk. After 20 years, his remains are removed and destroyed in accordance with church custom.source
  • 1674August 1 – The 1674 derecho causes a catastrophic impact in Western Europe. In the Netherlands, the derecho causes over 1,050 deaths and devastates cities such as Utrecht and Amsterdam.source
  • 1677Spinoza's Ethics (Ethica, ordine geometrico demonstrata) is published as part of his Opera Posthuma in Amsterdam.source
  • 1695In Amsterdam, the bank Wed. Jean Deutz & Sn. floats the first sovereign bonds on the local market. The scheme is designed to fund a 1.5 million guilder loan to the Holy Roman Emperor. From this date on, European leaders commonly take advantage of the low interest rates available in the Dutch Republic, and borrow several hundred millions on the Dutch capital market.source
  • 1696January 31 – In the Netherlands, undertakers revolt after funeral reforms in Amsterdam.source

18th century

  • 1710Jacob Christoph Le Blon, working in Amsterdam, invents a three-color printing process with red, blue, and yellow plates, a precursor of the modern CMYK printing process.source
  • 1747November 9 – Rioters in Amsterdam demand governmental reform.source
  • 1795January 20 – French troops enter Amsterdam.source

19th century

  • 1808The Rijksmuseum moves from The Hague to Amsterdam, where it is located temporarily at the Royal Palace.source
  • 1863December 15 – Gerard Adriaan Heineken, 22, buys the brewery 'De Hooiberg' ("The Haystack") in Amsterdam.source
  • 1873December 16 – The Heineken Brewery is founded in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.source
  • 1883August 12 – The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.source
  • 1883October 1 – In Amsterdam, the first International Colonial and Export Exhibition closes, having had over 1 million visitors.source
  • 1888April 11 – The Concertgebouw orchestra in Amsterdam is inaugurated.source

20th century

  • 1920May 17 – The first flight of Dutch air company KLM, from Amsterdam to London, takes place.source
  • 1928July 28 – August 12 – The 1928 Summer Olympics are held in Amsterdam, opening with the lighting of the Olympic flame. Women's athletics and gymnastics debut at these games, and discus thrower Halina Konopacka of Poland becomes the first female Olympic gold medal winner for a track or field event. Coca-Cola enters Europe as sponsor of the games.source
  • 1941The occupied Netherlands starts the first popular uprising in Europe against the Axis powers, the "February strike" against German deportation of Jews in Amsterdam and surroundings.source
  • 1942June 12 – The Holocaust: On her 13th birthday, Anne Frank receives the book that she will use to keep her diary in occupied Amsterdam.source
  • 1944The Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse, where they find Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and others in hiding. All will die in captivity, except for Otto Frank, Anne's father.source
  • 1946September 10 – Operation Black Tulip, the expulsion of Germans from the Netherlands, begins in Amsterdam.source
  • 1947June 25 – The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is published for the first time as Het Achterhuis: Dagboekbrieven 14 juni 1942 – 1 augustus 1944 ("The Annex: Diary Notes from 14 June 1942 – 1 August 1944") in Amsterdam, two years after the writer's death in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.source
  • 1948August 23 – The World Council of Churches is established in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.source
  • 1962May 2 – S.L. Benfica beats Real Madrid 5–3 at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam to win the 1961–62 European Cup in association football.source
  • 1969March 20 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono are married at Gibraltar, and proceed to their honeymoon "Bed-in" for peace in Amsterdam.source
  • 1972November 29 – The "tea house" Mellow Yellow opens on the river Amstel in Amsterdam, pioneering the legal sale of cannabis in the Netherlands.source
  • 1991April 14 – In the Netherlands, thieves steal 20 paintings worth $500 million from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam; they are found in an abandoned car near the museum less than an hour later.source

21st century

  • 2009December 25 – A Nigerian terrorist plotted an attempted terrorist bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 en route from Amsterdam to Detroit.source

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