Amsterdam: A brief life of the city

Amsterdam traded worldwide. The 17th-century city had four times the income per capita of Paris. Foreigners flocked here, and were left largely unbothered. Shorto notes that Amsterdam’s tolerance was – and is – above all pragmatic. Tolerance was good for business, for social peace and innovation. 17th-century Amsterdam published perhaps 30 per cent... See more

Amsterdam was arguably “the world’s most liberal city”, to quote the subtitle of this well-told history by Russell Shorto, an American writer who lives in Amsterdam. Shorto argues that little Amsterdam “has influenced the modern world to a degree that perhaps no other city has”.

Amsterdam, he explains, maintains a fine balance of individual and collective. This was never a Wild West town. Rather, because Amsterdammers have had to work together to maintain the dikes, society has been strong. The 17th-century merchants created “some of Europe’s first orphanages, homes for the elderly” and neighbourhoods where rich and poor l... See more