Compiled; a collection of canal houses

The history of Amsterdam's canals
Amsterdam was founded around 1250 with the construction of the Dam, from which the city derives its name. Aeme Stelle Redamme is medieval Dutch for "Dam in a watery area."

Middle Ages
The first canals were dug for city defense and water management. After urban expansion, the old defensive canals came to lie within the city walls and lost their function. But they were given a role in the Location would ultimately make the city wealthy: the transport of merchant goods. Warehouses were built on the old city walls where trade goods could be stored and then shipped to the port and from there to the entire known world.

' Golden Age The three main canals of Amsterdam were dug simultaneously. An ambitious expansion project by 'City Carpenter' Cornelis Staets was Local authority and implemented by the Local authority in 1612. Upon completion 50 years later, the city was four times larger and had the most efficient and intricate waterway system in the world. Through a spider's web of connecting canals, merchant goods from all over the world could be delivered to the doorsteps of more than a thousand warehouses. A fleet of thousands of barges and punts provided the 'pipeline' to the port. At that time, more cargo was transported through the canals by human power, either by rowing, bailing, or using a tow rope.

Amsterdam canals on the World Heritage List
These three main canals, Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht, and Herengracht, together form a historical monument that was added to the World Heritage List in 2009.