Amsterdam

View of the drawbridge Magere Brug across the Amstel in Amsterdam. The Magere Brug is the most famous bridge of the nearly 200 bridges of Amsterdam. It was built in 1671. Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. The town is located in the province of North Holland at the mouth of the river Amstel and the river Ij into the Ijsselmeer. Amsterdam dates back to the 12th century. The town was built around a barrage in the river Amstel on about 5 millions of fir boles. Due to its oversea trade at the end of the 16th century the then Hanseatic city Amsterdam had become the most prosperous city of Europe. Nowadays the town that is nerved by canals has the biggest old town of Europe. It was declared to Unesco World Heritage in 1996.