People from all corners of the world have made the city what it is today. The very first Amsterdammers were farmers and fishers who lived on the banks of the river Amstel. In the late Middle Ages, Amsterdam grew into a small port town in the middle of a marshy landscape. In the 17th century the founding of the VOC and WIC trading companies contributed to Amsterdam’s lightning-fast growth into a global city with a population of over 200,000. In this time almost everyone living in Amsterdam was connected, directly or indirectly, with colonial trade: from rope makers to cartographers and from solicitors to confectioners. The rapid growth in population led to a plan to expand the city. It marked the beginning of Amsterdam’s world-famous ring of canals.
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