Before starting to research my latest Alexander Baxby
mystery Naming the Dead, I wondered why Amsterdam’s inhabitants bothered
to dig canals. Although water provided a useful way to transport heavy goods, I
found it hard to believe such advantages outweighed the cost and inconvenience.
Why not just build better roads? I discovered the history of the canals was
very different than I assumed.
Originally, the region was marshland. Farmers first dammed
the River Amstel, near its entry into the Ij, to prevent silt from the
salt-water Zuider Zee clogging the fresh water side. Gradually, engineers reclaimed
more land by driving wooden piles into the ground, using similar techniques to
those in Venice, and formed an outer line of canals below the medieval walls, to
provide the protection of a moat.
After the Dutch Republic won independence from Spain in
1581, Amsterdam’s strategic position helped it grow into the most important
trading centre in northern Europe. With insufficient space for the growing population
and their businesses, the city authorities embarked on an ambitious expansion
program. They reclaimed more land to build an outer line of bastion walls and designed
the distinctive concentric rings of canals and narrow houses we still admire
today. Many of the original wooden piles are still in use.
The Grachtenmuseum, or Museum of the Canals, provides a useful source of more information.
Naming in Blood (Baxby Mystery #2) is available on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at
UK: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FCY3QDT1
US: www.amazon.com/dp/B0FCY3QDT1