Introduction

Amsterdam is proud to be one of the greatest small cities in the world. It was founded in the late 12th century as a small fishing village. Since then it has grown to become the largest city in the Netherlands and its capital with a population of 743104 inhabitants and over 170 nationalities. The metropolitan area with Amsterdam at its centre has a population of 2,2 million inhabitants and is part of the conurbation Randstad, with a population of 6,659,300 inhabitants.

It is mainly famous for its port, the Rijksmuseum, the red-light district (de Wallen), the liberal coffeeshops, and the canals which have led to Amsterdam being termed the "Venice of the North".