Amsterdam Wind Mill

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Amsterdam Wind Mill

Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century. This does not necessarily mean that there was already a settlement then, since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat, for use as fuel.

For centuries, windmills have helped the Dutch fight water shortages, so it is little wonder that they were among the first to develop windmill technology. In the glory days, the Netherlands boasted more than 10,000 windmills and today around 1,000 still stand. Many of the remaining mills are open to the public, and a couple has even been transformed into homes, but a word of warning, these are not museums.