The Aroma of Spices and Gold. Traces of Amsterdam's Trading Past

Many buildings in Amsterdam have historical connections with the trading activities that created the city's wealth. From the seventeenth century there are the offices of the East and West India Companies, business premises, merchants' houses, banks, warehouses and exchanges. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries produced buildings such as the splendid headquarters of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (The Netherlands Trading Company) in Vijzelstraat and the famous Scheepvaarthuis (Shipping House). Every building has its own history, and the interested observer can still detect elements that reflect their original links with trade.