Editing Amsterdam (section)

== History ==
Amsterdam began as a settlement at a dam on the Amstel. During the Middle Ages, it developed into a trading town with growing access to inland waterways and the North Sea. By the early modern period, Amsterdam had become one of the main commercial cities of the Dutch Republic.

During the seventeenth century, Amsterdam expanded rapidly as a centre of maritime trade, finance, shipping, and colonial commerce. The canal belt was built during this period and became one of the defining parts of the city’s urban layout.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Amsterdam expanded beyond its older centre. New residential districts, railway links, industrial areas, and port facilities changed the city from a historic trading centre into a modern capital city.

During the [[Second World War]], Amsterdam was occupied by [[Nazi Germany]] from 1940 until the German surrender in the Netherlands in May 1945. After the war, the city returned to civilian administration and continued to grow as a national centre of culture, business, education, and transport.