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IN the; he;art of old Amsterdam 



Photo by Emil P. Albrecht 



Amsterdam has had a striking history. Once a member of the Hanseatic League, it 

 came to be the dominating city of western Europe following the Spanish war, at the close 

 of the sixteenth century, but its trade was nearly annihilated by Napoleon's continental 

 blockade. There was no revival in business until the completion of the North Holland 

 Canal in 1876. The houses of Amsterdam are built on piles, which led Erasmus of Rotter- 

 dam to remark that he knew a city whose inhabitants dwelt on the tops of trees like rooks. 



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