Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the second financial center of the world comparable to ancient Rome and bourgeois London.

growing in the fight against the elements of the advancing sea, the city turned into the focus of enterprise and freedom, becoming the heart of the trade world. And the largest merit in this belonged to the Dutch East India Company, which was, in fact, the first joint-stock company. Founded in 1602, it became a state in the state, and its base was Amsterdam.

But who founded this future "Northern Pearl"? How and why in general a small settlement, which always lived under the threat of floods, turned over time into one of the richest, most powerful and beautiful cities in Europe?

In his interesting and informative book, Russell Shorto, director of the American Cultural Center in Amsterdam, reveals to readers a rich and stormy history of this amazing city.