The city of Amsterdam has a culture that has evolved from the 15th and 16th century. Located in the Netherlands of Holland you can find a city that has the idealism that everyone deserves a right to be an entrepreneur. Their culture values entrepreneurship, revenue and all viewpoints of their people. Many Dutch say that God built the earth in seven days, but the Dutch built The Netherlands. This is manly due to the fact much of the Netherlands is under sea level. By peering into Amsterdam’s history one can see the reasoning for legal prostitution, world trade and coffee shops.
Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam. However, the women are forbidden to have pimps. The women are self-employed entrepreneurs that declare income and pay taxes. In the red light district the windows, the women stand in are rented out to them for 8 hrs. If you want to pay for a woman, I am told, 15 min for 50-75€ will get you basic services. To kiss a prostitute etc. is more money. My tour guide said they get you to spend money.
Right across from the red light district is the church. Some say this is because long ago the church clergy poorly behaved. In the beginning of the city’s time the church would sell indulgences. Indulgences are when one confesses sin and pays money to be forgiven. The Dutch are so organized around money they sold indulgences before many travelers got off ship. They had human corruption that had a Protestant reformation. During the Protestant reformation, they attacked churches, paintings and statues. They did this because theses items symbolically stood for evil built from humans.
Soon the Protestant community made it illegal to be catholic. Technically, it was illegal only in public. Therefore, many had hidden catholic alters inside their homes. For instance, Yan Hartman turned his house into a church. When Napoleon came through and reined over Amsterdam he liberated the Catholics. The Catholic Church today faces central station.
Much of the Dutch business and trade started at the Vak, which stands for the weight or market. The Vak is the mid evil gates into the city. It was also a meeting place for guilds. Guilds were a society you belonged to if you wanted to be a painter, stone smith etc.
During the Golden age, a union formed known, as United East Indies Company it is similar to today’s modern capitalism. I stood at the courtyard of United East Indies Company that was founded in 1602. The corporation was made when many merchants got together. Being a merchant with one ship was too risky. They choose safety and numbers. It was the first company to issue public stock.
After establishing a wealthy city, they found themselves with many hard drug problems. In 2000, they had 10,000 hard drug users. Since the Dutch like to organize, they decided to focus on the hard drug situation. Therefore, they allowed coffee shops in the city. However, it is still illegal to buy, smoke, sell or grow cannabis. The police force and city choose not to do anything about it. It is a public health issue. Three percent of Dutch citizens do drugs today. American’s, Italian’s and the Irish use the coffee shops there. The city wanted to keep people working and paying taxes. You don’t hurt anyone but yourself. They only arrest for hard drugs.
Compared to other countries U.S. uses the most cannabis in the world. New Zealand is first percentage wise. Italy is second at 14.6 percent and ahead of Spain, Czech and France. 28.8 percent in Czech. French ages 15-16, 45 percent smoke cannabis. French also send Amsterdam the most criticism. Always want money flowing. Dutch come in at 5.4 percent of uses. It is mainly the tourist smoking, not the Dutch.
All in all, Amsterdam equals out to be a play ground for tourists around the world that stimulates the Dutch economy. They are smart entrepreneur business dealers. They work hard for their money. The culture highlights opportunity for all even if it can be controversial. The city is a beautiful and historical mantra that should be studied by people from all over the world.
Fact.
Before Napoleon people didn’t use last names unless you farmed or owned land. Instead, they put plaques on houses to know a family. It was called a gable stone.
Fact.
Rembrandt chose to live in Amsterdam’s Jewish community even though he wasn’t.
Jews were taken from Amsterdam during WWII, along with Anne Frank and her family never to return.
So many Jews lived wealthy in Amsterdam. They participated in everything. After the war the city was liberated and made laws to protect their people.
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