nlavin's video: Cruising THE STREETS OF AMERSFOORT Dutch Middle Age City of Utrecht Beautiful Morning Tour

Cruising The Streets of Amersfoort | Dutch Middle Age City of Utrecht | Beautiful Morning Tour Amersfoort [ˈaːmərsfoːrt] (About this soundlisten) is a city and municipality in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands and is situated at the eastern edge of the Randstad. As of 1 January 2019, the municipality had a population of 156,286, making it the second-largest of the province and fifteenth-largest of the country. Amersfoort is also one of the largest Dutch railway junctions with its three stations—Amersfoort Centraal, Schothorst and Vathorst—due to its location on two of the Netherlands' main east to west and north to south railway lines. The city was used during the 1928 Summer Olympics as a venue for the modern pentathlon events. Amersfoort marked its 750th anniversary as a city in 2009. Amersfoort is a very historic and attractive city to the west of Amsterdam. It has many fine medieval buildings that are well maintained. It is a busy place with a population of just under 150,000 people, but the town centre is easily explored on foot, with most of the main attractions being easily within walking distance. The railway station is one of the busiest in Holland with several tracks converging on the area. History Of Amersfoort Amersfoort has had people living in and around it for a very long time. Archaeologists have found remains going back as far as 1,000BC although these were probably people that were constantly on the move, following the hunting, and moving with the seasons to gather the local produce. The first villagers probably settled Amersfoort around the 11th century, as it was a strategic location near to a fort in the river. This would very likely have been important for trade as well as travel, as any travellers going that way would have had to go through the village to cross the river. Trade And The City – Amersfoort Netherlands Being in such a good trading location the village grew quickly and prospered and soon more permanent buildings had been established around the central area that was later to turn into, what would be known as the main square, where the Bishops set up the local court so that they could hold sway over the area. The town was given a charter to become a city in the late 1200’s and soon work was started on it’s city walls. But these had to be rebuilt further out and expanded over the next 150 years as the new city grew and prospered. In the middle of the 15th century work was started on the new church. this lasted well and the town grew more until in1787, there was a huge explosion in the church, which destroyed most of the main building and just left the tall, at just under 100m, tower still standing. Amersfoort had also become an important centre of trade for tobacco and textiles. Wartime And Prosperity The railway was built in the city in the late 19th century and a large army garrison was established there. In the early 20th century, trade went down and the city began to suffer from depression. In the Second World War the city was the site of a huge battle between the local army and the occupying German forces. In the wartime about half of the 700 Jewish population were taken and killed by the German army. After the war Amersfoort prospered again into the lively city that is there today. Source: Wikipedia