The most tolerant republic in Europe financed its golden age with spices, armed monopolies, forced labour and slavery, and took centuries to say so out loud. Twelve stops away from the postcard canals: the streets named after conquered islands, the former Colonial Institute, the slavery monument, the VOC shipyard, the coffee warehouses, the theatre of the deportations, the bank of forced labour in Java, the colonial exhibition of 1883, the admiral's tomb, the writer who denounced it all, the sailors' quarter and Anne Frank's house. Approximate audio duration: 26 minutes.
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Ámsterdam oscuro: el imperio colonial que la ciudad empieza a mirar
La república más tolerante de Europa financió su siglo de oro con especias, monopolios armados, trabajo forzado y esclavitud, y tardó siglos en decirlo en voz alta. Doce paradas lejos de los canales de postal: las calles con nombres de islas conquistadas, el antiguo Instituto Colonial, el monumento a la esclavitud, el astillero de la VOC, los almacenes del café, el teatro de las deportaciones, el banco del trabajo forzado en Java, la exposición colonial de 1883, la tumba del almirante, el escritor que denunció todo, el barrio de los marineros y la casa de Ana Frank. Duración aproximada de audio: 26 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · 26 minutes · 9.50 km on foot
1
A Map of Conquests in the Streets
You are in Javaplein, in the heart of the Indische Buurt, the Indies quarter. Look at the street signs around you: Javastraat, Sumatrastraat, Borneostraat, Celebesstraat, Atjehstraat. The whole district, built in the early twentieth century, bears the names of islands and regions of present-day Indonesia.
For the town planners of the time it was a way of honouring the Dutch East Indies, the richest colony of the kingdom. For many Indonesians and Dutch people today, it is a map of conquests. Behind each name there is a story of occupation.
Look at Atjehstraat. Aceh, in the north of Sumatra, r…
2
The Palace of the Colonies
You are in front of the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, which for decades was called the Tropenmuseum. Look at the building: towers, arches, stone and brick, a mass that looks like a palace. And go closer to the facade: among the reliefs you will see scenes from the colonies, plantations, ships, figures of distant peoples.
The building opened in 1926 as the seat of the Colonial Institute. Its purpose was to study the colonies in order to exploit them better: tropical agriculture, medicine, ethnography, trade. The objects on display showed colonised peoples as exotic and backward, and Dutch power as a…
3
Broken Chains
You are in front of the National Monument to the History of Slavery, in Oosterpark. Look at its three parts: on one side, chained figures, packed together, moving forward; in the centre, an arch they pass through; on the other side, a figure breaking free and raising its arms. It was made by the Surinamese sculptor Erwin de Vries and unveiled on 1 July 2002.
The Netherlands took full part in the Atlantic slave trade. Dutch ships carried several hundred thousand Africans, many from forts on the coast of present-day Ghana, to Suriname, Curaçao, Dutch Brazil and other Caribbean colonies. On the …
4
The VOC's Ship Factory
You are on Oostenburg, one of the artificial islands in the eastern harbour. Today it has homes, offices and some converted industrial buildings. In the seventeenth century this whole island was the shipyard of the Dutch East India Company, the VOC.
Picture the place: slipways where ships forty or fifty metres long were built, a long ropewalk for making cables, stores of gunpowder, nails and sails, workshops of coopers and blacksmiths. It was one of the largest industrial complexes of its time.
The VOC, founded in 1602, was a private company with the powers of a state: it could sign treaties…
5
Warehouses of Coffee and Sugar
You are on the Entrepotdok. Look at the row of warehouses along the canal: more than eighty brick buildings, with large loading doors and names painted on their facades. Today they are homes and cafés. For two centuries they stored the goods of the empire.
Some of the warehouses here date from the eighteenth century; in 1827 the complex became a bonded warehouse, where goods could wait without paying duty before being re-exported. Sacks of coffee from Java and Suriname arrived here, along with sugar, tobacco, cocoa, tea and spices.
Look at the names on the facades: many warehouses were named…
6
The Theatre of the Deportations
You are in front of the Hollandsche Schouwburg, a former theatre. Look at the facade: behind it, there is no auditorium. The interior was demolished, leaving an open courtyard with a memorial. On one wall are the surnames of the Jewish families deported from the Netherlands.
This walk is about the empire, but there is another dark story of Amsterdam that cannot be skipped. During the German occupation, in 1942 and 1943, this theatre was used as an assembly point for Jews before their deportation. Some forty-six thousand people passed through here on their way to transit camps and then to exte…
7
The Bank of Forced Labour
You are in front of the De Bazel building, on Vijzelstraat. Look at the mass of dark brick and stone, with geometric decoration inspired by the art of Java. Today it houses the Amsterdam City Archives. It was built between 1919 and 1926 as the headquarters of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij, the Netherlands Trading Society.
The NHM was founded in 1824 by King William I. After the VOC went bankrupt at the end of the eighteenth century, the Dutch state had taken direct control of the Indies, and it needed a company to market their products.
From 1830, the so-called Cultivation System was…
8
People on Display
You are in Museumplein, the great open space between the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the concert hall. Today people are sunbathing, children are playing, tourists are taking photos. In 1883 this empty ground was the setting for a great international exhibition.
It was called the International Colonial and Export Exhibition. For months, hundreds of thousands of visitors walked through pavilions displaying products, machinery and objects from the colonies of several European countries. It was a celebration of trade and empire.
But what drew the public most was not the objects. It was …
9
The Admiral's Tomb
You are in front of the Nieuwe Kerk, the New Church, on Dam Square. Despite the name, it dates from the fifteenth century. Dutch kings are inaugurated here; the last time was in 2013, with Willem-Alexander. Today it is used mainly as an exhibition hall.
Inside, behind the choir, is the monumental tomb of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, who died in 1676. He is one of the great national heroes: he defeated the English fleet several times and in 1667 led a raid up the River Medway, near London, burning and capturing English warships. There are streets, schools and even a film named after him.
But hi…
10
The Book That Killed Colonialism
You are on the Torensluis bridge, one of the oldest and widest in Amsterdam. Look at the bronze statue: a seated man with a book, looking out over the Singel canal. It is Multatuli, the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker, the most famous Dutch writer of the nineteenth century. The statue was placed here in 1987; he was born a few streets away.
Douwes Dekker was a colonial official in Java. In 1856 he was appointed assistant resident at Lebak, a region in the west of the island. There he saw how peasants were exploited by local Javanese authorities collaborating with the colonial government, whi…
11
The Soul Sellers
You are in the Jordaan. Look at the streets: narrower than the great canals, smaller houses, hidden courtyards. Today it is one of the most expensive and charming districts in the city. In the seventeenth century it was exactly the opposite.
The Jordaan was built from 1612 for the workers, craftsmen, immigrants and poor people that the expanding city needed but did not want on its elegant canals. They lived crammed together, with little clean water, and epidemics hit harder here.
Many of the VOC's sailors and soldiers came from districts like this. The company needed thousands of men every y…
12
Looking at One's Own History
You are in front of the Anne Frank House, at Prinsengracht 263. From the outside it is a canal house like so many others. Behind, in the rear annexe, eight people lived in hiding from July 1942 to August 1944, concealed behind a revolving bookcase. There will probably be a long queue; tickets are bought in advance.
Anne Frank was thirteen when she went into hiding. She kept a diary. On 4 August 1944 they were discovered and deported. Anne died in the Bergen-Belsen camp in early 1945, a few weeks before liberation. Her father, Otto, was the only one who survived, and he published the diary in …
About this tour
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How long does the Dark Amsterdam: the Colonial Empire the City Is Starting to Face tour take?
The tour takes approximately 26 minutes and covers 12 stops over 9.50 km on foot.
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