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[Sixx Bergen]

[John McTavish]

[The Global Classroom: SOCL 1127-91]

[November 18th 2019]

In Amster there was a dam

DING, DING!! Walking the streets of central Amsterdam there is no cars but bikes

everywhere! Passing you left and right, nearly hitting you as you try to cross the street. Here in

the Netherlands it is a different way of living. Instead of cars and traffic there are hundreds of

bikers lined up at stop lights waiting to get their destinations the fastest way possible in Central

Amsterdam. Not only one of the oldest places you can visit with a plethora of history to back it.

In this essay I will be discussing Amsterdam, Netherlands in different aspects.

One of the biggest impactful events that shaped Amsterdam was World War 2, The

Germans lead by Adolf Hitler thinking they were the superior race. Not only was the world

shaken but Europe was hit the hardest with the invading Nazi’s. As explained on Wikipedia the

Netherlands declared neutrality and was invaded and occupied September 1939 to May 1940.

Not long after in June 1941 to 1944 the Jewish people were being captured and shipped out to

concentration camps ("Netherlands In World War II"). Not until May 1945 did The Germans

lose control of their situation and surrendered all their forces ("Netherlands In World War II").

From this World War six million Jewish men, women and children were captured and murdered.

One of the biggest political events that shaped what Amsterdam is today is the

introduction of the bike lanes. After WW2 was over people were becoming more wealthy which

lead to the sales of cars. With the rise of cars came the ride of construction of streets that was

destroying the neighborhoods of Amsterdam and the community with the raising death toll in
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vehicle accidents to 3,300 death by 1971, more than 400 accidents involved children (Zee). This

loss lead to protesting groups, the most memorable being Stop de Kindermoord (stop the child

murder), Its first president was the Dutch former MEP, Maartje van Putten (Zee). With

protesters and angry Dutch citizens at an all-time high and Dutch authorities being remarkable

accessible the committees of the protestors could simply have tea with the MP’s, and they would

actually listen to what they had to say about their concerns with the growing vehicle crisis (Zee).

Two years after Stop de Kindermoord was established another group of activists founded the

First Only Real Dutch Cyclists’ Union to demand more space for bicycles in the public realm

(Zee). The want for a more eco-friendly way and less violent way of living became more and

more popular as it once was before WW2, in the 1980’s politicians finally became aware of the

advantages of cycling and put forth the work in creating a more cycling friendly environment

(Zee). Now a days the Netherlands has over 22,000 miles of bike paths for civilians.

A commodity that I found very interesting in Amsterdam that is very different than in

Canada is the amount of water that is surrounding you constantly. Amsterdam has 165 Canals

which dominate the city, combinate they stretch about 60 miles (Dombrowski). People use the

canal to their advantage with over 2500 houseboats residing in Amsterdam alone (Dombrowski).

This added to the cities overall appeal for me because the canals add such a beautiful earthy tone

to the hustle and bustle of city life.

The Socioeconomic status of the Netherlands is very high according to Christopher they

are ranked 19th for employing workers, 10th for paying taxes, and 21st for protecting investors

(Stoll). Finally, and most importantly in terms of globalization, the Netherlands is ranked 6th for

trading across borders and The Netherlands’ GDP, as of 2008, was $827 billion (Stoll). The

Netherlands is known as one of the most “wired” cities in the world with its investment on high
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speed internet advanced cable and digital telecommunications systems (Stoll). The country

maintains its expansion of technology through development and research, which has led to a

jump in jobs from those jobs from 55 in 2005 to 187 in 2007 (Stoll).

In the 2000’s the media was a warm welcoming environment with allies along the board

to distribute media and news to the Dutch citizens, which was protected by the government and

relations between political parties ("Netherlands"). In a 15-year span social media has taken over

dramatically with Facebook being the main use of social media, in 2015 the number of people

ages 13 and older that read a newspaper everyday went down over 50%, in 2016 the Dutch still

watch at least 3 hours of TV a day ("Netherlands"). Budget cuts and waves of layoffs meant

fewer jobs for professional journalists. In conclusion, media is changing into social media in the

Netherlands.

Amsterdam is truly an amazing place from the culture to the history to the bikes there is

never a dull moment in this Dutch filled city.

Works Cited

"Netherlands In World War II". En.Wikipedia.Org, 2019,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_in_World_War_II.

Zee, Renate. "How Amsterdam Became The Bicycle Capital Of The World". The

Guardian, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-bicycle-capital-

world-transport-cycling-kindermoord.

Dombrowski, Jennifer. "8 Fun Facts About Amsterdam Canals". Luxe Adventure

Traveler, 2019, https://luxeadventuretraveler.com/8-fun-facts-amsterdam-canals/.

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Stoll, Christopher. "Netherlands Globalization Impact". Ukessays.Com, 2016,

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/international-studies/netherlands-globalization-impact.php.

"Netherlands". Media Landscapes, 2019,

https://medialandscapes.org/country/netherlands.