The lore of Jordaan Amsterdam
From 1613 Amsterdam built the Jordaan for workers and small businesses, beside the merchants' canals. Jordaan may come from jardin, French for garden.
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c. 1612
Ropemakers need space to work, so they twist rope on open land west of town. Their ropewalks name Lijnbaansgracht, the outer canal.
Ons Amsterdam (Amsterdam local-history magazine)Onze Taal, via DBNLWikipedia (English)
1613
Amsterdam’s council approves expanding west, taking in the suburb that becomes the Jordaan. Its streets follow old field ditches.
Grachtenmuseum AmsterdamOns Amsterdam (Amsterdam local-history magazine)Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA-DARE)
1623
The Noorderkerk, the North Church, opens on 16 April and gives its square a new name: Noordermarkt.
Noordermarkt Amsterdam (market's own site)ArchimonAmsterdam Oude Stad (amsterdamoudestad.nl)
1627
The market by the Noorderkerk becomes a rag and patch market, for old cloth. Four centuries on, it still trades every Monday.
Noordermarkt Amsterdam (market's own site)Amsterdam Oude Stad (amsterdamoudestad.nl)
c. 1650
On the site of a Carthusian monastery, the city builds the Karthuizerhof: courtyard homes for about 100 poor widows and unmarried women.
Amsterdam Monumentenstad (grachtenboek database; Rijksmonument register data)Nieuwe Instituut (Dutch national institute for architecture)
1669
Bankrupt since 1656, the painter Rembrandt dies in a rented house at Rozengracht 184. He lies somewhere in the nearby Westerkerk church.
Museum Het RembrandthuisMuseum Het RembrandthuisDutchNews.nl (2019)
1886
Police cut down an eel hung over the Lindengracht for eel-pulling, a banned boat game. Riots follow; soldiers fire, and 26 die.
1889
The city decides to fill in the Rozengracht canal for a tram line west. By 1900 half the Jordaan's canals are gone.
1920
A city housing report on the Jordaan finds many homes without piped water or toilets. It proposes razing the neighbourhood.
1934
A cut in unemployment benefit sets off riots. Troops enter the Jordaan with armoured cars; five people die in Amsterdam.
IsGeschiedenisKroniek van de 20ste eeuw, via DBNLInternational Institute of Social History (IISG)Wikipedia (English)
1941
Banned Communists urge 250 people on the Noordermarkt to strike against German occupiers deporting about 400 Jewish Amsterdammers. Amsterdam strikes next morning.
Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei (Dutch national war memorials register)Anne Frank HouseVerzetsmuseum Amsterdam (Dutch Resistance Museum)International Institute of Social History (IISG)
OUR PICK2026
On the Noordermarkt, facing the church: Winkel 43. Our pick for apple pie in Amsterdam.
I amsterdam (city marketing, Amsterdam & Partners)Spotted by Locals
Today
Today the Jordaan is famous for its brown cafés, its markets and its hidden courtyards.
SOURCES
- The canals (history)Grachtenmuseum Amsterdam
- R.M. Jayasena, Graaf- en modderwerk: een archeologische stadsgeschiedenis van Amsterdam (PhD thesis, 2019), ch. 3, p. 61Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA-DARE)
- LijnbaansgrachtWikipedia (English)
- Geschiedenis op straat (Onze Taal, 1997)Onze Taal, via DBNL
- Origin 1620 (Noordermarkt history)Noordermarkt Amsterdam (market's own site)
- Noorderkerk (H. de Keyser, 1620-1623)Archimon
- Karthuizerhof, 1650, D. StalpaertNieuwe Instituut (Dutch national institute for architecture)
- Rembrandt died 350 years ago this year: some key facts about his lifeDutchNews.nl (2019)
- Mapping Modernity: 4. De JordaanDesign Museum Den Bosch (designmuseum.nl)
- JordaanoproerWikipedia (English)
- Troepen ingezet tijdens Jordaanoproer (Kroniek van de 20ste eeuw)Kroniek van de 20ste eeuw, via DBNL
- In memoriam February strikeInternational Institute of Social History (IISG)
- Best appeltaart in AmsterdamI amsterdam (city marketing, Amsterdam & Partners)
- Cafe Winkel 43Spotted by Locals
- Van kloosterhof tot biertuin: de prehistorie van de Jordaan (text by Jerzy Gawronski, city archaeology, Amsterdam Beheer), 1 January 2002Ons Amsterdam (Amsterdam local-history magazine)
- 25 en 26 juli 1886: Palingoproer in de Jordaan (Janna Toepoel, 26 July 2020)Ons Amsterdam
- Hoe een spelletje palingtrekken in 1886 uitmondde in een bloedige opstand in AmsterdamNational Geographic Nederland
- J. van Rooijen, De drooglegging van Amsterdam: een onderzoek naar gedempt stadswater (internship report, 16 May 1995, for the Gemeentelijk Bureau Monumentenzorg Amsterdam)Hosted on theobakker.net (personal site)
- Jordaanoproer in 1934IsGeschiedenis
- 1900-1945: Mass Media and Censorship I (De Tribune emergency edition, 7 July 1934)International Institute of Social History (IISG)
- Amsterdam, plaquette op de gevel van de NoorderkerkNationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei (Dutch national war memorials register)
- Mass raids in Amsterdam: the first deportations of Dutch JewsAnne Frank House
- De FebruaristakingVerzetsmuseum Amsterdam (Dutch Resistance Museum)
- Rembrandt's life and work: important datesMuseum Het Rembrandthuis
- Walking tour: Rembrandt in AmsterdamMuseum Het Rembrandthuis
- Karthuizersstraat 21-131 (Huiszittenweduwenhof)Amsterdam Monumentenstad (grachtenboek database; Rijksmonument register data)
- NoordermarktAmsterdam Oude Stad (amsterdamoudestad.nl)
- Jordaan QuarterWhat’s Up With Amsterdam
- Jordaan AmsterdamViaTravelers
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. The print of Jordaan