Amsterdam is the capital city of the Netherlands, located in the western part of the country. As the most populous city, Amsterdam has a population of over 810,000 within city limits and over 2 million in the metropolitan area. Originating as a small fishing village in the 12th century, Amsterdam became a major global port and center of trade, finance, and diamonds during the Dutch Golden Age. Its 17th century canals and 19th-20th century defensive structures are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

1. Amsterdam
MARIA MAGANA A2

2. • Amsterdam is the capital city of and the most populous
within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as
the Dutch capital is mandated by the Constitution of the
Netherlands though it is not the seat of the Dutch
government, which is at The Hague (Den
Haag). Amsterdam has a population of 810,084 within
the city-proper, 1,569,300 in the urban region and 2,3
million in the greater metropolitan area.The city is
located in the province of North Holland in the west of
the country. It comprises much of the northern part of
the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe,
with a population of approximately 7 million.

3. • Amsterdam's name derives from Amstelredamme,
indicative of the city's origin as a dam of the river Amstel.
Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th
century, Amsterdam became one of the most important
ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age, a result
of its innovative developments in trade. During that time,
the city was the leading center for finance and
diamonds.In the 19th and 20th centuries,the city
expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs
were planned and built. The 17th-century canals of
Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of
Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

4. Harry Mulisch
•
•
•
Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch (29 July
1927 – 30 October 2010) was a Dutch
writer. He wrote more than 80 novels,
plays, essays, poems and
philosophical reflections. These have
been translated into more than 30
languages.
Along with Willem Frederik
Hermans and Gerard Reve, Mulisch is
considered one of the "Great Three" of
Dutch postwar literature. His novel The
Assault became a 1986 film, which
won both a Golden Globe and
an Academy Award. A 2007 poll
revealed his 1992 novel The Discovery
of Heaven as the "Best Dutch Book
Ever". He was regularly thought of as a
possible future Nobel laureate.
Mulisch was associated with
accessories such as his spectacles
and pipe.

5. WORK
•
•
•
Mulisch gained international recognition with
the film The Assault (1986), which was
based on his book The Assault (1982). It
received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for
best foreign movie and has been translated
into more than twenty languages.
His novel The Discovery of Heaven (1992)
is considered his masterpiece, it was voted
“the best Dutch-language book ever” by
Dutch readers in a 2007 newspaper poll.“It
is the book that shaped our generation; it
made us love, even obsess, with reading,”
said Peter-Paul Spanjaard, 32, a lawyer in
Amsterdam at the time of Mulisch's death.It
was filmed in 2001 as The Discovery of
Heaven by Jeroen Krabbé, starring Stephen
Fry.
Among the many awards he received for
individual works and his total body of work,
the most important is the Prijs der
Nederlandse Letteren (Prize of Dutch
Literature, a lifetime achievement award) in
1995.

6. WORK
•
•
•
Mulisch gained international recognition with
the film The Assault (1986), which was
based on his book The Assault (1982). It
received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for
best foreign movie and has been translated
into more than twenty languages.
His novel The Discovery of Heaven (1992)
is considered his masterpiece, it was voted
“the best Dutch-language book ever” by
Dutch readers in a 2007 newspaper poll.“It
is the book that shaped our generation; it
made us love, even obsess, with reading,”
said Peter-Paul Spanjaard, 32, a lawyer in
Amsterdam at the time of Mulisch's death.It
was filmed in 2001 as The Discovery of
Heaven by Jeroen Krabbé, starring Stephen
Fry.
Among the many awards he received for
individual works and his total body of work,
the most important is the Prijs der
Nederlandse Letteren (Prize of Dutch
Literature, a lifetime achievement award) in
1995.