Q 01/05

Amsterdam is the Dutch capital, but the government and parliament sit in which city?

A) Rotterdam

B) Leiden

C) Utrecht

D) The Hague

Answer · why

D) The Hague

The arrangement is written into the constitution. Even in the Dutch Republic, Amsterdam was neither the capital nor the seat of government while being...

Q 02/05

The city's name literally means a dam on which river?

A) The Maas

B) The Amstel

C) The IJssel

D) The Rhine

Answer · why

B) The Amstel

The dam was built between roughly 1264 and 1275, and the settlement first appears in a 1275 toll document as 'Amestelledamme'. The river still ends in...

Q 03/05

Amsterdam sits in which Dutch province?

A) Utrecht

B) Flevoland

C) South Holland

D) North Holland

Answer · why

D) North Holland

'Holland' is technically just these two provinces, which is why the Dutch government now discourages using it for the whole country. The city is about...

Q 04/05

In which century did Amsterdam's Golden Age make it the wealthiest city in the Western world?

A) 14th

B) 15th

C) 16th

D) 17th

Answer · why

D) 17th

It was built on herring, then Baltic grain, then the Asian and Atlantic trades. Locals still say the city 'is built on herringbones'.

Q 05/05

Founded in 1602, what Amsterdam institution is considered the world's oldest 'modern' one of its kind?

A) Its stock exchange

B) Its opera house

C) Its university

D) Its central bank

Answer · why

A) Its stock exchange

It began when the Dutch East India Company started trading its own shares. Post-Brexit it overtook London as Europe's largest bourse.