Canals

Back when the city was being rapidly built up, the powers that be realized that, due to the premium value of house frontage on the canals and streets, they should tax house size on the width of the front, or façade.

Amsterdam has more canals than Venice and more bridges than Paris!

In fact, Amsterdam has 165 canals and 1,281 bridges - with a whopping 80 bridges just around the canal ring alone!

As the village grew into a town and then a city, the network of canals running through it was further formed and shaped to help transport and trade - both with the outside world and within the city.

This maze of canals actually splits Amsterdam up into what is technically 90 small "islands"!

The city's extensive network of canals and bridges provides it with some of its breathtaking sites.

It extends over approximately 400 square kilometres and consists of scores of temples, hydraulic structures (basins, dykes, reservoirs, canals) as well as communication routes.

The Angkor complex encompasses all major architectural buildings and hydrological engineering systems from the Khmer period and most of these "Barays" and canals still exist today.

Amsterdam is famous for its canals and dikes.

Because the city basically lies in swamp, the builders of the city had to dig canals to use the digging ground for getting the living ground higher.

Homes were built on wooden poles, and the canals served as a pretty effective primitive sewer.