vrijheid

Vrijheid — freedom — is perhaps the most Dutch of concepts. In the 17th century, Amsterdam was a radical anomaly: a city that practised religious tolerance when the rest of Europe was tearing itself apart in wars of faith.

The Dutch Republic's pragmatism drove this. Persecution was bad for business. When the Spanish expelled Jews from their territories, Amsterdam welcomed them. Sephardic Jewish merchants brought trade networks spanning the Mediterranean. The Portuguese Synagogue, built in 1675, still stands as one of the most beautiful buildings in Amsterdam.

Spinoza, Descartes, and Locke all lived and wrote in Amsterdam, knowing their ideas were safer there than anywhere else. Vrijheid wasn't just a value — it was Amsterdam's competitive advantage, the foundation of its Golden Age.