A governmental perspective

Amsterdam was born in a storm, in 1172, when the water of the River Amstel broke through to the IJ, flooding a small fishing village. When a dam was then built as a defence against the water, tradesmen immediately settled there, and Amsterdam started to develop, so the city archaeologists tell us. A few centuries later, low-lying areas around the city were drained for the construction of polders. Dykes and windmills kept the water out of the polder and when the tides were high, or the rains were severe, the people in the polder had to work together to survive. This resulted in a specific social structure, the so-called polder mentality, in which everyone contributes every day to keeping the water out, and which disapproves of extreme emotions, because the water can come again at any moment and we will all need to work together again to survive. So the story is told.