In August 2010, the canal ring area of Amsterdam, with its concentric arc-shaped waterways and numerous historic bridges dating back to the Dutch Golden Age of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was added to the official list of World Heritage monuments by UNESCO.
The canals of Amsterdam are as typical a symbol of the Netherlands as are tulips, windmills and wooden clogs, and have earned the Dutch capital the nickname the 'Venice of the North'. The waterway network was conceived as a huge town planning project in the early seventeenth century, which encompassed residential, trade and defense elements. This was the Golden Age for the country, when economic prosperity was at its height and Amsterdam was the world's commercial centre and focus of scientific and philosophical thought. Dutch art, military and science led the field and the city – whose name literally means 'dam on the Rive Amstel' – was one of the world's most important ports.