The streets of Amsterdam may not be paved with gold but they are studded with diamonds. Diamond cutters. Diamond polishers. Diamond showrooms. Diamonds first found the then small trading town on the Amstel in the mid 16th century. By 1750 there were more than 600 diamond workers in Amsterdam, many refugees escaping religious persecution in their own countries, and the rest, in diamond circles at least, is history. The Cullinan and the Kohinoor were both polished here as well as an inordinate number of lesser known gems. Today the diamond industry in Amsterdam employs some 10,000 people and earns more than Dfl 1400 million in exports annually.
But while the diamond industry suffered something of a decline during the economic recession of the 70s, the drug trade did no such thing. Substantial quantities of narcotics began to seep into Amsterdam around 1975, encouraged, it must be said, by a sublime tolerance peculiar only to the Dutch capital.
On Uilenburg, the vast Gassan diamond factory, abutting a synagogue at Nieuwe Uilenburgerstraat 173 175, was the first to use steam power in the 1880s. The factory was recommissioned in 1989 after thorough renovations. See Diamonds in the Shopping chapter for more information about diamonds and free guided tours of diamond factories.
The streets of Amsterdam may not be paved with gold but they are studded with diamonds. Diamond cutters. Diamond polishers. Diamond showrooms. Diamonds first found the then small trading town on the Amstel in the mid 16th century. By 1750 there were more than 600 diamond workers in Amsterdam, many refugees escaping religious persecution in their own countries, and the rest, in diamond circles at least, is history. The Cullinan and the Kohinoor were both polished here as well as an inordinate number of lesser known gems. Today the diamond industry in Amsterdam employs some 10,000 people and earns more than Dfl 1400 million in exports annually.
