Zeedijk & The Sailors' Wall: Sea Dike and Chinatown

Why is it significant?

Walk along the curved, winding cobbles of the Zeedijk and notice how the street bends while surrounding canals run straight. You are walking along the top of an ancient medieval sea dyke, built in the thirteenth century to protect the early settlement from the vicious tidal surges of the Zuiderzee.

Key Facts

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Walk along the curved, winding cobbles of the Zeedijk and notice how the street bends while surrounding canals run straight. You are walking along the top of an ancient medieval sea dyke, built in the thirteenth century to protect the early settlement from the vicious tidal surges of the Zuiderzee. Because it followed the natural coastline of the river mouth, it retains its twisting medieval curve.

What was life like along the Zeedijk in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries? Located right at the harbour mouth, this street was the notorious first stop for merchant sailors who had spent three years at sea with the Dutch East India Company. The street was packed with tavern keepers, money changers, and boarding houses waiting to relieve sailors of their wages.

Look at the timber-fronted house at number one: In 't Aepjen, or In the Monkeys. Dating from fifteen fifty, it is one of only two surviving wooden-faced houses in all of Amsterdam. Penniless sailors returning from Indonesia often paid off their tavern bills by giving the barman live monkeys! The tavern became infested with fleas from the monkeys, giving rise to the famous Dutch saying: You are staying at In the Monkeys, meaning you have landed yourself in deep trouble.

In the twentieth century, Chinese sailors settled here, establishing Europe's oldest Chinatown. Today, dragon lanterns hang alongside medieval gables in a melting pot of nautical trade and Asian spice.