A gracht is a canal, usually in a city. Merchants liked living on the grachten since it made it easy to get their supplies delivered to them. The grachten were often the wealthiest parts of town, and also attracted other well-to-do families. Grachten also drained the water from the surrounding area.
The Amsterdam grachtengordel [canal belt] is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Amsterdam with the canal belt under construction. Credits: Frederik de Wit (public domain)
About Yvette HoitinkYvette Hoitink, MLitt, CG®, QG™ is a professional genealogist, writer, and lecturer in the Netherlands. She has a Master of Letters in Family and Local History from the University of Dundee, and holds the Certification of Genealogist and Qualified Genealogist credentials. Yvette served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists and won excellence awards for her articles in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly and the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly. Yvette has been doing genealogy for over 30 years. She helps people from across the world find their ancestors from the Netherlands and its former colonies, including New Netherland. Read about Yvette's professional genealogy services.
Yvette Hoitink, MLitt, CG®, QG™ is a professional genealogist, writer, and lecturer from the Netherlands who helps people find their ancestors from the Netherlands and its former colonies, including New Netherland. She has a Master of Letters in Family and Local History from the University of Dundee, and holds the Certified Genealogist and Qualified Genealogist credentials.
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Please read what Yvette can do for you.
This Dutch Genealogy webinar gives you a great introduction to researching your Dutch ancestors. Requires a Legacy FamilyTreeWebinar subscription to watch. [Affiliate link]
What a beautiful map! Can you tell us about it? What is the writing? Thank you!
Frederik de Wit is one of the most well-known cartographers of the 1600s. His 1698 city atlas features many gems like this one. I own a facsimile version that I won in a contest by the Royal Library a couple of years ago, around the introduction of the facsimile publication. You can view the whole atlas at the Royal Library website.
This particular image, I got from Wikimedia Commons, where you can see the original in more details.
Thank you, Yvette