Coat of arms of Amsterdam.
Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The city comprises the northern part of the Randstad, the 6th-largest metropolitan area in Europe, with a population of around 6.7 million.
Amsterdam in 1632[]
In the 1630s, Amsterdam was a major European port, and a cornerstone of the European economy. After the near-destruction of the Dutch fleet in 1633, Amsterdam came under siege, trapping a diplomatic mission from Grantville in the city. However, all sides realized that the city had to be kept operating as a center of trade, commerce, and banking during the siege, or it would be economically ruined, something none of them wanted. This led to an increasingly open understanding that the siege would be ended through a negotiated settlement, something the Grantville delegation helped to broker.
After the peace agreement between Don Fernando and Fredrick Hendrik that united the Netherlands under Fernando as "King in the Netherlands", Amsterdam was in the area that was to be administered by Fredrick Hendrik as Prince of Orange. However, the city remained under the effective control of its Committee of Correspondence.