Singel traces the edge of Amsterdam’s older center, where a former defensive waterway became part of the expanding city. Look for the shift from the narrow inner canal to the larger concentric ring beyond it.
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The older city feels close across the water on one side. Singel once marked Amsterdam’s boundary as a defensive moat; when the city expanded in the seventeenth century, the newer canal ring grew beyond it.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- Singel was part of the old city’s defensive boundary.
- The seventeenth-century expansion moved Amsterdam’s fortifications outward to the Singelgracht.
- Singel is distinct from Singelgracht, the later outer defensive canal.
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