Hoorn

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Hoorn is an old city in the Dutch province of North-Holland. Hoorn is well known in the Netherlands for its rich history. Many of the houses in the historical city centre date back to the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in the area north of the harbour. According to the Frisian legend, Hoorn was founded as early as 716 AD, only to burn down eight years later and rebuilt some time after that. It's assumed that the 'original' settlement was located in what is now the Markermeer. The oldest remnants of Hoorn to have been found date from around 1200 AD. The town gained its city rights in 1356 or 1357, which gave Hoorn the ability to observe its own laws, and to collect taxes. This made Hoorn into an appealing city for trade, and before long, the city had surpassed every other trade city on the Zuiderzee barring Amsterdam. A lively cloth industry developed in the 15th century, putting cloth on the market that was rivalled by that of cities the like of Leiden, The Hague and Haarlem. The cloth trade, however, stagnated after the Hook and Cod wars (1350 - 1490) and the Guelders Wars (1502 - 1543). This made the city look elsewhere for its income, which was found in the East Sea trade, where grains from Poland and Lithuania was transported and sold in Italy.