Wat Was Waar: What Was Where In The Netherlands
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“WatWasWaar” means What Was Where. It is a combined effort of several archival institutions to make historical geographical data digitally searchable through an interactive map of the Netherlands.
The map is based on a large collection of remarkable historic data such the historical maps of the Land Registry and the National Archive, and several historical photo collections.
What can you find there
The really fun thing about WatWasWaar is that you can get an idea of what the Netherlands looked like in the time your ancestors lived there. You can select a specific place and than browse through historic maps and photographs of very different time periods.
You can click on the results to see the original maps and their details at the archive where it is stored. So if you know the place where your ancestors lived, owned a business or whatever, you can see what it looked like back then (mostly on maps) and what it looks like now. Looking at these old maps really gives you a sense of how small the world literally was a couple of centuries ago. A large city like Amsterdam, for example, was no more than just a tiny village at the shore of the Amstel river.
How to use the map
Although the map is not hard to use it may take a little effort to get the most out of it. But once you know how to navigate it is really fun! Some tips to get you started:
Go to www.watwaswaar.nl:
1. In the upper right corner click English. The interface will still remain Dutch, but it gives useful translations and hints on how to use the map.
2. In the upper pink field type a place name or zip code and hit enter. Or you can just click anywhere on the map to select a place.
3. In the upper green menu select the first option. The system will then search in all available data.
4. In the upper blue menu select a time period.
5. In the dark green upper menu select the first option to have the system show you data provided by all participating archives.
6. Now have a look at the right column. You will see the results of your query there. These can be maps or photographs.
7. Click on a result to open it in the main window. You can then use the arrows and +/– buttons on the main screen to zoom and navigate.
If you change any of the parameters in one of the upper menus, the results on the right will change too. Have fun!
Tags: dutch maps, historic images, historic maps, image bank, old photographs
