Understand
Gouda has a population of just over 70,000. Most of the city is below sea level. As well as its cheese, Gouda is also famous for its stroopwafels syrup waffles, candles and its clay pipes.
History
Gouda is named after the Van der Goude family, who built a castle on the Gouwe River in the 11th century. The area was swampland. Over the next two hundred years peat was collected and the land was developed. In 1225, a canal was built connecting the Gouwe River with the Oude Rijn part of the Rhine delta. This was used to help ship goods to France and further afield. Gouda became important because of this, and in 1272, was made a city. Lots of the canals were build around this time.
Over the years, there have been fires 1361, 1438, occupations 1572 and plagues 1574, 1625, 1636, 1673. In 1577, the castle was destroyed.
In 1667 a tax was introduced on the locally produced cheese. This raised a lot of money for the town. In 1668, the Waag cheese weighing house was built, to weigh the cheese and collect this tax.