Some History The ring of canals was laid out in two phases: the first part, the north-western part, was begun after 1609; the second part, which completed the semi-circle, came into being after 1658. From the very beginning the names of the canals were: Gentleman's canal, Emperor's canal and Prince's canal. The former defence-canal Singel was renamed 'King's canal', but this name never found wide acceptance. To this day it's unclear why these names were chosen: Amsterdam had plenty of Gentlemen, of course, but no King or Emperor and the general mood in the city was strongly anti-Prince of Orange. The streets connecting the canals received the same names. (C) ARTTRA, customized art tours