the landowners in the area fled the city and moved abroad. They would return again in 1578 with new insights and trade contacts in the Baltic Sea area. Immediately after the Alteration (the change of power from a Catholic to a Protestant city council), when Amsterdam finally joined the revolt led by William of Orange against Spain, the new mayors, among whom were some of the landowners on Lastage, made plans for the area and for the expansion and renovation of the port. When a ban on building activities was declared in 1579, the city council wanted to expropriate the land in Lastage, a proposal deemed unacceptable by the local landowners. On the other hand, the high land value made it unacceptable for the city council to consider buying the land instead. In the following years a number of landowners agreed to an estimated value determined by a committee. Two owners, namely the rope maker Claes Burchmansz. Dob and Robrecht Cools, refused and were taken to court. The proceedings were taken all the way up to the highest body, the Court of Holland. The city council was by now in a hurry to make the area more defensible against attacks, especially after Antwerp had fallen and there was a serious risk that the Duke of Parma would advance north towards Amsterdam. Dob and Cools were eventually forced to agree and cooperate, and hastily a defensive rampart was erected, known today as Oudeschans. The amelioration In around 1586, the city started drawing up plans for the layout of the streets, alleys and defensive walls. Local landowners were required to demolish existing buildings, such as drying sheds, tar houses, fences and ropewalks, and to raise the land with sand. The city provided the sand and stone needed for pavements and embankments. In return for this "amelioration", the landowners were required to pay a tax, the amount of which was to be determined later. The ban on construction, which had been introduced eight years earlier, was then lifted. Before any building work was allowed, however, the amelioration tax had to be set for each plot of land. To do this, the plots were measured to calculate the loss of land to newly built streets, ditches and ramparts. It was not until 1589 that the plots south of the Rechtboomssloot, which the city had already purchased and raised, began to be built on. Building