After 1000 AD Enkhuizen emerged as a merger between two age-old hamlets.
In the next centuries rising sea-levels and a series of devastatingfloods created the Zuiderzee, causing mayhem and death.

But it also put Enkhuizen in the ideal spot to expand international trade and supporting industries like shipbuilding and rope and sail making.

At first the trade focused on the Baltics and it was in this era that Enkhuizen gained its city rights in 1355.

The Age of Discovery opened up the world and Enkhuizen was quick to grab the opportunity. As a member of the VOC the city joined the lucrative spice-trade and became extremely wealthy. But after 1650 most of the traders and merchants moved to booming Amsterdam and slowly Enkhuizen fell into decline. 

In 1885 the railway reached the town and when a year later the ferry service to Stavoren started, Enkhuizen became a major stopover on the Amsterdam-Groningen route. Combined with a growing seed production and trade, the city ecovered and soon florished again.

Today water-tourism drives Enhuizen's economy.