The port town
of Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands, lies on both
banks of the Nieuwe Maas, the southern arm of the Rhine, here joined by
the little river Rotte. At this point, and for a good distance upstream,
the Maas is still tidal, with a variation in water level between high and
low tide of between 1.2 and 2.5m (4 and 8ft).
Since the opening of the Europoort in 1966 Rotterdam has been the largest
port in the world in the volume of goods handled, and in consequence has
developed into a gigantic commercial and industrial center whose full
growth potential is still very far from being realized. The major imports
are oil, mineral ores, grain, timber and fats, the main exports coal and
foodstuffs; and Rotterdam is also an important transshipment point for raw
tobacco. The city's principal industries are shipbuilding (with the
largest shipyard in Europe), engineering, the manufacture of railroad
rolling stock, electrical engineering, petrochemicals (with the largest
plant in Europe), semi-luxury foods and tobacco, clothing manufacture and
papermaking. Rotterdam owes its rapid development to its fortunate
situation on a navigable waterway with access to the North Sea throughout
the year without the intervention of any locks. Its seaport can handle
ships of up to 90,000 tons with a draught of up to 12m (39ft), and in
addition it has the largest inland port in Europe.
Central Rotterdam was almost completely destroyed by German air attacks in
1940. The energetic rebuilding of the city after the war, re-planned with
modern shopping streets and residential districts and with numerous high-rise
blocks, has made Rotterdam one of the most modern cities in Europe. Around
the city center are the districts of Kralingen to the east, Delfshaven to
the west and Feijenoord to the south, with an outer ring of suburbs (Overschie,
Hillegersberg, IJsselmonde and Pernis) beyond this. Hoek van Holland (Hook
of Holland) also lies within the city area; Schiedam, Vlaardingen and
Maassluis are independent towns, though closely adjoining Rotterdam on the
west. Together with its surrounding satellite towns Rotterdam now forms a
highly industrialized conurbation with well over a million inhabitants.
Rotterdam developed out of a settlement founded in early medieval times. A
first period of prosperity began in the 13th century, when a dam was built
to separate the little river Rotte from the Nieuwe Maas: hence the name
Rotterdam. The town received its municipal charter in 1340. Soon
afterwards a canal to the Schie linked it with the then important
commercial town of Delft, from the prosperity of which it soon began to
benefit. This first period of prosperity saw the birth of Rotterdam's most
celebrated citizen, the famous humanist Erasmus (born ca. 1467, d. 1536 in
Basle). In 1563 most of the town was destroyed by fire. A new phase of
development began, however, in 1585, when many thousands of refugees from
the Spanish Netherlands settled in Rotterdam. The manufacture of cloth and
carpets in particular brought a further period of prosperity. The port was
less important in the 17th century, with only about a fifth of the
turnover of the rival town of Amsterdam. The rapid growth of the port
began after the split with Belgium, when the Dutch dammed the Schelde
(1830-39). The obstacle to the passage of large vessels by the steady
silting up of the Maas estuary was removed in 1866 by the construction and
constant deepening of the Nieuwe Waterweg, and at the point where it
reached the North Sea the new suburb of Hoek van Holland (Hook of Holland)
came into being.
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The port town
of Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands, lies on both
banks of the Nieuwe Maas, the southern arm of the Rhine, here joined by
the little river Rotte. At this point, and for a good distance upstream,
the Maas is still tidal, with a variation in water level between high and
low tide of between 1.2 and 2.5m (4 and 8ft).
