Rotterdam is a port city in the west of the Netherlands, in the
province of South Holland. With 587,960 inhabitants (January 1,
2020) it is the second largest city in the Netherlands in terms of
population, after Amsterdam. The Rotterdam The Hague metropolitan
region has more than 2.3 million inhabitants.
Rotterdam owes
its name to a dam in the river Rotte. The city is located on the
Nieuwe Maas, one of the rivers in the delta formed by the Rhine and
the Maas. The port of Rotterdam was the largest in the world for a
long time and is still the largest and most important in Europe. The
port area extends over a length of 40 kilometers and is an important
logistics and economic center. Partly because of the port industry,
Rotterdam has the image of a working-class city and the city has a
very diverse population.
After the historic city center was
largely destroyed by a German war bombardment in 1940, Rotterdam has
become a cradle for innovative architecture, including the Erasmus
Bridge, the Cube Houses and a large number of skyscrapers. The city
is also known for the Erasmus University, the art collections of
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Kunsthal and football club
Feyenoord Rotterdam.
Origin and emergence
Since the ninth century, the
settlement Rotta has been located on the site of the current city
center of Rotterdam. This became uninhabitable in the twelfth
century due to flooding of the river Rotte. Around 1270, a dam was
built in the Rotte where the Hoogstraat crosses the Rotte. Rotterdam
derives its name from this. A settlement arose around this dam where
people initially lived from fishing. It soon also became a trading
point and the first ports were created. On March 17, 1299, Rotterdam
received city rights from Count Jan I of Holland. In the past it was
generally assumed that they were revoked that same year, after the
death of Wolfert I van Borselen (the guardian of Jan I) and Jan I
himself, but that view is no longer generally accepted. Be that as
it may, on June 7, 1340, Count William IV of Holland (again) granted
city rights. A city wall was built in 1360, after permission had
been obtained in 1358 from Albrecht of Bavaria.
Jonker Frans
van Brederode played an important role for Rotterdam during the
Hoekse and Kabeljauwse disputes between 1488-1490. The wars greatly
strengthened Rotterdam's position as its base of operations compared
to the surrounding cities. For example, nearby Delft had lost almost
all its ships and Gouda half of the houses. Thanks to Jonker Frans,
Rotterdam definitely became a city of significance in Holland.
The late Gothic St. Lawrence Church was built between 1449 and
1525. In medieval Rotterdam this was the only stone building. It was
an ambitious project: Rotterdam consisted of about 1200 houses at
the time.
In 1572, Rotterdam was sacked by troops of the
stadholder of the Spanish king, Maximilian of Hénin-Liétard, the
Henegouwer. In 1573 the city sided with the Dutch Revolt. The city
then had about 10,000 inhabitants. At the end of the 16th century,
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, who was Grand Pensionary of the city from
1576 to 1586, had the port of Rotterdam further developed, thus
laying the foundation for the important place this city would
acquire in maritime trade. At the 1622 census, the population had
grown to about 20,000. By the end of the 17th century, there would
be as many as 50,000.
Despite this, the city did not expand
beyond its ramparts and canals. The more or less triangular space
between Coolsingel, Goudsesingel and the Nieuwe Maas amounted to no
more than 140 hectares, so the city became overcrowded. It was not
until after 1825 that it would expand beyond these narrow borders.
From the 17th to the 19th century many Dutch ships sailed with
slaves from Africa to Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, where
they were exchanged for goods that were shipped to Rotterdam, among
other places. The Rotterdam firm Coopstad and Rochussen, after the
Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie, the largest slave trading
company in the Netherlands, played a role in this trans-Atlantic
slave trade.
Growth in the 19th and 20th centuries
In the
19th century, the position of Rotterdam as an international port was
threatened by the silting up of the main connections with the sea,
first the Scheur and then the Brielse Maas. To overcome this
problem, between 1827 and 1830 under King Willem I (probably
initially "to serve the interests of the war fleet with this
connection between the naval dockyard in Rotterdam and the war
harbor Hellevoetsluis") the Voorne canal was dug through the island
of Voorne. , between Rotterdam and Hellevoetsluis. However, as the
size of the sea-going vessels increased more and more in the 19th
century, this canal proved inadequate. Engineer Pieter Caland
designed an ambitious plan for a new connection to the North Sea.
Implementation of this was started in 1866. The Nieuwe Waterweg was
dug between 1866 and 1872. Together with the Scheur and the Nieuwe
Maas, this created a direct shipping connection between Rotterdam
and the North Sea at the Hook of Holland. After the opening of the
Nieuwe Waterweg, the turbulent growth of Rotterdam began. Several
new ports were built, which greatly increased employment. This
attracted workers from all over the world. The money earned by the
city was spent, among other things, on the construction of stately
buildings in the center.
The city was expanded in two ways: by annexing a number of
surrounding municipalities and by building many new neighborhoods.
The first wave of annexations took place at the end of the
nineteenth century with Delfshaven (1886), Kralingen, part of
Overschie and Charlois in 1895.
The ports were expanded at a
rapid pace, under the influence of people like Lodewijk Pincoffs and
G.J. de Jongh. More and more ports were built, such as the Maas,
Rhine and Waal ports. Attracted by the resulting employment, many
farmers, especially from North Brabant, moved to the city. The
prevailing agricultural crisis amplified this effect. For the
newcomers, rows of cheap houses were quickly assembled, especially
in the south, on the left bank of the Maas, which was therefore soon
called the peasant side. Between 1880 and 1900, the population grew
rapidly from 160,000 to 315,000. In 1920, the population would even
exceed 500,000 inhabitants. Hoek van Holland was incorporated in
1914, followed by Pernis and Hoogvliet in 1933.
At the end of
the 19th century, the construction of the new Cool, Crooswijk and
Nieuwe Westen districts had already begun. From about 1914, further
expansion to the west began, with successively Spangen, het Witte
Dorp and Oud-Mathenesse.
The center of Rotterdam has since
gained more and more allure. The city walls had been demolished some
time before, but the canals, which were also part of earlier
defenses, were still there. These were largely filled in around this
time to make more room, partly for the greatly increased traffic.
Large parts of the Rotte were also filled in. Harbor barons and the
municipality invested in prestigious buildings. After the Coolvest
had been filled in, a spacious boulevard was created here with a new
town hall, a chic post office and the Stock Exchange. Modern
architects were given a chance.
During the First World War
(1914-1918), Rotterdam was a spy town because of the Dutch
neutrality and the favorable location between England, Germany and
occupied Belgium. Even before the war started, foreign secret
services had chosen Rotterdam as their base. The British secret
service was based at the offices of the Uranium Steamship Company on
the Boompjes. The German secret services were run from the Imperial
German Consulate General in the White House. Many Dutch people were
active in the field of (counter) espionage. The Dutch government
could be neutral, but not every citizen cared about it. A policy of
tolerance, combined with the aforementioned favorable location, made
Rotterdam the largest spy nest of the First World War.
WWII
Everything changed on May 14, 1940. At that time, the Netherlands
had already been at war for five days. Already on the first day many
German paratroopers and airborne troops landed around Rotterdam
South. The North Island was also occupied. The Dutch garrison,
supplied infantry and parts of the Marine Corps, however, kept the
Maasoever and Maas bridges constantly at gunpoint, which prevented
the Germans from reaching the center. After several days of fierce
fighting around the bridge, the Germans sent a negotiator on the
morning of 14 May. There were threats to destroy the city. The
Germans turned out to have little patience: to break the resistance,
the Nazis decided to carry out their threat.
The bombing of
Rotterdam, which took place early in the afternoon, lasted only
fifteen minutes, but the devastating effect, partly due to the fire
that started, was gigantic. More than 24,000 homes were reduced to
ashes. About 800 people were killed and 80,000 Rotterdammers were
made homeless. When the Germans threatened to destroy Utrecht in the
same way that same afternoon, this was reason for the Dutch
Commander-in-Chief Winkelman to capitulate.
In Rotterdam
almost the entire center, the heart of the city, had turned into a
smoldering mess. At the same time as the occupation the debris
clearing started. The Schie, near the current Schiekade, the Blaak
and the Kolk were filled in with the many rubble. The rubble was
also used for the construction of the islands in the southeast of
the Kralingse Plas and for the construction of the slope of the
current Willem Ruyslaan.
Because the Maas bridges, consisting
of the old Willemsbrug and the adjacent railway bridge, had not been
destroyed, the road and rail connections between the two city
districts remained intact. In addition, the Maastunnel, construction
of which had started in 1937, was opened on 14 February 1942. It was
the first car tunnel in the Netherlands.
The last major
annexation round also followed during the occupation. In 1941, the
municipalities of Hillegersberg, Schiebroek, the remaining part of
Overschie, Kralingseveer and IJsselmonde were added to Rotterdam in
one fell swoop.
On March 31, 1943, the Allies mistakenly bombed part of
Delfshaven, killing another 326 people and injuring 400. The Hunger
Winter (1944-1945) also cost many lives in Rotterdam.
The
consequences of the persecution of the Jews in Rotterdam are
difficult to chart in figures due to the municipal reorganization,
the bombings and the many itinerant refugees. It is estimated that
of the more than 11,000 'volljuden' and 'halbjuden' who were counted
at the start of the occupation, only 1,400 survived the persecution
and the rest of the war.
A major raid was held on 10 and 11
November 1944, during which approximately 50,000 men between 17 and
40 were taken away. On the night before the raid, Rotterdam was
surrounded by 8000 German soldiers and all important bridges and
squares were occupied and telephone traffic was cut off. De Kuip was
an important meeting place. The raid was carried out systematically,
making escape hardly possible. Approximately 20,000 of the men from
Rotterdam and Schiedam who were arrested left on foot in the
direction of Utrecht, 20,000 were transported by rijnaken and 10,000
by train. About 10,000 of them were employed in the east of the
Netherlands, the rest went to labor butchers in Germany.
After the second World War
After the war, reconstruction began
along the lines of the Basic Plan for the Reconstruction of
Rotterdam. In an urge for renewal and modernization, many damaged
buildings were not repaired but demolished, such as the building of
the Bijenkorf van Dudok.
In the 1950s, reconstruction was in
full swing. Rotterdam acquired the image of a 'working city' and
developed into a model of modernity. In 1953 the opening of the
Lijnbaan took place, the first car-free shopping street in Europe.
The progressive design attracted a lot of international attention.
The new Central Station was completed in 1957, with the then
ultra-modern Groothandelsgebouw built in 1953 next to it. On the
occasion of the Floriade, the Euromast was erected in 1960. Together
with the famous statue 'The destroyed city' by Ossip Zadkine, the
Euromast became a symbol of post-war Rotterdam. In 1970 the Euromast
was raised by the addition of a Space Tower, bringing the total
height to 185 meters.
In order to alleviate the housing
shortage, the municipality quickly set up a number of new
neighborhoods with many flats, such as Pendrecht, Zuidwijk,
Lombardijen, Ommoord and Zevenkamp.
Simultaneously with the
recovery of the ports, plans were also developed to disconnect the
city and port area. They wanted to achieve this by constructing new
port areas in the direction of the sea. Successively, the Botlek
area, Europoort and the Maasvlakte were built south of the Nieuwe
Waterweg, with enormous tank storage capacity for crude oil. Large
refineries were built in Pernis, Rozenburg and further west. Port
activities grew so fast that the port of Rotterdam became the
largest port in the world in 1962.
The construction of the
Rotterdam metro began in 1960, which was opened in 1968 as the first
metro in the Netherlands. This connected the 'south' districts with
the center. In 1970 the opening of the new Ahoy halls took place
near the Zuidplein shopping center.
Partly due to the
construction of the Weena, Rotterdam got a skyline with various
skyscrapers in the 1990s. Opened in 1991, the Delftse Poort building
became the highest skyscraper in the Netherlands at 151 meters, but
was overtaken in 2009 when the Maastoren under construction reached
its highest point (165 meters). In 1993, due to the opening of the
Willemsspoort tunnel, the railway disappeared from the center of
Rotterdam. With the completion of the Erasmus Bridge in 1996,
Rotterdam got a new symbol.
Geography
Topography
Rotterdam is centrally located in the Rotterdam City Region and
borders clockwise to the municipalities of Westland, Maassluis,
Vlaardingen, Schiedam, Midden-Delfland, Delft, Pijnacker-Nootdorp,
Lansingerland, Zuidplas, Capelle aan den IJssel, Krimpen aan den
IJssel, Ridderkerk, Barendrecht, Albrandswaard, Nissewaard, Brielle
and Westvoorne.
Large towns in the immediate vicinity are
Dordrecht, Delft, Zoetermeer and Spijkenisse. The metropolitan area
has about 1,600,000 inhabitants.
Climate
Like all of the
mainland of the Netherlands, Rotterdam also has a moderate maritime
climate with cool summers and mild winters. In summer, the average
temperatures are usually below 20 degrees, while the average
temperature in winter will not often dip below freezing. The nearby
North Sea moderates the temperature, so that extremes rarely occur.
The North Sea does, however, provide a humid climate. Precipitation
falls at any time of the year, but spring is clearly drier than
autumn.
Maasstad
Rotterdam is often referred to as the Maasstad, and
in the city you will find many references to the river Maas
(Maasboulevard, Maasgebouw, Maasbrug, Maas tunnel, Maastoren). These
are historical references, because the Maas that flows near
Maastricht no longer flows through Rotterdam.
Until about
1870, the Maas flowed via what is now the Afgedamde Maas to the Waal
at Woudrichem, to form the Merwede together. The Merwede flowed via
the Beneden-Merwede to Dordrecht and split there into Oude Maas and
Noord, the latter later becoming the Nieuwe Maas together with the
Lek. West of Rotterdam, the Oude and Nieuwe Maas converged (and come
together) to enter the North Sea via a double estuary around the
island of Rozenburg as Scheur and Brielse Maas. The water that then
flowed through the center of Rotterdam contained more than half of
the total Maas water and on that basis, Rotterdam can best call
itself a Maasstad.
In the period 1861-1874, the Nieuwe
Merwede was dug to improve drainage of the Waal, and with that most
of the water from the Merwede, and therefore from the Maas, no
longer went to the sea via Dordrecht and Rotterdam, but via the
Haringvliet. . As a result, the Nieuwe Maas was mainly discharged
from the Lek.
In the end, due to frequent flooding in the
Land van Heusden in 1904, the Bergsche Maas was dug and the former
Maas between Heusden and Woudrichem was dammed. In principle, this
meant that the Maas water could no longer reach Rotterdam and since
then the Nieuwe Maas has only been fed by Rhine water, while the
Maas water goes entirely to the sea via the Haringvliet.