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Antwerp
Antwerpen Template:Nl icon
Municipality
The Cathedral and the Scheldt in Antwerp.
The Cathedral and the Scheldt in Antwerp.
Flag of Antwerp Antwerpen Template:Nl icon
Flag
Coat of arms of Antwerp Antwerpen Template:Nl icon
Coat of arms
Location of Antwerp
Antwerpen Template:Nl icon
Map
CountryBelgium
CommunityFlemish Community
RegionFlemish Region
Province Antwerp
ArrondissementAntwerp
Government
 • Mayor (list)Patrick Janssens (SP.A)
 • Governing party/iesSP.A, CD&V, VLD
Area
 • Total
204.32 km2 (78.89 sq mi)
Population
 (2020-01-01)[1]
 • Total
529,247
 • Density2,600/km2 (6,700/sq mi)
Postal codes
2000-2660
NIS code
11002
Area codes03
Websitewww.antwerpen.be

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Grote Markt  (main square): open air cafés, City Hall and guildhouses in background.

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The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady) and the Scheldt river.

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Grote Markt

|} Antwerp (Dutch: Antwerpenⓘ, French: Anvers) is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp province in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions. Antwerp's total population is ca. 461,496 (as of January 2006) and its total area is 204.51 km² with a population density of 2,257 inhabitants per km².

Antwerp has long been an important city in the nations of the Benelux both economically and culturally. It is located on the right bank of the river Scheldt, which is linked to the North Sea by the Westerschelde. Antwerp's seaport, one of the world's largest and after the port of Rotterdam the second largest in Europe, has a high level of cargo shipping and oil refineries traffic. Families of the large Hasidic Jewish community have traditionally controlled Antwerp's global centre of the diamond trading industry, although the last two decades have seen Indian and Armenian traders become increasingly important.

History

Origin of name

According to folklore, and as celebrated by the statue in front of the town hall, the city got its name from a legend involving a mythical giant called Antigoon that lived near the river Scheldt, exacting a toll from those crossing the river. On refusal, the giant severed one of their hands and threw them into the Scheldt. Eventually, the giant was slain by a young hero named Brabo, who cut off the giant's hand and threw it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen from Dutch hand werpen (akin to Old English hand and wearpan (= to throw), that has changed to today's warp).[2]

To support this folkloric derivation, it is pointed out that hand-cutting was practised in Europe, when the right hand of a man who died without heir was cut off and sent to the feudal lord as proof of main-morte. However, Motley argues that Antwerp's name derives from an 't werf (on the wharf).[3]

The currently most prevailing theory is that the name originated in the Gallo-Roman period and comes from the Latin antverpia. Antverpia would come from Ante(against) Verpia(deposition, sedimentation), indicating the land that forms by depossition in the inner curb of a river. Note that the river Scheldt, before a transition period between the years 600 to 750, followed a different track. This must have coincided roughly with the current ringway south of the city, situating the city indeed in an inner curb of the river.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). The name was reputed to have been derived from "anda" (at) and "werpum" (wharf).[3]

The Merovingian Antwerp, now fortified, was evangelized by Saint Amand in the seventh century. At the end of the tenth century, the Scheldt became the boundary of the Holy Roman Empire. Antwerp became a margraviate, a border province facing the County of Flanders. In the eleventh century Godfrey of Bouillon was for some years best known as marquis of Antwerp. In the 12th century, Norbert of Xanten established a community of his Premonstratensian canons at St. Michael’s Abbey at Caloes. Antwerp was the headquarters of Edward III during his early negotiations with Jacob van Artevelde, and his son Lionel, the earl of Cambridge, was born there in 1338.

16th century

After the closing of the Zwin and the consequent decline of Bruges, the city of Antwerp, then part of the Duchy of Brabant, became of importance. At the end of the 15th century the foreign trading houses were transferred from Bruges to Antwerp, and the building assigned to the English nation is specifically mentioned in 1510.

Fernand Braudel states that Antwerp became "the center of the entire international economy—something Bruges had never been even at its height." (Braudel 1985 p. 143.) Antwerp's "Golden Age" is tightly linked to the "Age of Exploration". Over the first half of the 16th century Antwerp grew to become the second largest European city north of the Alps by 1560. Many foreign merchants were resident in the city. Guicciardini, the Venetian envoy, stated that hundreds of ships would pass in a day, and 2000 carts entered the city each week. Portuguese ships laden with pepper and cinnamon would unload their cargo.

Without a long-distance merchant fleet, and governed by an oligarchy of banker-aristocrats forbidden to engage in trade, the economy of Antwerp was foreigner-controlled, which made the city very international, with merchants and traders from Venice, Ragusa, Spain and Portugal. Antwerp had a policy of toleration, which attracted a large orthodox Jewish community. Antwerp was not a "free" city though, since it had been reabsorbed into the duchy of Brabant in 1406 and was controlled from Brussels.

Antwerp experienced three booms during its century, the first based on the pepper market, a second launched by American silver coming from Seville (ending with the bankruptcy of Spain in 1557), and a third boom, after the stabilising Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, in 1559, based on the textiles industry. The boom-and-bust cycles and inflationary cost-of-living squeezed less-skilled workers.

The religious revolution of the Reformation erupted in violent riots in August 1566, as in other parts of the Netherlands. The regent Margaret, duchess of Parma was swept aside when Philip II sent the Duke of Alba at the head of an army the following summer. When the Eighty Years' War broke out in 1572, commercial trading between Antwerp and the Spanish port of Bilbao was not possible. On November 4, 1576, the Spanish soldiers plundered the city. During the Spanish Fury 6000 citizens were massacred, 800 houses were burnt down, and over two millions sterling of damage was done.

Antwerp became the capital of the Dutch revolt. In 1585, Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza captured it after a long siege and sent its Protestant citizens into exile. Antwerp's banking was controlled for a generation by Genoa and Amsterdam became the new trading centre.

17th-19th centuries

The recognition of the independence of the United Provinces by the Treaty of Munster in 1648 stipulated that the Scheldt should be closed to navigation, which destroyed Antwerp's trading activities. This impediment remained in force until 1863, although the provisions were relaxed during French rule from 1795 to 1814, and also during the time Belgium formed part of the kingdom of the Netherlands (1815 to 1830). Antwerp had reached the lowest point of its fortunes in 1800, and its population had sunk under 40,000, when Napoleon, realizing its strategic importance, assigned two millions for the construction of two docks and a mole. In 1830, the city was captured by the Belgian insurgents, but the citadel continued to be held by a Dutch garrison under General David Hendrik Chassé. For a time this officer subjected the town to a periodic bombardment which inflicted much damage, and at the end of 1832 the citadel itself was besieged by a French army. During this attack the town was further injured. In December 1832, after a gallant defence, Chassé made an honourable surrender.

20th century

Antwerp was the first city to host the World Gymnastics Championships, in 1903. During World War I, the city became the fallback point of the Belgian Army after the defeat at Liège. It was taken after heavy fighting by the German Army, and the Belgians were forced to retreat westward.

Antwerp hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics. During World War II the city was occupied by Germany in May 1940 and was liberated when the British 11th Armoured Division entered the city on September 4, 1944. After this, the Germans attempted to destroy the Port of Antwerp, which was used by the Allies to bring new material ashore. Thousands of V-1 and V-2 missiles battered the city. The city was hit by more V-2s than any other target during the entire war, but the attack did not succeed in destroying the port since many of the missiles fell upon other parts of the city. As a result, the city itself was severely damaged and rebuilt after the war in a modern style. After the war, Antwerp, which had already had a sizable Jewish population before the war, once again became a major European center of Haredi (and particularly Hasidic) Orthodox Judaism.

Municipality

Districts of Antwerp.

The municipality comprises the city of Antwerp proper and several towns. It's divided into nine entities (districts):

  1. Antwerp (district)
  2. Berchem
  3. Berendrecht-Zandvliet-Lillo
  4. Borgerhout
  5. Deurne
  6. Ekeren
  7. Hoboken
  8. Merksem
  9. Wilrijk

Historical population

This is the population of the city of Antwerp only, not of the larger current municipality of the same name.

  • 1374: 18,000[4]
  • 1486: 40,000[5]
  • 1500: around 44/49,000 inhabitants[6]
  • 1526: 50,000[7]
  • 1567: 105,000 (90,000 inhabitants and 15,000 strangers)[7]
  • 1575: around 100,000 (after the Inquisition)
  • 1584: 84,000 (after the Spanish Fury, the French Fury[8] and the calvinistic republic)
  • 1586 (May): 60,000 (after siege)
  • 1586 (October): 50,000
  • 1591: 46,000
  • 1612: 54,000[9]
  • 1620: 66,000 (Twelve Years' Truce)
  • 1640: 54,000 (after the Black Death epidemics)
  • 1700: 66,000[10]
  • 1765: 40,000
  • 1784: 51,000
  • 1800: 45,500
  • 1815: 54,000[11]
  • 1830: 73,500
  • 1856: 111,700
  • 1880: 179,000
  • 1900: 275,100
  • 1925: 308,000
  • 1959: 260,000[12]

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Antwerp City Hall at the Grote Markt (Main Square).

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16th-century Guildhouses at the Grote Markt.

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The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady) at the Groenplaats is the highest cathedral in the Low Countries and home to several triptychs by Baroque painter Rubens. It remains the tallest building in the city.

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Buildings and facilities

In the 16th century, Antwerp was noted for the wealth of its citizens ("Antwerpia nummis"); the houses of these wealthy merchants and manufacturers have been preserved throughout the city. However fire has destroyed several old buildings, such as the house of the Hanseatic League on the northern quays in 1891. The city also suffered considerable war damage by V-bombs, and in recent years other noteworthy buildings were demolished for new developments.

Commerce

In 1863, Antwerp was opened again to international trade by the purchase of the Dutch right to levy tolls. Eight principal basins or docks already existed in 1908. With the completion of the new maritime lock, ships drawing 30 feet of water would be able to enter these new docks and also the Lefebvre and America docks. The quays flanking the Scheldt are 3-½ miles in length, constructed of granite. The exchange or Bourse, one of the early institutions in Europe with that title, was built in 1872.

Transportation

The Boerentoren ('Farmers' tower'), nickname of – nowadays – the KBC Bank building in Antwerp.

Road

Highways lead to Brussels, Hasselt, Liège, Breda (Netherlands), Ghent and Bruges. They are led around the city by the Ring. Both banks of the Scheldt are connected to each other by 3 tunnels; the oldest of which is the Waasland tunnel (1934). On the Ring the Kennedy tunnel connects the left with the right bank and in the North, between the docks in the port, there is the Liefkenshoek tunnel. Currently a fourth car tunnel is being planned on the northern part of the Ring which should be completed in 2012.

Rail

Antwerp has two main stations: Central and Berchem. Central Station (1905) is a monument in itself. As Central Station is the end of a spur, many through trains stop at Berchem Station only. From Berchem Station international trains go to Amsterdam, Paris and Lille, and national trains go directly to Ghent, Bruges, Ostend, Brussels, Charleroi, Hasselt, Liège and Turnhout. A through underground connection under Central Station to the North is completed and allows international high-speed trains (Brussels-Amsterdam) to call at Central Station without reversing.

City transportation

The city has a web of tram and bus lines operated by De Lijn and providing access to the city centre, suburbs and the Left Bank. The tram network has 11 lines, of which the underground section is called the "premetro" and includes a tunnel under the river.

Air

Antwerp International Airport is located in the district of Deurne. VLM Airlines flies to London (City Airport) and Manchester in England. VLM is the only airline with scheduled air services to and from Antwerp International Airport. The airport is connected by bus to the city center.

Fortifications

Het Steen (literally: 'The Stone').

Although Antwerp was formerly a fortified city, nothing remains of the former enceinte or of the old citadel defended by General Chassé in 1832, except for the Steen, which has been restored. Modern Antwerp's broad avenues mark the position of the original fortifications. After the establishment of Belgian independence, Antwerp was defended by the citadel and an enceinte around the city. In 1859, seventeen of the twenty-two fortresses constructed under Wellington's supervision in 1815-1818 were dismantled and the old citadel and enceinte were removed. A new enceinte 8 miles long was constructed, and the villages of Berchem and Borgerhout, now parishes of Antwerp, were absorbed within the city.

This enceinte is protected by a broad wet ditch, and in the caponiers are the magazines and store chambers of the fortress. The enceinte has nineteen openings or gateways, but of these seven are not used by the public. As soon as the enceinte was finished eight detached forts from 2 to 2-½ miles from the enceinte were constructed. They begin on the north near Wijnegem and the zone of inundation, and terminate on the south at Hoboken. In 1870 Fort Merksem and the redoubts of Berendrecht and Oorderen were built for the defence of the area to be inundated north of Antwerp.

In the 1870s, the fortifications of Antwerp were deemed to be out of date, given the increased range and power of artillery and explosives. Antwerp was transformed into a fortified position by constructing an outer line of forts and batteries 6 to 9 miles from the enceinte.

Culture

Antwerp had an artistic reputation in the 17th century, based on its school of painting, which included Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens, the two Teniers and many others. Informally, most Antverpians (in Dutch Antwerpenaren, people from Antwerp) daily speak Antverpian, a dialect that Dutch-speakers know as distinctive from other Brabantic dialects through its typical vowel pronunciations: approximating the vowel sound in 'bore'— for one of its 'a'-sounds while other 'a's are very sharp. The Echt Antwaarps Teater ('Authentic Antverpian Theatre') brings the dialect on stage.

Fashion

Antwerp is a rising fashion city, and has produced some famous designers such as the Antwerp Six. The city has a rather a cult status in the fashion world, largely due to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, one of the most important fashion academies in Europe. It has served as the learning centre for a large number of well-known Belgian fashion designers.

Miscellaneous

The major football clubs are K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot and R. Antwerp F.C.. Since the 1980s, several graduates of the Belgian Royal Academy of Fine Arts have become internationally successful fashion designers in Antwerp. Antwerp hosted the 50th anniversary celebrations of The Tall Ships' Races in the summer of 2006. Antwerp was the opening city in the Guy Ritchie movie, Snatch. It is where the 86 carat (17.2 g) diamond is first stolen from.

Orthodox Jewish population

Main article: Jewish Community of Antwerp

After the Holocaust, Antwerp once again became a major center for Orthodox Jews. At present, about 20,000 Haredi Jews, mostly Hasidic, live in Antwerp. They have an extensive network of synagogues, shops, schools and organizations, within the Machsike Hadas community. Significant Hasidic movements in Antwerp include Pshevorsk, based in Antwerp, as well as branches of Satmar, Belz, Bobov, Ger, Skver, Klausenburg, Lubavitch and several others. Rabbi Chaim Kreiswirth, chief rabbi of the Machsike Hadas community, who died in 2003, was arguably one of the better known personalities to have been based in Antwerp, though attempts to have a street named after him were not successful.

Missions to seafarers

A number of Christian missions to seafarers are based in Antwerp, notably on the Italiëlei. These include the British & International Sailors’ Society, the Finnish Seamen's Mission, the Norwegian Sjømannskirken and the Apostleship of the Sea. They provide cafeterias, cultural and social activities as well as religious services.

Sister cities

The following places are sister cities to Antwerp:

Within the context of development cooperation, Antwerp is also linked to:

Notable people from Antwerp

Main article: Notable people from Antwerp

Born in Antwerp

Abraham Ortelius.
Hendrik Conscience

Lived in Antwerp

File:Patenier.jpg
Joachim Patinir.
Wenceslas Hollar.

Specific areas in Antwerp

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Bevolking per gemeente op 1 januari 2020". Statbel.
  2. ^ Brabo ANTWERPEN 1 (centrum) / ANTWERPEN Template:Nl
  3. ^ a b Room, Adrian (1997-08-01). Placenames of the World. McFarland & Company. p. 32. ISBN 0786401729.
  4. ^ Antwerp timeline 1300-1399
  5. ^ Antwerp timeline 1400-1499
  6. ^ Braudel, Fernand The Perspective of the World, 1985
  7. ^ a b Antwerp timeline 1500-1599
  8. ^ Description of circumstances around the French Fury, see chapter 'Declaration of independence' in article 'William the Silent'
  9. ^ Antwerp timeline 1600-1699
  10. ^ Antwerp timeline 1700-1799
  11. ^ Antwerp timeline 1800-1899
  12. ^ Antwerp timeline 1900-1999
  13. ^ Emporis Last accessed October 23 2006

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Antwerp.

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