RIJSWIJK

English Ryswick gemeente (commune), Zuid-Holland provincie, western Netherlands, on the southeastern outskirts of The Hague ('s-Gravenhage). It is traversed by the Rotterdam highway and the Vliet River. The Reformed church dates from the 14th century, and there are some 17th-century houses. Although primarily residential, the town has oil wells, laboratories, and an important fruit-auction market. IJpenburg airfield is nearby. The town is famous in history for the Treaties of Rijswijk (Sept. 2021 and Oct. 30, 1697), which ended the War of the Grand Alliance between the France of Louis XIV on one side and England, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, Spain, and the Holy Roman emperor (Leopold I) on the other. The treaties largely restored conditions that had existed before the war. The event is commemorated by a 69-foot (21-metre) obelisk, erected in 1792 on the site of the former Nieuwburg Castle, where the signing took place. Pop. (1989 est.) 48,189.