ANTWERP

Flemish Antwerpen, French Anvers province, northern Belgium, adjoining the Dutch frontier (north). It has an area of 1,107 square miles (2,867 square km) and is drained by the Scheldt (Flemish: Schelde), Dijle, Nete, and Rupel rivers. The province of Antwerp was formerly part of the old duchy of Brabant and became part of the French province of Deux-Nthes after the French occupation of 1795; its present boundaries were established in 1815, although subsequently modified. It is divided into three arrondissements, Antwerp, Mechelen, and Turnhout, with the capital at Antwerp. Kempenland, the plateau region covering most of the northern and central area, is characterized by sand dunes, areas of broom, heather, and poor pasture. There are extensive blocks of coniferous plantations. Around the scattered towns and villages the soil has been fertilized to produce oats, potatoes, vegetables, and fodder for cattle raising. Much of the industry in the province is concentrated in the port area around Antwerp; it includes petroleum refining, petrochemical and chemical works, shipbuilding and naval repair, automobile assembly, steel, and nonferrous metallurgy. In Kempenland the opening of the Albert Canal (193039) linking Antwerp with Lige has favoured the expansion of the zinc, copper, and nuclear-energy industries. The Zuiderkempen development area is part of a long-range plan for industrial expansion. Kempenland is served by four rail lines. The southern and western parts of the province are hilly, and the soil, although sandy, is more fertile and supports market gardening, sugar-beet cultivation, and dairy farming. Baarle-Hertog (Baerle-Duc), a small enclave in The Netherlands, is administered by Antwerp province, the Dutch part being called Baarle-Nassau. The chief provincial cities are Antwerp, Mechelen, Turnhout, Lier, Herentals, and Mol (the site of the Belgian Nuclear Energy Study Centre). There are many medieval castles in Kempenland and in the greenbelt around Antwerp. At Tongerlo is the most notable of many old monasteries in the region; the Abbey of Prmontr, founded in 1133, has a modern aspect reflecting its reconstruction in the 17th century. The Natural Reserve of Kalmthout (1968; 2,000 acres [810 hectares]) preserves the natural countryside and has a bird sanctuary. Pop. (1988 est.) 1,587,450. Flemish Antwerpen, French Anvers, city and capital of Antwerp province, Belgium. It is one of the world's major seaports. Antwerp is situated on the Schelde (Scheldt) River, about 55 miles (88 kilometres) from the North Sea. The Schelde, together with the Meuse and the Rhine, forms the biggest estuary in western Europe, and Antwerp is an essential part of an enormous harbour complex, one of the greatest in the world. The harbour installations of Antwerp grew especially after World War II. For many years this expansion took place on the right bank of the Schelde only, but beginning in the 1970s there was much development on the left bank, indicating that Antwerp's harbour facilities might ultimately extend on both banks of the river to the Dutch frontier, almost 13 miles downstream. Because Antwerp lies in the Dutch- (Flemish-) speaking part of Belgium, the city plays the role of unofficial capital of Flanders. Antwerpians generally take this role very seriously, conscious as they are of the great importance of their city in the past and present. The pride and competitive attitude thus exhibited by the residents has led to their being designated by the nickname Sinjoren (from the Spanish seores). Flemish Antwerpen, French Anvers capital of Antwerp province, Belgium. It is located 55 miles (88 km) southeast of the North Sea on the estuary formed by the Scheldt (Schelde), Meuse (Maes), and Rhine (Rijn) rivers. It is often identified as the unofficial capital of Flanders, the Dutch- (Flemish-) speaking portion of Belgium. The city is one of the world's major seaports. The original site of Antwerp on the right (east) bank of the Scheldt River is a vast alluvial plain; since 1923, however, the city's territory has also included land on the river's left bank. Antwerp's contemporary economic life reflects its long history as a major seaport and world trade centre. In addition to shipping and port-related activities, the major manufactures include automobiles, petrochemicals, and electronics. The city is also a centre for diamond cutting. Antwerp can be divided into three major sections. The old city, with narrow, winding streets, lies within the former confines of the 16th-century fortifications, which were replaced in the 19th century by broad avenues. The 19th-century portions of the city stretch beyond a second set of ring roads, while many newer neighbourhoods lie still farther from the old city and blend into adjacent municipalities. The Cathedral of Our Lady, begun in the 14th century, is a fine example of Gothic architecture and the largest church in the country. Other examples of Antwerp's rich cultural heritage are preserved in several museums, notably the Rubens House, the Museum PlantinMoretus, and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. The city has both state and private institutions of higher learning and is the site of the National Higher Institute and Royal Academy for Fine Arts (1663) and the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Music (1898). The port complex handles heavy ship and barge traffic. Antwerp is a domestic and international railway centre, and its Deurne airfield handles both freight and passenger flights. The city almost tripled its population in 1983 with the annexation of several neighbouring municipalities. Area city, 75 square miles (195 square km); metropolitan area, 121 square miles (315 square km). Pop. (1988 est.) city, 476,044; (1987 est.) metropolitan area, 1,100,000. Additional reading The economic history of the city is discussed by Herman Van Der Wee, The Growth of the Antwerp Market and the European Economy (FourteenthSixteenth Centuries), 3 vol. (1963). F. Suykens et al., Antwerp, a Port for All Seasons, trans. from Flemish (1986), gives the history of the harbour. Intellectual and cultural history is detailed in several books, among them Theodore L. De Vinne, The Plantin-Moretus Museum: A Printer's Paradise (1929); John J. Murray, Antwerp in the Age of Plantin and Brueghel (1970); Antwerp's Golden Age: The Metropolis of the West in the 16th and 17th Centuries (1973?), an exhibition catalog with a large bibliography; and Lon Voet, Antwerp, the Golden Age: The Rise and Glory of the Metropolis in the Sixteenth Century (1973; originally published in Dutch, 1973). Julien Weverbergh (ed.), Museumgids voor Antwerpen (1988), is a directory of Antwerp's museums.Studies of Antwerp's history include Wilfrid C. Robinson, Antwerp: An Historical Sketch (1904); Jervis Wegg, Antwerp, 14771559, from the Battle of Nancy to the Treaty of Cateau Cambrsis (1916), with a good bibliography, and The Decline of Antwerp Under Philip of Spain (1924, reprinted 1979); and Jan Van Acker, Antwerpen: van Romeins veer tot wereldhaven (1975). Jan L.R. Van Roey Tilde A. Sankovitch History Early settlement and growth The site of Antwerp was probably already inhabited, as excavations on the right bank of the Schelde have proved, in Gallo-Roman times, in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. After the great Eurasian migrations of the 4th and 5th centuries, the region was occupied and Germanized by Franks and possibly Frisians, who gave it its present name, from the Germanic prefix anda (against) and a noun derived from the verb werpen (to throw), indicating a structurepossibly a predecessor of Antwerp's 9th-century fortified castle, the Steenerected against something or someone. A more picturesque etymology for the name of the city involves the story of the evil giant Druon Antigoon, who severed the hands of the river's boatmen when they refused to pay his exorbitant tolls. The Roman soldier Silvius Brabo challenged him to a fight, cut off one of his hands, and flung it into the river, not far from the site of the present Steen, thus putting an end to the giant's extortion and giving the city its name: literally, to throw a hand. Antwerp's coat of arms consists of a fortified castle with a hand on each side; and in the Great Market, in front of the 16th-century Town Hall, the Brabo Fountain (1887) depicts the legendary event. The city probably developed from two nuclei: a southern one called ChanelausCaloesCallo and a later northern nucleus grown around the Steen, which eventually became the more important of the two. Christianity was introduced in the 7th century. In the 9th century the region became a border county of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1124 the religious centre was transferred from Chanelaus to the northern nucleus. It was around the castle, built originally as a seat for the border county, that Antwerp developed, in the course of the centuries, in more or less concentric half circles. Situated relatively far inland on the deep right bank of the Schelde, Antwerp was predestined to become a trade and shipping centre. This was already fully the case in the 13th century. At the end of that century and the beginning of the 14th, freedom of trade was given to the English, Venetians, and Genoese by the dukes of Brabant, who had made themselves masters of the county. The city of Antwerp became one of the duchy's capital cities, together with Louvain and Brussels, in Belgium, and the city of Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc), in the Netherlands. In the first quarter of the 14th century, the Antwerp fairs began to flourish. These, together with the fairs of nearby Bergen op Zoom (now in The Netherlands) became one of the foundations of Antwerp's medieval economic growth. From the 15th to the 19th century Antwerp succeeded in the 15th century in becoming the successor of Brugge (Bruges) in Flanders, which until then had been the mercantile metropolis of western Europe. At the end of the 15th century, when nearly all the Low Countries were united under the Burgundian and Habsburg dynasties, the economic preeminence of Antwerp over Brugge is indicated by the fact that the majority of foreign merchants transferred their residence from the old Flemish town to Antwerp. It quickly became the leading commercial centre of western Europe, profiting from the beginnings of colonial trade and stimulated by the great discoveries of the Portuguese and Spaniards. Toward the mid-16th century, the population totaled nearly 100,000, whereas there had been about 20,000 people in the city at the end of the 14th century. Extensive urbanization plans were developed to lodge the increasing population, who earned their livelihood in trade, transport, and industry. The port underwent its first northward extension. New industries included breweries, malt factories, and bleaching works. Together with the already established finishing works of (English) cloth, tapestry, and silk factories, the sugar refineries, and the diamond industry, they made Antwerp one of the greatest industrial centres of western Europe. Antwerp also became a financial centre: its Stock Exchange (inaugurated 1531), a model for the younger London and Amsterdam exchanges, was the scene of dramatic and momentous events, in which financial agents and bankers of the Habsburg, Tudor, and Valois monarchs played their part, together with Antwerpian, English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and German merchants. Antwerp also became a great cultural centre: its school of painting began to flourish at the end of the 15th century; the city's printing houses became known throughout Europe; and humanism began to thrive. State bankruptcies in Spain, Portugal, and elsewhere, together with religious troubles and ensuing wars (Antwerp early in the 16th century became a centre of Protestant activity), brought about a decline. Antwerp became involved in the revolt of the Netherlands and was taken, in 1585, by Alessandro Farnese, duke of Parma, governor general for the Spanish king. The consequences of this strife with Spain were severe: from 1585 to 1589 the population diminished from 80,000 to 42,000. The Schelde, gateway to the sea, was closed by the Dutch, maintaining their positions against King Philip II of Spain. Capital and enterprise emigrated from Antwerp, mostly northward. The economic greatness of Amsterdam in the 17th century was due in part to Antwerp emigrants and their financial support, as was the case, to a lesser extent, for Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, and other mercantile cities. Yet Antwerp was not reduced to the status of a nonentity. The city remained the dynamic economic centre of the Spanish (later, in the 18th century, the Austrian) Netherlands. Antwerp became a more famous art centre than ever before: this was the time of Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens, and other major artists. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic period, followed by Belgium's temporary union with The Netherlands (181530), reversed the general decline in trade of the 18th century. With the Schelde once more freely navigable (restored by the French in 1792), the attraction of Antwerp as a seaport became evident again. Population grew, and the city began to expand and modernize.