Vlissingen

Vlissingen
—  Municipality  —
Jacobskerk, Vlissingen
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 51°27′N 3°35′E / 51.45°N 3.583°E / 51.45; 3.583
Country	Netherlands
Province	Zeeland
Area (2006)
- Total	344.98 km2 (133.2 sq mi)
- Land	34.14 km2 (13.2 sq mi)
- Water	310.85 km2 (120 sq mi)
Population (1 January, 2007)
- Total	45,015
- Density	1,319/km2 (3,416.2/sq mi)
	Source: CBS, Statline.
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Vlissingen ( pronunciation (help·info)), or Flushing in English, is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an important harbour for centuries. It was granted city rights in 1315. In the 17th century Vlissingen was a main harbour for ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). It is also known as the birthplace of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter.

Vlissingen is mainly noted for the wharves on the Scheldt where most of the ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy (Koninklijke Marine) are built.

History

Vlissingen from sea, 1662

The fishermen’s hamlet that came into existence at the estuary of the river Scheldt 620 A.D. has grown over a 1,400-year span into a tourist attraction and into the third-most important port of the Netherlands. Because of Vlissingen's favourable geographical situation, the Counts of Holland and Zeeland had the first harbours dug. Nowadays 50,000 ships annually from all corners of the world pass through the river Scheldt. Tourists are very pleased with this phenomenon, because nowhere else in the world do ships pass this closely to the shore [1]. In the centuries of its growth, Vlissingen was especially well known as the centre of (herring) fishing, commerce, privateering, and the slave trade. The history of Vlissingen is characterized by oppression, bombardments and floods. This heritage arose as a consequence of Vlissingen’s strategic position at the river Scheldt, the most important passageway to the docks of Antwerpen. For this reason the eyes of several foreign powers fell on Vlissingen: the British, French, Germans and Spaniards were all within the city's boundaries long before the tourists arrived.

The heyday of the Golden Age (Gouden Eeuw), in which ships from Vlissingen sailed all seas and contributed to the world power of 'De Zeven Provincien' (The Seven Provinces), was followed by a recession in the eighteenth century. The effects of the Napoleonic Wars were especially disastrous. After 1870, a period of revival occurred as a result of the building of new docks, the canal through Walcheren, the railway and the establishment of the shipyard called The Scheldt. The Second World War interrupted this growth. Again bombardments, shelling, and inundation heavily damaged the city.

With enormous energy the post-war reconstruction of the city began. In the sixties, development flourished in the seaport and industrial area of Vlissingen-Oost. Now this area is the economic driving force of central Zeeland, offering many thousands of jobs.

History of the name 'Vlissingen'

Vlissingen's sea-side boulevard at the start of the 21st century.

The derivation of the name Vlissingen is unclear, though most scholars relate the name to the word fles (bottle) in one way or another.

According to one story, when saint Willibrord landed in Vlissingen with a bottle in the seventh century, he shared its contents with the beggars he found there while trying to convert them. A miracle occurred, familiar to readers of hagiography, when the contents of the bottle did not diminish. When the Bishop realised the beggars did not want to listen to his words, he gave them his bottle. After that, he supposedly called the city Flessinghe.

Another source states that the name had its origins in an old ferry-service house, on which a bottle was attached by way of a sign. The monk Jacob van Dreischor, who visited the city in 967, then apparently called the ferry-house het veer aan de Flesse (the ferry at the Bottle). Because many cities in the region later received the appendix -inge, the name, according to this etymology, evolved to Vles-inge.

According to another source, the name was derived from the Danish word Vles, which means tides.

Flushing, a colonial village in New York, now part of New York City, is named after Vlissingen.

Famous people

A surprising number of Dutch admirals were born in Vlissingen. Among them are Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruijter, Joost and Adriaen Banckert and the three admirals Cornelis Evertsen. See further People from Vlissingen.

Transport

• Railway stations: Vlissingen, Vlissingen Souburg.
• Ferry connection to Breskens, since the Western Scheldt Tunnel was opened on March 2003 for pedestrians and cyclists only.

• In the past a ferry service to Sheerness existed but closed in 1994.

Another notable temporary resident is Michael Meier. Born and raised in Canada. Is currently on an exchange program through Fanshawe College in London, ON to be able to study in Vlissingen.

Cultural references

• Vlissingen is the setting for the conclusion of Arthur Ransome's children's adventure novel We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vlissingen

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Flushing (Holland).

• Official website (in Dutch, English, and German)
• Map
• A short history of Vlissingen
• Port of Vlissingen
• Tourist information Vlissingen
• Railway station Vlissingen:
  • departures (pdf)
  • departures, with stops and arrival times
  • station facilities

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Coordinates: 51°27′N 3°35′E / 51.45°N 3.583°E / 51.45; 3.583