Rotterdam

Rotterdam(in Dutch, Rotterdam[rroterdám] (hearing)) is a Dutch city located west of the country, in the province of South Holland, and port on the river Mosa, near The Hague. Located 30 km from the sea, it has a population of & fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild 060634660.634 660 inhabitants. It is the second most populous city in the country and the metropolitan area of Rotterdam reaches 2.82 million people.

Rotterdam's urban landscape earned it the nickname "The Manhattan on the Meuse". In addition, the city is known for its Erasmus University, its cultural life, maritime heritage, and innovative architecture. For its part, the port of Rotterdam, Europoort, is the largest in Europe and one of the twenty ports with the highest container traffic worldwide. It is connected to the Rhine River.

Established in the 13th century, Rotterdam gained city status in 1340. The city's port saw an increase its importance in the 16th century thanks to the decline of Antwerp, the founding of the Dutch East India Company and shipbuilding. In the 17th century, it was the second commercial city in the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and the textile industry developed there. The 18th century marked a relative decline, and its port only recovered after the construction of an artificial canal, the Nieuwe Waterweg (1866-1872). Later, Rotterdam had to reinvent itself after the Second World War. On May 14, 1940, the bombing of Nazi Germany destroyed the entire urban center of the city. Since the postwar period, modernity and the architectural avant-garde have filled the streets of the city. The port has gained 2,000 hectares of land in the North Sea to expand by 20 percent, and Rotterdam flourished rapidly in the decades following the end of the war thanks to lower trade barriers between European Union (EU) member states.

The first industrial center of the Netherlands, the city is also one of the main gateways to the EU. The port, the chemical industries and the transport and distribution sectors are the main sources of employment.

As icons of the city, the Timmerhuis, which houses the Rotterdam Museum, and the Van Nelle Factory, built in the 1930s and declared a World Heritage Site, stand out. But the city's great art museum is the Boijmas van Beunigen, where numerous periods and movements are represented, including the main representatives of the Golden Age. Rotterdam is also considered an "open-air museum", especially in what is refers to contemporary architecture, with representative buildings such as the Markthal. Another significant work is the Central Station, or the Cube Houses.

History

Surrounding the dam was a settlement where people initially lived from fishing. Soon the place became a market and created the first ports. On March 17, 1299, Rotterdam passed into the hands of Count John of the Netherlands. On June 7, 1340 power was finally granted to William IV of the Netherlands. In 1360, a wall was built. During the conflict between 1488 and 1490, Frans van Brederode played an important role in Rotterdam. The position as a base of the wars strengthened the city enormously in comparison with other surrounding cities, thus neighboring Delft lost half of its population. Thanks to van Brederode the city became important in the Netherlands.

Between 1449 and 1525 the Church of St. Lawrence was built, in medieval Rotterdam this was the only stone building. This was an ambitious project, as Rotterdam at the time had around 1,200 households. In 1572, Rotterdam was sacked by Spanish troops commanded at the time by Count de Boussu Maximilien de Henin-Liétard.

Urban landscape of 1660, at the bottom is the tower of the church of San Lorenzo.

In 1573, the city sided with the Dutch rebellion. The city already had about &&&&&&&&&&010000.&&&&&010,000 inhabitants. At the end of the 16th century, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt from 1576 to 1586 financed the city to develop the port of Rotterdam further, which laid the foundations for the city to acquire the current importance in maritime trade. In the 1622 census, they numbered about &&&&&&&&&&020000.&&&& &020,000 people.

At the end of the 17th century growth continued to &&&&&&&&&&050000.&&&&&050,000 inhabitants, however, the city did not expand beyond its walls and canals, so the city was crowded with people. Only after 1825 would the extension continue outside the limits, an obligation due to its rapid growth.

Foundations for today's Rotterdam

The city at the end of the centuryXIX

In the 19th century, Rotterdam's position as an international port was threatened by the sediment of population in the main links with the sea. Between 1827 and 1830 under the reign of William I and in order to overcome this problem, the engineer Pieter Caland designed an ambitious plan for a new connection to the North Sea. In 1866 construction began, and between 1866 and 1872 the new canal was dug. This created a direct maritime link between Rotterdam (as an entity of the Netherlands) and the North Sea. After the opening of the canal, the new acceleration of growth in the city began, caused by the creation of several new ports, employment increased considerably. This attracted workers from all over the world, and the money that was earned by the city was mainly dedicated to the construction of larger buildings in the center.

The city expanded in two ways, one was by annexing several surrounding municipalities and the other by building many new neighborhoods. The ports were expanding rapidly. Under the influence of people like Louis Pincoffs and Gerrit de Jongh, more and more ports were built. Attracted by employment, many farmers (especially from the north) settled in the city. Newcomers were quickly placed next to rows of cheap housing, especially in the south. Between 1880 and 1900 the population grew rapidly from 160,000 to 315,000 people. In 1920, the population rises slightly above 500,000 inhabitants. In 1914 one more municipality was absorbed, and in 1933 others followed. At the end of the XIX century, the construction of the new neighborhoods had also begun. As early as 1914, expansion to the west began.

The walls were demolished some time before, but the ribbon, which is also part of the earlier fortifications, were there. Investments were made in the municipality to create prestigious buildings, with a new town hall, the post office and the current economic center of the city.

Bombing and Nazi occupation

Rotterdam Center, after cleaning debris. The damaged building on the left, later restored, is the church of San Lorenzo.

Tired bridge that covers the Nieuwe Maas, connecting the northern and southern parts of the city. It was designed by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos (UNstudio), which was completed in 1994.

Everything changed on May 14, 1940. After several days of intense fighting around the bridge, on the morning of May 14, 1940, the city was threatened with destruction. The Germans seemed to have little patience for carrying out their threat, and the bombardment of Rotterdam took place in the afternoon. It lasted only fifteen minutes, but the destructive effects caused by the fire were enormous. More than 24,000 homes were burned to the ground. Around 800 people died and &&&&&&&&&&080000.&&&&&080,000 were left homeless. When the Germans threatened to do the same again with Utrecht, it triggered the Dutch surrender. In Rotterdam almost the entire center and the heart of the city turned into chaos. At the same time that the occupation started, it was filled with a lot of rubbish. Fortunately, the Meuse bridges, consisting of the old William Bridge and the railway bridge next to it, were not destroyed, so the road and rail connections between the two parts of the city remained intact.

In 1941, during the occupation, the last great round for the annexation of various municipalities also began. On February 14, 1942, the Maas tunnel, the construction of which began in 1937, was opened. It was the first tunnel for cars in the Netherlands. On March 31, 1943, Allied forces mistakenly bombarded inhabited areas of the city, killing another 326 people and wounding 400. The consequences of the Holocaust in Rotterdam are hard to forget. Municipal reclassifications estimate that the beginning of the occupation caused the displacement of more than &&&&&&&&&&011000.& &&&&011,000 Jews; only about 1,400 have survived persecution and other acts of war. On November 10 and 11, 1944, there was a huge raid, in which about 50,000 men between the ages of 17 and 40 were taken away. On the night before the raid, Rotterdam was surrounded by German soldiers and 8,000 occupied the main bridges and squares, and the telephone line was closed.

After World War II

After the war, reconstruction began. In a bid for innovation and modernization, many damaged and unrepaired buildings were demolished. In the fifties the reconstruction was in full swing. Rotterdam was the picture of a "working city" and became a model of modernity. In 1953 the first pedestrian shopping street in Europe was opened. The new central station was finished in 1957. For festive reasons, the Euromast was founded in 1960. Next to the famous statue "The Destroyed City" (by Ossip Zadkine), the Euromast was the symbol of post-war Rotterdam. In 1970, the Euromast increased in size with the Space Tower, bringing the total to 185 meters.

To alleviate the housing shortage, the city quickly created some of the new, apartment-heavy neighborhoods. Together with the restoration of the ports, twinning plans were also developed. New port areas are created successively, with huge crude oil storage tanks. Port operations grew so fast that the port of Rotterdam became in 1962 the largest port in the world.

In 1960 the construction of the metro began, in 1968 the first metro line in the Netherlands opened. In 1970 the opening of the new concert hall Ahoy was inaugurated near Zuidplein. In the nineties, a new horizon with several skyscrapers was already visible. The Maastoren building, at 164 metres, is the tallest skyscraper in Rotterdam. With the completion of the Erasmus bridge in 1996, the city takes on a new symbol.

Politics

On October 16, 2008, the Social Democratic majority of the city's municipal council elected as mayor the Dutchman of Moroccan origin Ahmed Aboutaleb (who took office on January 1, 2009), a politician who came to the Netherlands as a teenager and that he has made his career in the Workers' Party (PvdA), also of social democratic orientation, and that he currently works as state secretary for labor and social affairs in the coalition government of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats in The Hague.

Geography

Topographic map of Rotterdam (taken in 2011).

Rotterdam is divided into northern and southern halves by the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) river, connected from west to east by the Beneluxtunnel, the Maastunnel, the Erasmusbrug (Erasmus Bridge), a subway tunnel, the Willemsspoortunnel (rail tunnel), the Willemsbrug, the Koninginnebrug (Queen's Bridge), and the Van Brienenoordbrug. The old railway bridge De Hef (the Levant) is preserved as a monument in an elevated position between the Noordereiland (North Island) and the south of the city.

The city center is located on the northern bank of the Nieuwe Maas, although recent urban development has extended the center into well-known areas of Rotterdam South, such as the Kop van Zuid (the northern part of Rotterdam South). From its inner core, Rotterdam reaches the North Sea along a strip dominated by the port area.

Built mostly behind levees, much of Rotterdam is below sea level. For example, the parish of Prince Alexander in the northeast of Rotterdam is 6 meters below sea level, making it the lowest point in the Netherlands.

Rotterdam is located in the south of the Randstad. With a population of 7.1 million, the Randstad is the sixth largest metropolitan area in Europe (after Moscow, London, the Ruhr area, Istanbul and Paris).

The southern part of the Randstad (South Holland) is called the South Wing (Zuidvleugel). Including Leiden, The Hague, Zoetermeer, Delft, Vlaardingen, Schiedam, Capelle aan den IJssel, Spijkenisse and Dordrecht, Zuidvleugel. At the heart of Zuidvleugel are the urban agglomerations surrounding The Hague and Rotterdam, they are close enough to be almost a single urban agglomeration (with a population of about 2.5 million), so they also share an airport and a bus system. light rail called RandstadRail. The possibility of creating a metropolitan area that would include Rotterdam and The Hague is being studied.

Climate

The climate is oceanic, with mild summers and cold winters.

Average Rotterdam weather parameters The Hague Airport
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	14.1	16.7	21.2	26.7	30.5	32.8	37.2	34.9	29.0	24.8	18.3	15.1	37.2
Average temperature (°C)	6.0	6.6	9.9	13.5	17.5	19.9	22.2	22.1	18.9	14.7	9.9	6.6	14.0
Average temperature (°C)	3.6	3.7	6.4	9.1	12.9	15.5	17.8	17.6	14.8	11.2	7.3	4.2	10.4
Temp. medium (°C)	0.8	0.5	2.6	4.3	7.8	10.6	13.1	12.8	10.6	7.5	4.2	1.4	6.4
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	-17.1	-13.8	-11.4	-6.0	-1.4	0.5	3.6	4.6	0.4	-5.1	-7.5	-13.3	-17.1
Total precipitation (mm)	69.1	57.9	64.9	42.6	58.3	65.2	74.0	81.0	87.1	90.1	87.1	78.3	855.6
Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)	12	10	12	9	9	10	10	10	12	12	13	13	132
Days of snowfall (≥ 1 mm)	6	5	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	23
Hours of sun	62.5	83.8	124.0	174.9	213.9	203.6	213.1	196.6	137.6	106.9	60.4	46.7	1623.8
Relative humidity (%)	88	85	83	78	77	79	79	80	84	86	89	89	83.1
Source No. 1: Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (1981–2010 normal, snowy days normal for 1971–2000)
Source No. 2: Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (1971–2000 extremes)

Demographics

Euromast, designed by Huig Aart Maaskant and built between 1958 and 1960. It has a restaurant and an observatory at 96 meters high.

Delfshaven, the mill: Molen de Distilleerketel.

After the takeover of Rozenburg in 2010, the population of Rotterdam is more than &&&&&&&&&0600000. &&&&&0600,000 people. After the opening of the new canal in 1875, the largest and fastest population growth by the port of Rotterdam spanned 25 years, the population grew by about &&&&&&&&&0200000.&&&&&0200,000 people, most of the dock workers came from Brabant, Zealand and Belgium. The rapid growth in the 1960s and 1970s was sparked by many immigrants from Italy, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, and Greece. In addition, the city also has a large population of Chinese, Surinamese, West Indians (from the Netherlands Antilles) and Cape Verdeans. The unemployment rate is 8.2%, and the number of people with jobs is almost &&&&&&&&&0300000.&&&&&0300,000 (All data is from 2011)

In total, 48% of Rotterdam's population is currently of foreign origin. One hundred and sixty nationalities live there; the largest community is that of Suriname.

Population developments

Figure of demographic evolution of Rotterdam between 1796 and 2015

Economy

Maastoren, the highest building in the Netherlands, with 165 meters. It was completed in 2010.

Rotterdam, view of the Wijnhaven and the bridge (Willemsbrug) from the Noordereiland.

Rotterdam has always been one of the main centers of the shipping industry in the Netherlands. From the VOC Chamber of Rotterdam, where its first multinationals (established in 1602) took place. The leading merchant marine company Royal Nedlloyd (founded in 1970), has its headquarters in the iconic building in Willemswerf. In 1997, Nedlloyd merged with UK shipping industry leader P&O, forming the third largest merchant shipping company in the world. Finally, the Anglo-Dutch P&O Nedlloyd was bought by the Danish macro-corporation A.P. Møller-Mærsk in 2005, and its operations continue to take place at its headquarters in Willemswerf. Rotterdam is also home to Dutch consumer goods company Unilever and Mittal Steel Company NV, a subsidiary of the Luxembourg-based Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steelmaker.

Erasmus University has a strong focus on research and education by way of administration and economics. The university is located on the east side of the city and is surrounded by numerous multinational companies. In Brainpark I, Brainpark II, Brainpark III and Brainpark Het Rivium are the offices of the main multinational companies. In the city center are not only the offices mentioned above, but also Robeco, Ageas, ABN AMRO, ING, and the Rotterdam World Trade Center. The Maersk Line embodies the Dutch merchant marine heritage.

The city of Rotterdam makes use of the services of semi-governmental companies such as Roteb (sanitation care, waste management and classified services) and the Port of Rotterdam Authority (to maintain the port). Both companies were once municipal bodies, as they are autonomous entities and owned by the city.

Port

Waalhaven port, seen at night.

Europoort, the port of Rotterdam, a large port complex at the west end of the canal, was built in the 1960s for the unloading and storage of crude oil from tankers. Several channels communicate the city with other urban centers in the European Union. The largest canal crossing on the continent was opened in Magdeburg in 2003, making it possible for traffic to reach Berlin. On the south bank of the River Meuse there are other important facilities and industries, including oil refineries, shipyards and factories of chemical products, metal articles and sugar refineries. Among the exported products, coal, machinery and dairy products stand out; the main imports are oil and grain.

Transportation

Rotterdam's transport is organized by the RET Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram, a company created in 1927 that manages tram, metro and urban bus traffic for Rotterdam and its urban area.

The Rotterdam Metro was the first metro network to open in the Netherlands. The first line started operating in February 1968: this north-south line runs between the central station and the Zuidplein, thus connecting the north and south banks of the New Meuse. It spreads gradually. A second east-west line opened in 1982. These two original lines were split and extended, and today there are five lines that make up the metropolitan network, serving Rotterdam and the surrounding urban areas. The total length of the network is 78.3 km.

On the other hand, the city has a network of cycle paths with a total length of 600 km. Four main roads in the city are bisected by a bicycle lane: the one that runs along the Erasmus Bridge, the one that runs along the Schiekade, the one that runs along Weena Avenue, in the center, and the one that passes through the Provenierstunnel. This network includes bridges exclusively for bicycles. The city's cycling network is complemented by 8,500 spaces for bicycles. The city is also enameled with numerous self-service bicycle points thanks to an electronic pass system, the OV-fietsCR 41 system. In addition, several of the municipality's cycle paths are intended for walking or hiking, such as the Rondje Rotterdam, a route 10 km; the Fietsroute Rotterdam, 23 km long; or Nieuwe Maasparcourt, a route that runs along the New Meuse.

As for air transport, in 1955 the Rotterdam-The Hague Airport was built in the Zestienhoven polder north of the city. A new terminal was built in the late 1960s. The new passenger transit building opened in 1970. The airport was known as Zestienhoven Airport, it was renamed Rotterdam Airport in 2004, then Rotterdam-The Hague Airport on February 10, 2010. In 2016, passenger traffic at the airport amounted to &&&&&&&&01683863.&&&&&01,683,863 and 52,442 air flights were operated there, ranking third among the country's airports.

Education

Erasmus University College.

The Dutch education system offers various options for higher education. Research universities, or WOs, also prepare for first years and master's degrees, and also offer doctoral programs; their teachers are teacher-researchers. The universities of applied studies, called Hogeschool or HBO, prepare for higher degrees ranging from the first years of university to the master's degree, but do not offer a third cycle. A third type of establishment offers international diplomas (in English) or shorter or more specific courses.

Rotterdam has a research university. The Erasmus University of Rotterdam hosts about &&&&&&&&&&028000.&&&&& 028,000 students and 3,600 employees (2016 figures). Its medical department is linked to the largest university hospital center, the Erasmus Medical Center. Founded in 1913, it has built a good reputation internationally. Among its researchers is Jan Tinbergen, the Nobel Prize winner in economics. In the THE academic ranking of universities, it ranks 69th overall (2020) of world universities.

Culture

Kralingen, the church: Sint-Lambertuskerk.

Cube houses, designed by the architect Piet Blom in 1984.

The birthplace of Erasmus, Rotterdam is undergoing permanent regeneration. The city was chosen to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. However, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) canceled the 65th edition of the Festival due to the coronavirus disease pandemic.

Architecture

The city is characterized by its daring architectural structures. Rotterdam has a reputation as a platform for the development of architecture and education through the Berlage Institute (a postgraduate laboratory for architecture), and the NAI (Institut Dutch Architecture), which is open to the public and features a variety of quality urban architecture exhibitions, where planning issues are also worked on.

After the bombings of World War II, the city has been gradually rebuilt, resulting in the development of buildings framed by the surviving historical heritage.

Sports

Equipment	Sport	Competition	Stadium	Creation
Feyenoord Róterdam	Football	Eredivisie	Stadion Feijenoord	1908
Sparta Rotterdam	Football	Eredivisie	Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel	1888
Excelsior Rotterdam	Football	Eredivisie	Stadion Woudestein	1902
Rotterdam Challengers	Basketball	FEB Eredivisie	Topsportcentrum	1954