About Rotterdam

The name Rotterdam comes from the small river the Rotte or Rotta, as it was then known and means something like 'muddy water' (rot water), the first settlement dates from at least 900. Due to large floods in the area around 1150 the development ended, leading to the construction of protective dikes and dams, including Schielands Hoge Zeedijk along the northern banks of the present-day Nieuwe Maas. A dam on the Rotte or 'Rotterdam' was built in the 1260s and was located at the present-day Hoogstraat.

The first settlement dates from at least 900. Due to large floods in the area around 1150 the development ended, leading to the construction of protective dikes and dams, including Schielands Hoge Zeedijk along the northern banks of the present-day Nieuwe Maas. A dam on the Rotte or 'Rotterdam' was built in the 1260s and was located at the present-day Hoogstraat.

On the 7th of June 1340, Count Willem IV of Holland granted city rights to Rotterdam, which then had approximately 2000 inhabitants. Around 1350 a shipping canal, the Rotterdamse Schie was completed, which provided Rotterdam access to the larger towns in the north, allowing it to become a local transhipment centre between Holland, England and Germany, and to slowly urbanize.

The port of Rotterdam slowly but steadily grew into an important harbour, becoming the headquarters of one of the six 'chambers' of the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

The completion of the Nieuwe Waterweg in 1872 was followed by enormous growth of port activity and population. The city and harbour started to expand on the south bank of the river. The White House skyscraper, built in 1898 in the French Chateau-style, is a symbol of Rotterdam's rapid growth and prosperity. At the time, it was the tallest office building in Europe, with a height of 45 m.

On the 10th of May 1940 The German army invaded the Netherlands and after meeting fierce resistance, it finally forced the Dutch army to capitulate on 14 May 1940 by bombing Rotterdam and threatening to bomb other cities. The heart of the city was almost completely destroyed by the German Luftwaffe, and 800 people were killed, while about 80,000 others were made homeless. Ossip Zadkine later captured the event with his statue 'City without a heart', now located near the Leuvehaven, not far from the Erasmusbrug.

From the 1950s through the 1970s, the city was rebuilt. The city councils began developing an active architectural policy from the 1980s, with daring and new styles of apartments; office buildings and recreation facilities resulted in a more 'liveable' city centre with a new skyline. During the 1990s, the former harbour area Kop van Zuid was transformed into a new part of the modern city centre and is considered as one of the most interesting planning developments along the Maas-river.