Gateway to the world

Ports and trading places

The Scheldt was already an important transport route in Roman times. Products went by sea to present-day England, France and Germany. Port towns such as Bruges, Ghent, Middelburg, Zierikzee, Veere and Hulst developed into flourishing trading settlements in the late Middle Ages. Outports developed along wide tidal channels for Bruges and Ghent. Damme, for example, developed in the 12th century at the dam that closed off the Zwin. Later Hoeke, Monnikerede and Sluis followed as important trading places.

Antwerp, already important as a port and commercial city in the thirteenth century, began its prosperity three centuries later when the Western Scheldt became the most important waterway and Bruges declined due to silting up of the Zwin. Antwerp would grow into a metropolis on the Scheldt. Middelburg and Flushing also profited greatly from international trade until the eighteenth century, thanks in part to tolls on shipping to and from Antwerp.

 

Scheldekaart 1505

Waterways

For centuries, transport by water was the most efficient, safest and fastest way of transportation. The Scheldt estuary has a widely branched system of waterways, in which goods were also transported over waterways and peat canals. Throughout the area were jetties, (tidal) harbors, locks and ferry ferries. In Zeeland, the ferries formed an essential link between the islands well into the twentieth century.

As early as the Middle Ages, canals were dug to connect a trading place with open water or with other trading places. Thus, in the twelfth century, the canal of the Old Zwin was dug to connect Bruges with the sea. From 1251 to 1269, the De Lieve canal was dug between Ghent and the Zwin near Damme. In the mid-sixteenth century, the construction of the Sassevaart created a connection between Ghent and the Honte.

In the nineteenth century, substantial investments were made in new waterways: the Damse Vaart to connect northern France with Sluis and the Western Scheldt via Bruges, the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal, and the Canal through Zuid-Beveland. The latter provided a new connection between the Western Scheldt and Eastern Scheldt after construction of the Kreekrakdam.

Far-reaching interventions were necessary to keep the Scheldt and its tributaries navigable. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Scheldt was straightened for shipping. Problems had arisen earlier in the Durme, which silted up after the construction of the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal. Keeping the Western Scheldt navigable to ensure accessibility to the ports of Antwerp is still a hot issue today.

 

Land roads

Settlements, such as Bornem, Waasmunster and Ganuenta, developed at crossing and mooring points along waterways as early as Roman times. Land roads were preferably built on higher ground that remained dry even in winter. In the oldest diked areas in Zeeland, the roads lay on the higher creek ridges. In the smaller, late medieval polders, the roads mostly follow the dike pattern. The even younger, mostly larger polders are traversed by long, straight roads.

People equally moved along smaller roads and paths. In the Rupel region, brick potters built tunnels under the dyke road from the nineteenth century onwards, to easily cross with the clay from the extraction pit to the brick kiln and further to the loading docks along the Scheldt and Rupel rivers. Some are still in use as neighborhood roads.

 

Durme - Rivier en getijden - Invloed van de zee

Pelgrims, migrants and artists

Some roads were known routes to places of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. Large cities acted as magnets for migrants, (religious) refugees or people looking for work. In addition to merchants, a host of craftsmen, artists and scholars settled there. This is how printing and cartography developed in Antwerp. After the Fall of Antwerp in 1585, many Protestants fled north, including to Middelburg, where they were at the cradle of a cultural and intellectual heyday.

Because of its beautiful landscapes, picturesque villages and harbors, and monumental inner cities, the Scheldt region exerted great attraction on artists and tourists. Coastal towns such as Knokke and Domburg gained fame in the nineteenth century as health resorts and seaside resorts.

 

Discover and experience

The entire area can be explored on foot and by bicycle along numerous routes. Bicycle and foot ferries connect the banks. Walking routes have been set out in the Scheldt-Durm landscape along "slow roads". From the pavilion de Notelaer on the Scheldedijk you have a beautiful view of the Scheldt landscape. The Sas near Bornem has been fully restored and is considered the best preserved mechanical lock in Belgium. The Markiezenhof in Bergen op Zoom is now a museum. The old abbey in Middelburg houses the Zeeuws Museum. Picturesque old port towns such as Damme, Sluis, Veere and Zierikzee are popular with tourists. The former Baasrode shipyards in Dendermonde are being developed into a heritage site about shipbuilding and inland navigation around 1900.  The Mercator Museum in Sint-Niklaas is dedicated to the cartographer Gerardus Mercator, from Rupelmonde. In his native village of Sint-Amands, a museum is dedicated to the poet Emile Verhaeren.

 

Type
Crypten Abdij Middelburg

Abdij Middelburg

Read more
UNESCO Memory of the World - Archief Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie

Archief Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie

Read more
UNESCO Memory of the World - Archief Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie

archives of the Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie

Read more
Bornem Castle

Bornem Castle

Read more
Boten bij het Brouws Museum

Brouws Museum

Read more
Boten bij het Brouws Museum

Brouws Museum

Read more
Damse Vaart

Damse Vaart

Read more
Damse Vaart

Damse Vaart

Read more
Bezoekers wandelen langs de getijdgeul Hammen in de gemeente Schouwen, Oosterschelde

Eastern Scheldt Week

Read more
Inkijkje in het Emile Verhaerenmuseum

Emile Verhaeren Museum

Read more
Inkijkje in het Emile Verhaerenmuseum

Emile Verhaerenmuseum

Read more
fietsroute emile verhaeren puurs-sint-amands

Fietsen in het spoor van Emile Verhaeren

Read more
Schiponderdelen in het Visserijmuseum Breskens

Fisheries Museum - Breskens

Read more
Halte Arsenaal van de Zonnetrein (zonnetreinzeeland.nl)

Guided Walk Vlissingen

Read more
Klederdracht in Museum Arnemuiden

Historical Museum Arnemuiden

Read more
Klederdracht in Museum Arnemuiden

Historisch Museum Arnemuiden

Read more
Bornem Castle

Kasteel van Bornem

Read more
Een van de vuurtorens in Westkapelle (Zeeland.com)

Lighthouses Westkapelle

Read more
Tentoonstelling in het Mercatormuseum

Mercator Museum

Read more
Tentoonstelling in het Mercatormuseum

Mercatormuseum

Read more
Crypten Abdij Middelburg

Middelburg Abbey

Read more
Museum Markiezenhof

Museum Markiezenhof

Read more
Museum Markiezenhof

Museum Markiezenhof

Read more
Het Stadshuis van Veere, één van de twee locaties van Museum Veere

Museum Veere

Read more
Het Stadshuis van Veere, één van de twee locaties van Museum Veere

Museum Veere

Read more
Buitenlocatie (Oude Haven) van Museumhaven Zierikzee

Museumhaven Zeeland

Read more
Buitenlocatie (Oude Haven) van Museumhaven Zierikzee

Museumhaven Zeeland

Read more
De steenschuit 'Clotilde' in het Nautisch Bezoekerscentrum Rupelstreek

Nautical Visitor Centre Rupelstreek

Read more
De steenschuit 'Clotilde' in het Nautisch Bezoekerscentrum Rupelstreek

Nautisch Bezoekerscentrum Rupelstreek

Read more
Ingang van het OosterscheldeMuseum in Yerseke

OosterscheldeMuseum

Read more
Ingang van het OosterscheldeMuseum in Yerseke

OosterscheldeMuseum

Read more
Bezoekers wandelen langs de getijdgeul Hammen in de gemeente Schouwen, Oosterschelde

Oosterscheldeweek

Read more
Portaal van Vlaanderen (Zeeland.com)

Portaal van Vlaanderen

Read more
Portaal van Vlaanderen (Zeeland.com)

Portaal van Vlaanderen

Read more
Sas bij Bornem (afwateringssluis)

Sas bij Bornem

Read more
Sas bij Bornem (afwateringssluis)

Sas near Bornem

Read more
Provinciale Erfgoedsite Scheepswerven Baasrode

Scheepsvaartmuseum Baasrode

Read more
Provinciale Erfgoedsite Scheepswerven Baasrode

Scheepsvaartmuseum Baasrode

Read more
Fragment Scheldekaart van Rupelmonde tot de Noordzee in Felixarchief Antwerpen

Scheldekaart van Rupelmonde tot de Noordzee in FelixArchief Antwerpen

Read more
Halte Arsenaal van de Zonnetrein (zonnetreinzeeland.nl)

Stadswandeling Vlissingen

Read more
Schiponderdelen in het Visserijmuseum Breskens

Visserijmuseum - Breskens

Read more
Een van de vuurtorens in Westkapelle (Zeeland.com)

Vuurtorens Westkapelle

Read more
Praalgraf Emile Verhaeren

Walking in the footsteps of poet Emile Verhaeren

Sint-Amands
Read more
Praalgraf Emile Verhaeren

Wandelen in het spoor van dichter Emile Verhaeren

Sint-Amands
Read more
Fietsers langs de kustlijn in de Zwinstreek

Week van de Zwinstreek

Het Zwin
Read more
Kijkje in de collectie van het Zeeuws Maritiem MuZEEum

Zeeland Maritime MuZEEum

Read more
Kijkje in de collectie van het Zeeuws Maritiem MuZEEum

Zeeuws Maritiem MuZEEum

Read more
Inkijkje in de collectie van het Zeeuws Museum

Zeeuws Museum

Read more
Inkijkje in de collectie van het Zeeuws Museum

Zeeuws Museum

Read more
Fietsers langs de kustlijn in de Zwinstreek

Zwinweek

Het Zwin
Read more