Rotterdam ( ; Dutch ); is a
city and municipality in the Dutch
province of
South
Holland
, situated in the west of the Netherlands. The municipality is the
second
largest in the country, with a population of 584,046 as of
January 2007.
It forms the southern part of the Randstad
, the
sixth-largest
metropolitan area in Europe, with a population of 6.7
million.
The
port of Rotterdam is the
largest in
Europe. From 1962 to 2004, it was
the
world's busiest port. It
was then superseded by
Shanghai.
Rotterdam
is on the banks of the river Nieuwe Maas
('New Meuse'), one of the channels in the delta
formed by the Rhine
and Meuse
rivers. The name
Rotterdam derives
from a
dam in the
Rotte river.
Municipality
On 1 January 2007 (source:
Statistics Netherlands), the
municipality covered an area of
319 km
2 (206.44 km
2 of which is
land) with a population of 584,046.
It is part of a larger metropolitan area
with a total population (including Dordrecht
and surrounding cities) of approximately 1.6
million. In 1965, the
municipal
population of Rotterdam reached its peak of 731,000, but by 1984 it
had decreased to 555,000 as a result of
suburbanization.
Rotterdam
consists of 11 submunicipalities: Charlois
(including
Heijplaat), Delfshaven
, Feijenoord
, Hillegersberg-Schiebroek, Hoek van
Holland
, Hoogvliet
, IJsselmonde
, Kralingen-Crooswijk, Noord
, Overschie
, and Prins Alexander
(the most populous submunicipality with around
85,000 inhabitants). Two other areas, Centrum ('Center') and
Pernis
, do not have official submunicipality
status.
Rotterdam
is in the Zuidvleugel ('South Wing') of the Randstad ('Rim City')
conurbation, with 6.7 million inhabitants, the sixth largest
metropolitan area in Europe (after Moscow, London, the Ruhr Area,
Istanbul, and Paris). The Zuidvleugel includes Leiden
, The Hague
, Zoetermeer
, Delft
, Vlaardingen
, Schiedam
, Capelle aan den IJssel
, Spijkenisse
and Dordrecht, and has a population of around 3
million.
Municipal additions
The current size of the municipality of Rotterdam is the result of
the amalgamation of the following former municipalities, some of
which now are a submunicipality:
History
- For the destruction of the city center in 1940, see
Bombing of Rotterdam
Rotterdam, by Johan Barthold
Jongkind (1856)
Rotterdam, by James Webb (before
1895)
Rotterdam centre after the 1940 aerial
bombing.
The ruined Laurens Church has been restored.
Settlement at the lower end of the
fen stream
Rotte (or
Rotta, as it was then known, from
rot, 'muddy' and
a, 'water', thus 'muddy water')
dates from at least 900 CE. Around
1150, large
floods in the area ended development, leading to the
construction of protective
dikes and dams,
including
Schielands Hoge Zeedijk ('Schieland’s High Sea
Dike') 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 ('High
Street').
On 7 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 transshipment center
between Holland, England
and Germany
, and to urbanize.
The port of Rotterdam grew slowly but steadily into a port of
importance, becoming the seat of one of the six 'chambers' of the
Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), the
Dutch East India Company.
The greatest spurt of growth, both in port activity and population,
followed the completion of the
Nieuwe Waterweg in 1872.
The city and harbor started to expand on the south bank of the
river.
The Witte Huis
or White House skyscraper, inspired
by American office buildings and built in 1898 in the French
Chateau-style, is evidence of Rotterdam's rapid growth and
success. When completed, it was the tallest office building
in Europe, with a height of 45 m.
During
World War II, the German army
invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940.
Adolf Hitler had hoped to conquer the country
in just one day, but his forces met unexpectedly fierce resistance.
The Dutch army was finally forced to capitulate on 14 May 1940,
following Hitler's
bombing Rotterdam
and threatening to bomb other Dutch cities. The heart of Rotterdam
was almost completely destroyed by the
Luftwaffe; 800 civilians were killed and 80,000
made homeless. The City Hall survived the bombing.
Ossip Zadkine later strikingly captured the
event with his statue
Stad zonder hart ('City without a
heart').
The statue stands near the
Leuvehaven, not far from the Erasmusbrug
in the centre of the city, on the north shore of
the river Nieuwe Maas.
Rotterdam was gradually rebuilt from the 1950s through the 1970s.
It remained quite
windy and open until the city
councils from the 1980s on began developing an active architectural
policy. Daring and new styles of
apartments, office buildings and recreation
facilities resulted in a more '
livable' city center with a new skyline. In
the 1990s, the
Kop van Zuid was built on the south bank of
the river as a new business center.
Demographics
With 55% of the inhabitants earning a low income, Rotterdam has its
fair share of typical urban problems, such as dilapidated inner
city areas.
Ethnic make-up
Figures are from 2008:
In the Netherlands, Rotterdam has the highest percentage of
foreigners from non-industrialised nations. They form a large part
of Rotterdam´s multiethnic and multicultural diversity. Nearly 50%
of the population are of non Dutch origins or have at least one
parent born outside the country. Recent figures show that Muslims
comprise close to 25% of the city's population. The current mayor
of Rotterdam,
Ahmed Aboutaleb, is of
Moroccan descent and is a practicing Muslim. The city is also home
to the largest
Cape Verdean
communities in the Netherlands, as well as the largest Dutch
Antillean community.
Historical population
- 1796: 53,200 inhabitants
- 1830: 72,300
- 1849: 90,100
- 1879: 148,100
- 1899: 318,500
- 1925: 547,900
- 1965: 551,000
- 1984: 555,000
- 2005: 596,407
- 2006: 588,576
- 2007: 584,046
Geography
.png/180px-Satellite_image_of_Europoort,_Netherlands_(4.25E_51.90N).png)
A satellite image of Rotterdam and its
port
Climate diagram
Rotterdam
is divided into a northern and a southern part by the river
Nieuwe
Maas, connected by (from west to east): the
Beneluxtunnel; the Maastunnel; the Erasmusbrug ('Erasmus
Bridge'); a subway tunnel; the Willemsspoortunnel
('Willems railway tunnel'); the Willemsbrug ('Willems
Bridge'); the Koninginnebrug ('Queen's Bridge'); and the
Van Brienenoordbrug ('Van Brienenoord Bridge'). The
former railway lift
bridge De Hef
('the Lift') is preserved as a monument in lifted position between
the
Noordereiland ('North Island') and the south of
Rotterdam.
The city centre is located on the northern bank of the Nieuwe Maas,
although recent urban development has extended the center to parts
of southern Rotterdam known as
De Kop van Zuid ('the Head
of South', i.e. the northern part of southern Rotterdam).
From its
inland core, Rotterdam reaches the North Sea
by a swathe of predominantly harbor
area.
Built mostly behind dikes, large parts of the Rotterdam are below
sea level. For instance, the Prins Alexander Polder in the
northeast of Rotterdam extends 6 meters below sea level, or rather
below
Normaal Amsterdams
Peil (NAP) or 'Amsterdam Ordnance Datum'. The lowest point in
the Netherlands ( below NAP) is situated just to the east of
Rotterdam, in the municipality of
Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel.
The Rotte river no longer joins the Nieuwe Maas directly. Since the
early 1980s, when the construction of Rotterdam’s second subway
line interfered with the Rotte’s course, its waters have been
pumped through a pipe into the Nieuwe Maas via the Boerengat.
Commerce and industry
Rotterdam is home to the Dutch half of consumer goods giant
Unilever, and
Mittal Steel Company N.V., subsidiary
of Luxembourg-based
Arcelor Mittal,
the world's largest steel company.
The
Erasmus
University
has a strong focus on research and education in
management and economics. The University is located on the
east side of the city and is surrounded by numerous multinational
firms. On Brainpark I, Brainpark II, Brainpark III and
Het
Rivium are located offices of major multinationals. In the
center of the city are the above-mentioned
Unilever offices, but also Robeco,
Fortis (including Mees Pierson and Stad
Rotterdam Verzekeringen),
ABN AMRO,
ING (Nationale Nederlanden), and the
Rotterdam WTC.
Ports
The Waalhaven by night
Unmanned vehicles handle containers at
Europe Container Terminals (ECT), the largest container terminal
operator in Europe.
Rotterdam
has the largest port in Europe, with the rivers Meuse and Rhine providing
excellent access to the hinterland
upstream reaching to Basel,
Switzerland
and into France. In 2003 Singapore
took over, and in 2005 Shanghai, as the world's busiest port. In 2006,
Rotterdam was the world's seventh largest
container port in terms of
Twenty-foot equivalent units
(TEU) handled.
The port's main activities are
petrochemical industries and general
cargo handling and
transshipment. The harbour functions as an
important transit point for
bulk materials and between the
European continent and overseas. From Rotterdam goods are
transported by ship, river barge, train or road.
In 2007, the
Betuweroute, a new fast freight
railway from Rotterdam to Germany, has been completed.
In 1872,
the Nieuwe
Waterweg
('New
Waterway') opened, a ship canal constructed to
keep the city and port of Rotterdam accessible to seafaring vessels
as the natural Meuse-Rhine channels silted up. The canal proper
measures approximately from the western tips of its protruding dams
to the Maeslantkering
('Maeslant Barrier'). Many maps, however,
include the
Scheur as part of the Nieuwe
Waterweg, leading to a length of approximately .
In the
first half of the twentieth century, the port's center of gravity
shifted westward towards the North Sea. Covering , the port of Rotterdam now
stretches over a distance of .
It consists of the city center's historic
harbor area, including Delfshaven; the Maashaven/Rijnhaven/Feijenoord complex; the harbors around Nieuw-Mathenesse;
Waalhaven; Vondelingenplaat; Eemhaven; Botlek; Europoort
, situated along the Calandkanaal, Nieuwe
Waterweg and
Scheur (the latter two being
continuations of the Nieuwe Maas); and the reclaimed Maasvlakte
area, which projects into the North
Sea.
The construction of a second Maasvlakte received initial political
approval in 2004, but was stopped by the Raad van State (the
Dutch Council of State, which
advises the government and parliament on legislation and
governance) in 2005, because the plans did not take enough account
of environmental issues. On 10 October 2006, however, approval was
acquired to start construction in 2008, aiming for the first ship
to anchor in 2013.
Education
Rotterdam
has one major university, the Erasmus
University Rotterdam, named after one of the city's famous former
inhabitants, Desiderius
Erasmus. The Woudestein campus houses (among others) the
Rotterdam School of
Management. In
Financial Times'
2005 rankings it placed 29th globally and 7th in Europe. In the
2006 rankings of European Masters of Management, the school reached
a second place with the
CEMS Master in Management and a thirteenth place with its RSM
Master in Management. The university is also home to Europe's
largest student association,
STAR Study
Association RSM Erasmus University.
The
Willem de Kooning
Academy Rotterdam's main art school, which is part of the
Hogeschool Rotterdam. It is regarded as one of the most prestigious
art schools in the Netherlands and the number 1 in Advertising and
Copywriting. Part of the
Willem de Kooning Academy is the
Piet Zwart Institute for
postgraduate studies and research in Fine Art, Media Design and
Retail Design. The Piet Zwart Institute boasts a selective roster
of emerging international artists.
The Hoboken campus of EUR houses the Dijkzigt (general) hospital,
the Sophia Hospital (for children) and the Medical Department of
the University.
These are known collectively as the Erasmus
Medical Center, which is ranked third worldwide for medical
research, behind the Harvard University
and Johns
Hopkins University. The Erasmus Medical Center ranks as
the top European institution in clinical medicine according to the
Times Higher Education
rankings. As a combined medical treatment and research center it is
particularly noted for its patient cohort studies in which large
numbers of patients are followed for long periods of time.
There are also three
Hogescholen (Universities of
applied sciences) in Rotterdam. These schools award their students
a professional
Bachelor's degree
and postgraduate or
Master's degree.
The three
Hogescholen are
Hogeschool Rotterdam,
Hogeschool
INHOLLAND and
Hogeschool voor Muziek en
Dans (uni for music and dance) which is also known as
CodArts.
Culture
Alongside Porto, Rotterdam was
European Capital of Culture in
2001.
The
city has its own orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic
Orchestra with its world famous musical director Valery Gergiev, a large congress and concert
building called De
Doelen
, plus many theatres (including the new
Luxor theatre) and movie theatres. The
Ahoy complex in the south of the city is used for pop
concerts, exhibitions, tennis tournaments and other activities.
A major
zoo called Diergaarde Blijdorp
is situated at the northwest side of Rotterdam,
complete with a walkthrough sea aquarium called the Oceanium.
The city is home to the
Willem
de Kooning Academy and
Piet
Zwart Institute.
Rotterdam is currently going through somewhat of a renaissance,
with some urban renewal projects featuring ambitious architecture,
an increasingly sparkling nightlife, and a host of summer festivals
celebrating the city's multicultural population and identity, such
as the Caribbean-inspired '
Summer
Carnival', the Dance Parade, Rotterdam 666, the Metropolis pop
festival and the World Harbor days. The city has a few venues for
pop music like Rotown,
WATT, Exit. The venue WORM focuses on
experimental music and related
cutting edge subcultural music.There are also
the
International Film
Festival in January, the Poetry International Festival in June,
the North Sea Jazz Festival in July, the Valery Gergiev Festival in
September, September in Rotterdam and the World of the Witte de
With. In June 1970, The Holland Pop Festival (which featured
Jefferson Airplane,
The Byrds,
Canned Heat,
It's a Beautiful Day, and
Santana) was held and filmed at the
Stamping Grounds in Rotterdam.
The self-image of the city is that of a no-nonsense workers' city.
In that sense, there is a healthy competition with Amsterdam, which
is often viewed as the cultural capital of the Netherlands. There
is a saying: "Amsterdam to party, Den Haag (The Hague) to live,
Rotterdam to work". Another one, more popular by Rotterdammers, is
"Money is earned in Rotterdam, divided in The Hague and spent in
Amsterdam". Another saying that reflects both the rivalry between
Rotterdam and Amsterdam is "Amsterdam has it, Rotterdam doesn't
need it".
Rotterdam has had a rich
hiphop music
scene since the early 1980s. It is also the home of
Gabber, a type of hardcore electronic music popular
in the mid-1990s, with hard beats and samples. Groups like
Neophyte and
Rotterdam Terror Corps (RTC) started
in Rotterdam.
The main
cultural
organisations in Amsterdam, such as the Concertgebouw
and Holland
Festival, have joint forces with similar organisations in
Rotterdam, via A'R'dam. In 2007 these organisations
published with plans for co-operation. One of the goals is to
strengthen the international position of culture and art in the
Netherlands in the international context.
Museums
Rotterdam has many museums.
Well known museums are
the Boijmans-van Beuningen
Museum, the NAi (Netherlands
Architecture Institute
), the Volkenkundig Museum (foreign peoples
and cultures), the Kunsthal
(design by Rem
Koolhaas),the center for contemporary art Witte de With, the Maritiem Museum and the
Brandweermuseum (Fire brigade museum). The
Historisch Museum [4312](Historical museum) has two buildings:
the Dubbelde Palmboom and the Schielandshuis.Other museums include
the tax museum and the nature historical museum. At the historical
shipyard and museum Scheepswerf 'De Delft the reconstruction of
Ship of the Line 'De Delft' can be
visited.
Architecture and skyline
Modern residential architecture (cube
houses) in the city centre of Rotterdam.
In 1898,
the 45 meter high-rise office building the White House (or in
official Dutch Witte
Huis) was completed, at that time the tallest office
building in Europe.In the first decades of the 20th century,
some influential architecture in the modern style was built in
Rotterdam.
Notable are the Van Nelle fabriek
(1929) a monument of modern factory design by
Brinkman en Van der Vlugt,
the Jugendstil clubhouse of the Royal Maas Yacht Club designed by
Hooijkaas jr. en Brinkman (1909), and Feyenoord's football stadium de
Kuip
(1936) also by Brinkman en Van der Vlugt.
The architect
J. J. P. Oud was a famous Rotterdammer in those
days.During the early stages of
World War
II the center of Rotterdam was
bombed by the Germans, destroying many of
the older buildings in the center of the city. After initial crisis
re-construction the center of Rotterdam has become the site of
ambitious new architecture.
Rotterdam
is also famous for its Kubuswoningen or cube houses
built by architect Piet
Blom in 1984. In addition to that there are many
international well known architects based in Rotterdam like O.M.A
(
Rem Koolhaas),
MVRDV,
Neutelings & Riedijk and
Erick van Egeraat to name a
few.
Rotterdam houses several of the tallest structures in the
Netherlands.
- The
Erasmus
Bridge (1996) is a 790-meter (2,600 ft) cable stayed
bridge linking the north and south of Rotterdam. It is held
up by a tall pylon with a characteristic bend, earning the bridge
its nickname 'De Zwaan' ('the Swan').
- Rotterdam has the tallest residential
building in the Netherlands: the Montevideo Tower
(160 m (524 ft)).
- Rotterdam is also home to the tallest office building 'Delftse
Poort' (160 m (520 ft)) which houses
Nationale-Nederlanden insurance company, part of ING Group.
- The
city also houses the tall Euromast
, which has long been a major tourist attraction. It was built in 1960,
initially reaching a height of ; in 1970, the Euromast was extended
by to its current height.
Rotterdam
has a reputation in being a platform for architectural development
and education through the Berlage Institute, a postgraduate
laboratory of architecture, and the NAi (Netherlands
Architecture Institute), which is open to the public and has a variety of
good exhibitions on architecture and urban planning
issues.
Rotterdam
is standing in the best European SkylineTop together with Frankfurt
, London
, Paris
, Brussels
, Moscow
, and
Warsaw
.Over 30 new highrise projects are being
developed at the moment, including the high 'Maas Tower', the 'New
Orleans Tower', which will be about and the Zalmhaven Urban Tower
.
Sports
Rotterdam is the home of two
Eredivisie
('Honorary Division', or Dutch Premier League)
football clubs,
Feyenoord and
Sparta, and one
Eerste Divisie club,
Excelsior. Rotterdam also has three
Hoofdklasse (main class) clubs, SC Feijenoord
(Feyenoord Amateurs), PVV DOTO and TOGR.
Feyenoord, founded in 1908 and the dominant of the three, has won
fourteen national titles since the introduction of professional
football in the Netherlands. It won the European Cup as the first
Dutch club in 1970, and won the World Cup for club teams in the
same year. In 1974, they were the first Dutch club to win the
UEFA Cup and in 2002, Feyenoord won the
UEFA Cup again. In 2008, the year of their 100-year-anniversary,
Feyenoord won the KNVB-cup. Feyenoord also has the biggest
supporter group in the Netherlands.
Seating
51,480, its 1931 stadium, called Stadion Feyenoord but
popularly known as De Kuip ('the Tub'), is the second largest in the country,
after the Amsterdam
ArenA
. De Kuip, located in the southeast of the
city, has hosted many international football games, including the
final of
Euro 2000 and has been
awarded a FIFA 5 star ranking. There are concrete plans to build a
new stadium with a capacity of at least 80,000 seats. If the
football worldchampionship in 2018 will go to the Netherlands and
Belgium, the stadium is supposed to host the final of the
tournament.
Sparta, founded in 1888 and situated in the northwest of Rotterdam,
won the national title six times; Excelsior (founded 1902), in the
northeast, has never won any. Nowadays Rotterdam is the only city
with two (and with Excelsior sometimes even three) teams in the
Eredivisie.
Rotterdam has its own annual international
marathon, which offers one of the fastest
courses in the world. From 1985 until 1998, the
world record was set in
Rotterdam, first by
Carlos Lopes and
later in 1988 by
Belayneh Dinsamo.
The marathon starts and ends on the
Coolsingel in the
heart of Rotterdam.
Since 1972, Rotterdam hosts the
ABN AMRO World Tennis
Tournament, part of the
ATP Tour.
Members of the student rowing club
Skadi were part of the '
Holland Acht', winning a gold medal at the
Olympics in
1996.
In
field hockey, Rotterdam has the
largest hockey club in the Netherlands,
HC
Rotterdam, with its own stadium in the north of the city and
nearly 2,400 members. The first men's and women's teams both play
on the highest level in the Dutch
Hoofdklasse.
Rotterdam is home to the most successful European
baseball team,
Neptunus
Rotterdam, winning the most
European Cups.
Since 1986, the city has selected its best sportsman, woman and
team at the
Rotterdam
Sports Awards Election, held in December.
Motor cycle speedway was staged in the Feyenoord Stadium after the
second world war. The team which raced in a Dutch league was known
as the Feyenoord Tigers. The team included Dutch riders and some
English and Australian riders.
Tour De France
In November 2008 it was announced that Rotterdam will host the
Grand Depart of the 2010 Tour De France.
"Rotterdam is a great metropolis and (as the start venue) is sure
to be a big popular success – it does all it can to enable people
to get around by bike," said Tour de France Director Christian
Prudhomme according to the AFP.
Rotterdam
won the selection over the Dutch city of Utrecht
. Germany's Dusseldorf had previously also
expressed interest in hosting.
The Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), organizers of the Tour de
France, said in a statement on its web site that it chose Rotterdam
because in addition to it being another big city, like London, to
showcase the use of bikes for urban transportation, it provided a
location well positioned considering the rest of the route
envisioned for the 2010 edition.
The start in Rotterdam will mark the fifth time The Netherlands
kicks off the Tour de France. More details about the Grand Départ
will be announced on December 11 in a press conference at the
Nieuwe Luxor Theater in Rotterdam
Shopping
Well-known streets in Rotterdam are the
shopping center the Lijnbaan (the first set of
pedestrian streets of the country,
opened in 1953), the Hoogstraat, the Coolsingel with the city hall,
and the Weena, which runs from the Central Station to the Hofplein
(square). A modern shopping venue is the Beurstraverse ('Stock
Exchange Traverse), better known by the informal name '
Koopgoot' ('Buying/Shopping Gutter', after its
low-lying position, crossing Rotterdam's main street Coolsingel
below street level).
The Blaak open market of
Rotterdam
The main
shopping venue in the south of Rotterdam is Zuidplein, which lies
close to Ahoy'
Rotterdam
, an
accommodation center for shows, exhibitions, sporting events,
concerts and congresses. Another prominent shopping center,
called Alexandrium (sometimes still called by its former name
Oosterhof), lies in the east of Rotterdam. It includes a
large kitchen and furniture center.
Yearly events
- January: International Film
Festival Rotterdam
- April-June
- August: Pleinbioscoop
- June till September: the Rotterdam Summer festivals, including
- September:
- World Port Days (2006: 1, 2 and 3 September)
Transportation
Rotterdam is well connected in international, national, regional
and local public transport systems, as well as by the Dutch
motorway system.
Motorways
The 'Ring' (ring road) of Rotterdam is
displayed in darker red.
There are several motorways which run to/from Rotterdam. The
following four are part of its 'Ring' (
ring
road):
The following two other motorways also serve Rotterdam:
Airport
Much
smaller than the international hub Schiphol
airport
, Rotterdam Airport
(formerly known as Zestienhoven) is the
third largest airport in the country.
Located north of the city, it has shown a very strong growth over
the past five years, mostly caused by the growth of the
low-cost carrier market. For business
travelers Zestienhoven Airport offers advantages due to rapid
handling of passengers and baggage. Environmental regulations make
further growth uncertain.
Train
Rotterdam Central Station, built in
1953, demolished in 2008.
The modular, temporary station at
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is well connected to the Dutch railroad system, and has
several international connections. The train system hosts:
Four trainlines
Railway stations
Main connections
- Direct international services to Belgium
and France
via high
speed train system: Thalys
- Frequent international trains to Antwerp
and Brussels, Belgium
- Frequent services within the Netherlands:
- Intercity line to The Hague, Leiden, Schiphol
airport and Amsterdam
(north)
- Intercity line to Utrecht and on to Deventer
or Enschede
(the east), Leeuwarden
(north-west) or Groningen
(north-east)
- Intercity line to Dordrecht, Roosendaal
and on to Vlissingen
(south west)
- Intercity line to Dordrecht, Breda
, Tilburg
, Eindhoven
and Venlo
(south
east)
- Night services every hour connecting every day of the week to
Delft, The Hague, Leiden, Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, and, with a
detour, Utrecht. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday night services
(either direct or via a detour) to Den Bosch, Eindhoven, Tilburg,
Roosendaal.
- Several semi-fast services and local trains originate or call
at Rotterdam Centraal; semi-fast services Amsterdam-Breda.
- Detailed information available from the site of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch
Railways)
Light Rail
To bridge
the gap between national train services and local public
transportation the Dutch Randstad has developed a regional lightrail system called Randstad Rail. First trains ran in
September 2006.
Subway
In 1968 Rotterdam was the first Dutch city to open a
subway system. Currently the system consists
of two main lines, each of which has some variants.
- Erasmus Line: Rotterdam Central station -
Albrandswaard
(Rhoon, Poortugaal) - Hoogvliet - Spijkenisse
- Caland Line: two lines from the northeast of
Rotterdam (Ommoord and since September 2005 to the new constructed
neighborhood Nesselande (before it ended at Zevenkamp which is one
stop before Nesselande), both in Prins Alexander) and one from Capelle aan den IJssel join; the combined line terminated in the west of
Rotterdam, but on 4 November 2002, an extension was opened: the
line now connects to the main railway network at Schiedam railway station, has a stop in Pernis and joins the Erasmus Line in Hoogvliet; trains on
the Caland Line, like those on the Erasmus Line, terminate in
Spijkenisse.
- The eastern parts of the Caland Line have some level crossings (with priority), and could
therefore be called light rail instead of
metro; however, they are integrated in the system; these parts have
overhead wires, while the rest has a
third rail, the vehicles can handle
both.
Tram
Rotterdam offers 10 tramlines with a total length of 93.4
kilometers.
Bus
Rotterdam offers 38 buslines with a total length of 432.7
kilometers.
Water bus
Every half hour a
water bus (Waterbus
route 1) goes from Rotterdam to Dordrecht and vice versa. The trip
takes an hour, inclusive stops along the way. The ferry can carry
about 130 passengers and there is space for 60
bicycles. The stops are:
Miscellaneous
Beaches
Since the summer of 2003 an artificial
beach
is created at the Boompjeskade along the Nieuwe Maas, between the
Erasmus Bridge and the Willems Bridge.
Swimming was not possible, digging
pits was limited to the height of the layer of
sand, ca. 50 cm.
Alternatively people go the beach of
Hoek van
Holland (which is still a Rotterdam district) or one of the
beaches in Zeeland
or the Zuid
Hollandse Eilanden: Ouddorp, Oostvoorne, Renesse
.
Notable Rotterdammers
- Pierre Bayle, enlightenment
philosopher.
- Edsger Dijkstra, Computer
Scientist.
- Louis Davids, composer,
entertainer, singer.
- Royston Drenthe, Real Madrid
C.F. defender/midfielder and Dutch international footballer.
- Francisco Elson, NBA player for the Milwaukee
Bucks.
- Desiderius Erasmus,
philosopher and humanist.
- Pim Fortuyn, politician,
assassinated in 2002.
- Piet Heyn, naval fleet
officer.
- Leo Fuld, singer.
- Willem de Kooning,
painter.
- Rem Koolhaas, internationally
renowned architect.
- Coen Moulijn, football player of
Feyenoord.
- Johan van Oldebarnevelt,
statesman of the Dutch Revolt.
- Robin van Persie, Arsenal F.C.
forward and Dutch international footballer.
- Marten Toonder, comic
writer.
- Abraham Icek Tuschinski,
businessman and movie theatre owner.
International Relations
Rotterdam has the following city and port connections throughout
the world:
- 14 Sister Cities
- 13 Partner Cities
- 4 Sister Ports
Twin towns - sister cities
Rotterdam is
twinned with:
Partner Cities
Sister Ports
References
- Ad van der Meer and Onno Boonstra, "Repertorium van Nederlandse
gemeenten", KNAW, 2006. [1]
- Europe works to assimilate Muslims, Atlanta
Journal Constitution
- Top European institutions in clinical
medicine
- Turin City Hall - International Affairs Retrieved on
2008-01-26.
- Granma - En La Habana vicealcalde de la ciudad de
Rotterdam -La delegación visitante hará la entrega oficial de
una donación de implementos deportivos, en momentos en que se
celebra el aniversario 25 de las relaciones entre ambas urbes
- Partners - Oslo kommune
- City of Kobe - "Sister City, Friendly City,
Friendship & Cooperation City". Retrieved February 15,
2007.
- Port of Busan, Sister Ports, Busan
External links
(added on 1 August 1941)
(added on 1 August 1941)
: 51,885
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/ Aruban
:
19,562
- Rotterdam
-Rotterdam's main station
- Northern part of Rotterdam
- Close to the centre of Rotterdam
- Southern part of Rotterdam
- Northern part of Rotterdam
- Southern part of Rotterdam
- A station near the De Kuip
Stormpolder - Ridderkerk
De Schans - Alblasserdam
Kade -Papendrecht
Westeind - Dordrecht
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