Antwerp and Belgium History

The Origin of Antwerp: Brabo and the Giant Antigone.

Scientists claim that the name of Antwerp comes from: 'anda verpus'. Which means something along the lines of 'a piece of land being brought in front'. They think that because of the redirection of the river in the 7th century, local Benedictine priests build a new harbor a few miles in front of the old harbor. They spoke about an anda verpus, which became andaverpus, andverpus, andverpia, antverpia and later Antwerpen..... We think it's all a bit far fetched ...

I’d like to start Antwerp and Belgium History with where the legend of Brabo ends, in the ... Middle Ages.

At the end of the 15th century, Antwerp became more important then Bruges. Businesses were moved to Antwerp and the money followed. Bruges lost its direct connection to the see and would become a small provincial town.

In 1400, around 18000 people lived in Antwerp. Barely 100 years later this would be 100 000 and with that became the biggest city of its time after Paris.New economical systems were developed here as the stakeholder ship and the first stock market in the world was build in 1531. It would stand as a model for the ones in London and Amsterdam.

World War II

Germany attacked Belgium on the 10th of May. Within the first hours, the complete Belgium air force was destroyed and Belgium would be occupied by Germany until the 1st of October 1944.

Battle of the Dikes

The Battle of the Scheldt, also known as "Battle of the Dikes was a series of military operations which took place in northern Belgium and the southwestern Netherlands during the Second World War from October 2 to November 8 of 1944.

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