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|{{Infobox Belgium Municipality|name=Antwerp
Antwerpen |picture=Antwerp.jpg|picture-legend=The Cathedral and the Scheldt in Antwerp.|map=AntwerpenLocatie.png|map-legend=Antwerp municipality in the province of Antwerp|arms=Antwerp City.jpg|flag=Flag of Antwerp (City).svg|region=|community=|province=|arrondissement=Arrondissement of Antwerp|nis=11002|pyramid-date=01/01/2006|0-19=22.32|20-64=58.47|65=19.21|foreigners=12.41|foreigners-date=01/07/2005|mayor=Patrick Janssens (SP.A)], CD&V, Flemish Liberals and Democrats|postal-codes=2000-2660|telephone-area=03|web= www.antwerpen.be|lat_deg=51|lat_min=13|lon_deg=04|lon_min=24-->|-||-| (Cathedral of our Lady) and the Scheldt river.]: , French language: Anvers) is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp (province) in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions. Antwerp's total population is ca. 461,496 (as of January 2006) and its total area is 204.51 km² with a population density of 2,257 inhabitants per km².

Antwerp has long been an important city in the Low Countries Benelux both economically and culturally. It is located on the right bank of the river Scheldt, which is linked to the North Sea by the Westerschelde. Port of Antwerp, one of the world's largest and after the port of Rotterdam the second largest in Europe, has a high level of cargo shipping and oil refinery traffic. Families of the large Jewish Community of Antwerp have traditionally controlled Antwerp's global centre of the diamond trading industry, although the last two decades have seen Indian and Armenian traders become increasingly important.

History Origin of name According to folklore, and as celebrated by the statue in front of the town hall, the city got its name from a legend involving a mythical giant (mythology) called Druon Antigoon that lived near the river Scheldt, exacting a toll from those crossing the river. On refusal, the giant severed one of their hands and threw them into the Scheldt. Eventually, the giant was slain by a young hero named Silvius Brabo, who cut off the giant's hand and threw it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen from Dutch language hand werpen (akin to Old English hand and wearpan (= to throw), that has changed to today's warp). Brabo ANTWERPEN 1 (centrum) / ANTWERPEN

To support this folkloric derivation, it is pointed out that hand-cutting was practised in Europe, when the right hand of a man who died without heir was cut off and sent to the feudal lord as proof of main-morte.However, John Lothrop Motley argues that Antwerp's name derives from an 't werf (on the wharf).

The currently most prevailing theory is that the name originated in the Gallo-Roman period and comes from the Latin antverpia. Antverpia would come from Ante(against) Verpia(deposition, sedimentation), indicating the land that forms by depossition in the inner curb of a river. Note that the river Scheldt, before a transition period between the years 600 to 750, followed a different track. This must have coincided roughly with the current ringway south of the city, situating the city indeed in an inner curb of the river. Antwerp Tourist Information - Meredith Booney, "The name 'Antwerp' has been linked to the word “aanwerp” (alluvial mound), which was the geographical feature in the early settlement period in this place".

Pre-1500 The historical Antwerp had its origins in a Gallo-Roman vicus civilization. Excavations carried out in the oldest section near the Scheldt, 1952-1961 (ref. Princeton), pottery sherds and fragments of glass from mid-second century to the end of the third century.

In the 4th century, Antwerp was first named, having been settled by the Germanic languages Franks. Brittanica: Antwerp The name was reputed to have been derived from "anda" (at) and "werpum" (wharf).

The Merovingian Antwerp, now fortified, was evangelized by Saint Amand in the seventh century. At the end of the tenth century, the Scheldt became the boundary of the Holy Roman Empire. Antwerp became a margraviate, a border province facing the County of Flanders. In the eleventh century Godfrey of Bouillon was for some years best known as marquis of Antwerp. In the 12th century, Norbert of Xanten established a community of his Premonstratensian at St. Michael’s Abbey at Caloes. Antwerp was the headquarters of Edward III of England during his early negotiations with Jacob van Artevelde, and his son Lionel, the earl of Cambridge, was born there in 1338.

16th century After the closing of the Zwin and the consequent decline of Bruges, the city of Antwerp, then part of the Duchy of Brabant, became of importance. At the end of the 15th century the foreign trading houses were transferred from Bruges to Antwerp, and the building assigned to the English nation is specifically mentioned in 1510.

Fernand Braudel states that Antwerp became "the center of the entire international economy—something Bruges had never been even at its height." (Braudel 1985 p. 143.) Antwerp's "Golden Age" is tightly linked to the "Age of Exploration". Over the first half of the 16th century Antwerp grew to become the second largest European city north of the Alps by 1560. Many foreign merchants were resident in the city. Guicciardini, the Venetian envoy, stated that hundreds of ships would pass in a day, and 2000 carts entered the city each week. Portuguese ships laden with black pepper and cinnamon would unload their cargo.

Without a long-distance merchant fleet, and governed by an oligarchy of banker-aristocrats forbidden to engage in trade, the economy of Antwerp was foreigner-controlled, which made the city very international, with merchants and traders from Venice, Ragusa, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Antwerp had a policy of toleration, which attracted a large orthodox Jewish community. Antwerp was not a "free" city though, since it had been reabsorbed into the duchy of Brabant in 1406 and was controlled from Brussels.

Antwerp experienced three booms during its century, the first based on the pepper market, a second launched by American silver coming from Seville (ending with the bankruptcy of Spain in 1557), and a third boom, after the stabilising Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, in 1559, based on the textiles industry. The boom-and-bust cycles and inflationary cost-of-living squeezed less-skilled workers.

The religious revolution of the Reformation erupted in violent riots in August 1566, as in other parts of the Netherlands. The regent Margaret of Austria (1522-1583) was swept aside when Philip II of Spain sent the Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba at the head of an army the following summer. When the Eighty Years' War broke out in 1572, commercial trading between Antwerp and the Spanish port of Bilbao was not possible. On November 4, 1576, the Spanish soldiers plundered the city. During the The Spanish Fury 6000 citizens were massacred, 800 houses were burnt down, and over two millions sterling of damage was done.

Antwerp became the capital of the Dutch revolt. In 1585, Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza captured it after a Siege of Antwerp (1584-1585) and sent its Protestant citizens into exile. Antwerp's banking was controlled for a generation by Genoa and Amsterdam became the new trading centre.

17th-19th centuries The recognition of the independence of the Dutch Republic by the Treaty of Munster in 1648 stipulated that the Scheldt should be closed to navigation, which destroyed Antwerp's trading activities. This impediment remained in force until 1863, although the provisions were relaxed during French rule from 1795 to 1814, and also during the time Belgium formed part of the kingdom of the Netherlands (1815 to 1830). Antwerp had reached the lowest point of its fortunes in 1800, and its population had sunk under 40,000, when Napoleon, realizing its strategic importance, assigned two millions for the construction of two docks and a mole. In 1830, the city was captured by the Belgian insurgents, but the citadel continued to be held by a Dutch garrison under General David Hendrik Chassé. For a time this officer subjected the town to a periodic bombardment which inflicted much damage, and at the end of 1832 the citadel itself was besieged by a French army. During this attack the town was further injured. In December 1832, after a gallant defence, Chassé made an honourable surrender.

20th century Antwerp was the first city to host the World Gymnastics Championships, in 1903. During World War I, the city became the fallback point of the Belgian Army after the defeat at Liège (city). It was taken after heavy fighting by the German Army, and the Belgians were forced to retreat westward.

Antwerp hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics. During World War II the city was occupied by Germany in May 1940 and was liberated when the British 11th Armoured Division entered the city on September 4, 1944. After this, the Germans attempted to destroy the Port of Antwerp, which was used by the Allies to bring new material ashore. Thousands of V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket missiles battered the city. The city was hit by more V-2s than any other target during the entire war, but the attack did not succeed in destroying the port since many of the missiles fell upon other parts of the city. As a result, the city itself was severely damaged and rebuilt after the war in a modern style. After the war, Antwerp, which had already had a sizable Jewish population before the war, once again became a major European center of Haredi (and particularly Hasidic) Orthodox Judaism.

Municipality The municipality comprises the city of Antwerp proper and several towns. It's divided into nine entities (districts):
  • Antwerp (district)
  • Berchem
  • Berendrecht-Zandvliet-Lillo
  • Borgerhout
  • Deurne, Belgium
  • Ekeren
  • Hoboken, Antwerp
  • Merksem
  • Wilrijk


    • Historical population This is the population of the city of Antwerp only, not of the larger current municipality of the same name.{| class="vatop"|width="500" | |width="500" | |}| at the Grote Markt (Main Square).|-|houses at the Grote Markt.|-| in the Low Countries and home to several triptychs by Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. It remains the tallest building in the city.|}

    Buildings and facilities In the 16th century, Antwerp was noted for the wealth of its citizens ("Antwerpia nummis"); the houses of these wealthy merchants and manufacturers have been preserved throughout the city. However fire has destroyed several old buildings, such as the house of the Hanseatic League on the northern quays in 1891. The city also suffered considerable war damage by Vergeltungswaffe, and in recent years other noteworthy buildings were demolished for new developments.

     
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