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Founding
Founding of Schiedam
city and municipality in the Netherlands
- 13th century – 13th century
- Europe
Founding
city and municipality in the Netherlands
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Schiedam (Dutch pronunciation: [sxiˈdɑm] ⓘ) is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of the city Rotterdam, east of the town Vlaardingen, and south of the city Delft. In the south, Schiedam is also connected to the village of Pernis via the Benelux tunnel.
The town's historical center is ringed with canals and contains the tallest windmill in the world.
Schiedam is a centre for the production of jenever, including as the internationally renowned Ketel One; in French and English, the word schiedam (usually without a capital s-) refers to the town's jenever. This was the town's main industry during the early Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th century, a period to which it owed its former nickname "Zwart Nazareth" ("Black Nazareth").
Schiedam was founded around the year 1230. The river Schie was dammed by the Lord of Wassenaer and the Amtlord Dirk Bokel of the Amt Mathenesse, this was to protect the existing polderland against the seawater from the North Sea. In 1247, Lady Adelaide of Holland married John I, Count of Hainaut. As a dowry she received from him the eastern part of the dam together with the adjacent polder. The dam attracted much trade activity as goods to and from the hinterland (Delft, and further away Leiden and Haarlem) had to be transhipped. A small town developed swiftly around the dam and its activities. In 1275, Schiedam received town privileges from Lady Adelaide, this in her capacity as sister of William II, the reigning Count of Holland and King of the Romans. She ordered the building of Te Riviere Castle near the Schie, which is known today as "Castle Mathenesse" (Dutch: "Huis te Riviere" or "Slot Mathenesse"). Remnants of a donjon, which were once part of the castle, are still visible today in the center of Schiedam and near the town office.
As a young settlement, Schiedam soon received competition from surrounding towns and cities: in 1340, Rotterdam and Delft also were allowed to establish a connection between the Schie and the Meuse. From the 15th century onwards, the town flourished as a place of pilgrimage due to the devotion afforded to Saint Lidwina, one of the most famous Dutch saints who lived her life in Schiedam. The town subsequently gained significance by fishing for herring. In 1428 a great fire swept through Schiedam, destroying large parts of the then wooden town.
In 1575 the world's first known commercial distillery started operations in Schiedam. The 18th century was Schiedam's Golden Age, when the gin industry flourished. The standstill in drink imports from France made the boom in Schiedam's distilleries possible. From dozens of distilleries Schiedam jenever was exported throughout the world. The gin industry gave the town its nickname "Black Nazareth". This industry is now largely gone. Five windmills in the town, called De Noord, Walvisch, Drie Koornbloemen, Nieuwe Palmboom and Vrijheid − are the highest traditional-style windmills in the world because they had to stick out above the high warehouses, and many storehouses are relics of this past. In one of the former factories at the Lange Haven the National Jenever Museum operates.
On 10 August 1856, the first major train accident in the Netherlands happened near Schiedam Centrum railway station, causing 3 deaths. On 4 May 1976 the 1976 Schiedam train accident also took place near the station, which caused 24 deaths.
At the end of the 19th and throughout the 20th century, the shipbuilding industry boomed in Schiedam, with large companies like Wilton-Fijenoord and others. In 1941, the ancient municipalities Kethel en Spaland were merged with Schiedam, which made large expansions of the town possible with residential areas in the north. At the end of the 20th century, the shipbuilding industry largely disappeared and today, Schiedam is mainly a commuter-area in the Rotterdam metropolitan area.
The town of Schiedam is located in the province of South Holland. It is enclosed between Rotterdam (east), Midden-Delfland (north), Vlaardingen (west) and the river Nieuwe Maas (south).
Schiedam exists of nine districts: Centrum ('Center'), Oost ('East'), Gorzen ('South'), West ('West'), Nieuwland, Groenoord, Kethel, Woudhoek and Spaland/Sveaparken.
Schiedam has an estimated total population of 82,055 inhabitants as of 2026.
55.44% of the population has Dutch background, 14.42% has a western migration background, and 30.15% has a non-western migration background.
The most popular sports in Schiedam are soccer and field hockey. Two of its prominent soccer clubs, SVV (Schiedamse voetbal vereniging) and Hermes, were formerly part of the Netherlands' professional football league before being relegated due to financial difficulties. Cricket is also unusually popular in Schiedam, with two cricket teams playing in the topklasse (by comparison, the Dutch capital Amsterdam only has one). Aforementioned team Hermes D.V.S. holds two topklasse titles, whilst rivals Excelsior '20 hold eleven.
There are about 35 schools in Schiedam. The oldest high school is the Stedelijk Gymnasium Schiedam, dating back to 1346. Other schools include Lyceum Schravenlant, Spieringshoek and Lentiz LIFE.
Schiedam was twinned with:
The relations between Schiedam and these cities was stopped in 2008, after Schiedam joined Eurotowns
Text from the Wikipedia article “Schiedam”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.