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"Made in Belgium :: Books"
"The Best Belgian Autors and Books about Belgium"
Search online for books, book reviews and summary,
novels and romans, discount on magazines subscriptions
Many history books, order and buy online at discount prices.
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"Antwerp : Biography and Books"
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Antwerp is Belgium’s second largest city and the unofficial capital of Flanders. The city is right on the bank of the river Scheldt and one of the world’s major seaports. Its economy centers on port-related activities and manufacturing; it has a high level of cargo shipping and oil refineries traffic. The 500,000 inhabitants call it the 'Metropolis'.
Archeologists found that people were already living in the bend of the river from mid-second century to the end of the third century (the Gallo-Roman period). The city probably got its name from the ‘aanwerp’, the alluvial mound where the first settlement was. However, there is a legend involving a mythical giant that exacted a toll from those crossing the river. On refusal, the giant severed the hands of the trespassers and threw them in the river. According to the legend the name Antwerpen derived from Dutch ‘hand werpen’ (hand throwing).
Antwerp’s ‘Golden Age’ was during the 16th century. Foreign trading houses were built in Antwerp and it became Europe's chief commercial and financial center. Antwerp was a metropolis of world class on economic and cultural level; a sixteenth-century Manhattan. Most architectural highlights that can be seen in Antwerp now are from this period.
In 1648, the Scheldt was closed off under the Peace of Westphalia and the trading activities declined rapidly. Apart from a few periods in which the river was opened to traffic and the city revived, there was little of cheer about Antwerp until the end of the 19th century. The city became a provincial town of less than 40,000 inhabitants. In 1863, the restrictions on traffic on the Scheldt were ended by a cash payment of Belgium to the Dutch. The city started to develop into the major seaport of modern times.
Antwerp has been the center of diamond trade with ups and downs for over 500 years. The diamond industry developed in16th century with the arrival of Jewish artisans expelled from Portugal. At the end of the nineteenth century, Antwerp became the leader in the world diamond market. In 1940, up to 80% of Antwerp's Jews were involved in the diamond trade. Less than 5,000 of its original 35,000 Jewish inhabitants survived the Holocaust and Antwerp's diamond industry had to rebuild itself. Today, almost 85% of the world's rough diamonds, and about half of the polished diamonds pass through Antwerp every year.
Antwerp’s reputation is not only based on the trade and industry. It is also the cultural capital of Flanders. Cultural inheritance includes the magnificent architecture and also a great collection of 15th to 17th century paintings. Antwerp is Rubens’ City, but also Quentin Massys, the ‘Velvet’ Bruegel, Jordaens, Cornelis de Vos and many others all lived and worked in Antwerp. The rich cultural tradition is maintained today by the city's numerous museums, theaters, three universities and several academies and institutes. Antwerp was chosen as European City of Culture 1993. Antwerp has also earned a place among the fashion cities of the world thanks several graduates of the Belgian Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
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