If you've followed the Boomerang Box, you know that a city needs two very important things to succeed as a port.

First, it needs something to trade.

And second, it needs access to transportation - by land or sea - to get these goods to and from other people.

In 1328 when it was founded, the town of Rotterdam in the Netherlands might not have seemed likely to become a major port city. It was just a small fishing village near a dam on the Rotte River. Rotterdam was located near the Maas Estuary, which led to the North Sea, but the nearby towns of Delft and Dordrecht seemed much more important to trade and industry than Rotterdam.

However, over the next several centuries, Rotterdam grew and grew and so did its port. Dutch traders who traveled the world in search of gold, cocoa, and spices brought their goods in and out of the port.

Rotterdam was damaged during several wars and invasions, but managed to keep its access to the sea through the Maas, and so kept trading.

During the 1800s, the people of Rotterdam wanted to make sure their city remained an important port. They built the Nieuwe Waterweg (New Waterway), a deepwater channel so that larger ships could travel directly to the North Sea. They built train lines and bridges to get goods from all over Europe to the port so that they could be loaded onto ships and then transported to other lands. The Rotterdam port even invested in a new kind of contraption - a steam-powered harbor crane - so that ships coming in to port could be loaded and unloaded more quickly.

But then, during the mid-1900s, everything stopped in Rotterdam. The city was badly bombed in 1940, when the Netherlands was invaded by Germany at the beginning of World War II. Most of the city and its port were destroyed and could not be rebuilt during the five long years the Netherlands was occupied in wartime.

But in 1945, the people of Rotterdam began to rebuild. It took many years, because building materials were in short supply as cities all over Europe rebuilt the buildings that had been bombed during the war. But the city eventually came to life again and the port reopened.

In fact, in 1962, Rotterdam received the honor of being named the biggest port in the world. Goods from all over Europe were sent in and out of Rotterdam and from there, to destinations all over the world.

Even after it rebuilt, the Port of Rotterdam kept changing and growing. Today, Rotterdam remains one of the most important and busiest ports in the world. Rotterdam looks quite different from the small fishing village of 1328… but its people still depend on the sea for their livelihood.

Study Questions:

1. Dutch traders once traveled the world in search of exotic goods to trade. Use the library to learn more and write a one-page paper about what you learn.

2. Find the seaport nearest your hometown. Use the library or Internet to research its history. Write a one-page paper about what you learn.

Check out past Trade Topics entries!