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Terneuzen () is a city and
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
in the southwestern
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, in the province of Zeeland, in the middle of Zeelandic Flanders. With almost 55,000 inhabitants, it is the most populous municipality of Zeeland.


History

First mentioned in 1325, Terneuzen was a strategically located port on the waterways to
Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
, in present-day
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
. It received
city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...
in 1584. Tradition has it that Terneuzen was once the home of the legendary Flying Dutchman, Van der Decken, a captain who cursed God and was condemned to sail the seas forever, as described in the Frederick Marryat novel ''
The Phantom Ship ''The Phantom Ship'' (1839) is a Gothic novel by Frederick Marryat which explores the legend of the '' Flying Dutchman''. Plot introduction The plot concerns the quest of Philip Vanderdecken of Terneuzen in the Netherlands to save his father ...
'' and the
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
opera '' The Flying Dutchman''. Before 1877, the city was often called Neuzen.


Geography

The city of Terneuzen is located on the southern shore of the
Western Scheldt The Western Scheldt ( nl, Westerschelde) in the province of Zeeland in the southwestern Netherlands, is the estuary of the Scheldt river. This river once had several estuaries, but the others are now disconnected from the Scheldt, leaving th ...
estuary. The municipality of Terneuzen consists of the following population centres:


Economy

The
Ghent–Terneuzen Canal The Ghent–Terneuzen Canal (Dutch: Kanaal van Gent naar Terneuzen), also known as the "Sea Canal" (Zeekanaal) is a canal linking Ghent in Belgium to the port of Terneuzen on the Westerschelde (Scheldt) Estuary in the Netherlands, thereby providi ...
is still an important shipping route connecting the Port of Ghent. The port of Terneuzen is the third-largest in the Netherlands, after those of
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...
and
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
. The largest plant of
Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...
outside of the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
is located at Terneuzen, on the west side of the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal.


Transport

Terneuzen can be reached from the rest of the Netherlands via the Western Scheldt Tunnel, which opened in March 2003. Terneuzen is not linked to the rest of the Netherlands by rail, although the Dow Chemical plant is served by a freight-only line to Ghent in Belgium (Terneuzen's passenger rail service was withdrawn in 1951).


Notable residents

*
Lupus Hellinck Lupus Hellinck (also Wulfaert) (1493 or 1494 – ) was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was a prominent composer of masses, as well as German chorales and motets. Although he was a Roman Catholic all of his life, his music shows evi ...
(1493 or 1494 – 1541) a Flemish composer of the Renaissance * Sir Bernard de Gomme (1620–1685) a Dutch military engineer *
Pieter Paulus Pieter Paulus (9 April 1753 – 17 March 1796) was a Dutch jurist, fiscal (prosecutor) of the Admiralty of the Maze and politician. He was one of the ideologues of the Dutch Patriot movement and is considered by many Dutch as the founder of their ...
(1753–1796) a Dutch jurist, fiscal (prosecutor) of the Admiralty of the Maze and politician * Francien de Zeeuw (1922–2015) a Dutch resistance fighter during WWII and the first female member of the Dutch armed forces * Lodewijk van den Berg (1932–2022) astronaut on a Challenger Space Shuttle mission * Jacques Hamelink (born 1939 in Driewegen) a Dutch poet, novelist and literary critic * Klaas de Vries (born 1944) a Dutch composer, co-founded the
Rotterdam School The term Rotterdam School is used to refer to a group of composers related to the city of Rotterdam. What started in the final decade of the twentieth century within a small circle of composition students at the Rotterdam Conservatory with a manife ...
of music * Eric van Damme (born 1956) a Dutch economist *
Jos de Putter Jos de Putter ( Terneuzen, 1959) is a Dutch film director, film critic and screenwriter who primarily makes Dutch documentary films. He studied political science and literature at the University of Leiden, and was a member of the editorial staff ...
(born 1959) a Dutch film director, film critic and screenwriter * Mark Janse (born 1959 in Sas van Gent) research professor in Asia Minor and Ancient Greek at Ghent University * Erik de Bruyn (born 1962) film director and actor IMDb Database
retrieved 3 August 2019 * Peter van Dommelen (born 1966) a Dutch archaeologist and academic *
Sandra Roelofs Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs–Saakashvili (also spelled Saakasjvili, ;, ; uk, Сандра Елісабет Рулофс-Саакашвілі, . born 23 December 1968) is a Dutch– Georgian activist and diplomat who was the First Lady of Georgia f ...
(born 1968) former first lady of Georgia


References


External links


Port of Terneuzen

Official Website (in Dutch)
{{Authority control Municipalities of Zeeland Populated places in Zeeland Cities in the Netherlands Port cities and towns in the Netherlands Port cities and towns of the North Sea Zeelandic Flanders