Maasdam is a village in the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

province of

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

. It is located about 14 km south of the city of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, in the municipality of

Hoeksche Waard The Hoekse Waard (; pre-1947 spelling: Hoeksche Waard) is an island between the Oude Maas, Dordtsche Kil, Hollands Diep, Haringvliet and Spui rivers in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. The island, part of the namesake munici ...

, on the rural

island. From the 14th Century until around 1800, Maasdam was also the name of the local administrative area, the

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

and later the "ambacht". Subsequently, from 1 January 1812 until 1 January 1984, it became the name of the local

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

, which comprised the village of Maasdam and the surrounding

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

s. In the periods 1812 - 1817 and 1832 - 1984, the hamlet of Cillaarshoek and the hamlet and

of Sint Anthoniepolder were also part of the municipality of Maasdam. The municipality of Maasdam was eventually merged with some surrounding municipalities to become part of the new municipality of

Binnenmaas Binnenmaas () was a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of in , and covers an area of of which is water. It is named after the lake of the same name. The municipality was ...

. The exception was Cillaarshoek which was split and partly merged into the existing municipality of

Strijen Strijen () is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality, covering an area of of which is water, is located on the Hoeksche Waard island along the Hollands Diep estuary. On 1 Janu ...

. On 1 January 2019 Binnenmaas was merged with

Cromstrijen Cromstrijen (; ''Cromstrien'' in local dialect) was a municipality on the Hoeksche Waard Island in the western Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Nether ...

Korendijk Korendijk () was a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covered an area of of which was water. With the municipal reorganization of the Hoeksche Waard on 1 January 1984, the municipality of ...

Oud-Beijerland Oud-Beijerland () is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland, now a part of the Hoeksche Waard municipality. With a population of 24,575 in 2020, it is the most populous town of the Hoeksche Waard ...

, and Strijen to form the municipality of

History

Maasdam was founded in the 13th Century in an area which at the time was part of the

County of Holland The County of Holland was a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire from its inception until 1433. From 1433 onward it was part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands and from 1581 onward the leading pro ...

, a state within the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. The current village covers areas that were separated by the river Maas until a permanent dam was built around 1270, from which the village took its name. However, archaeological findings have indicated that the area hosted significant human habitations as early as the start of the Roman

Flavian dynasty The Flavian dynasty, lasting from 69 to 96 CE, was the second dynastic line of emperors to rule the Roman Empire following the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Julio-Claudians, encompassing the reigns of Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian. Th ...

. Excavations in several locations have suggested that there was a large Roman settlement in the Maasdam area (on the northern shore of the river) probably from around 70 AD. Remains have been found of Roman roads, a bridge, a burial field, a harbor complex and even a Roman version of a dam in the river Maas suggesting that it was seen as a location of strategic importance on the North Western border of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. The more permanent foundation of "the Maasdam" around 1270 created a connection between the areas known as Poelwijk in the Tiesselijnswaard (north of the river) and Weede in the

Grote Hollandse Waard The Grote Waard or Hollandse Waard was a farming region in the County of Holland at the border of the Duchy of Brabant, that disappeared in the St. Elizabeth's flood (1421), St. Elizabeth's flood. Parts of this polder are now separated by water: H ...

(south of the river). The establishment of the Maasdam took place during the reign of

Floris V Floris V (24 June 1254 – 27 June 1296) reigned as Count of Holland and Zeeland from 1256 until 1296. His life was documented in detail in the Rijmkroniek by Melis Stoke, his chronicler. He is credited with a mostly peaceful reign, modern ...

. It was part of the establishment of the

which in itself was part of the long term policy of

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

by the

Counts of Holland The counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century. The Frisian origins While the Frisian kingdom had comprised most of the present day Netherlands, the later province of Friesland ...

(since the reign of

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

) who saw it as a way to strengthen their political and territorial powers in the region. Maasdam was founded nearby a substantial castle on the banks of the river Maas, the remaining foundations of which were discovered in 1958 in a parcel of land near the road in Maasdam known as "Kromme Elleboog". For a long time, it was assumed that the ruins in Maasdam were those of the castle Duivestein. However, it has more recently been suggested that the ruins could instead be those of a castle that belonged to the Lords of Weede. The area with castle ruins in Maasdam is officially protected as a

Rijksmonument A (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands had 61,822 l ...

. Most of the village of Maasdam and surrounding areas, including the castle, were destroyed during the second St. Elizabeth's flood (1421), although the main dyke in Maasdam as well as the hamlet and polder of Sint Anthoniepolder and hamlet of Cillaarshoek survived. Successful restoration was hindered by further floods as well as the

Hook and Cod Wars The Hook and Cod wars (; sometimes semi-anglicised as the wars of the Hoecks and the Cabbeljaws) comprise a series of wars and battles in the County of Holland between 1350 and 1490. Most of these wars were fought over who should hold the title ...

but eventually Maasdam was restored to its former size soon after

Philip the Good Philip III the Good (; ; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) ruled as Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reign, ...

allowed his

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

Jan Nemery, who had been the

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

of Maasdam for almost two decades, in 1435 to reclaim the polders next to the surviving dyke in Maasdam from the sea. Former

s of Maasdam * Jan Nemery, 1416 - 1438 * Jacob Nemery, 1438 - 1497 * Jacob Heerman, 1497 -1505 * Gijsbrecht Heerman, 1505 - 1541 * Boudewijn Heerman, 1541 - 1578 * Pieternella van Hooghlande, 1578 * Jonkheer Arent van Dorp, 1578 - 1600 * Anna van Dorp, 1600 * Philips van den Bossche, 1600 - 1612 * Jacques Manrycque, 1612 - 1615 * Anthonie Manrycque, 1615 - 1653 * Frederik van Dorp, 1653 -1700 * Carel Filips van Dorp, 1700 - 1726 * Anna Maria van Dorp, 1726 - 1738 * Adam Filips van der Duin, 1738 - 1739 * Arnold Joost van der Duin, 1739 - 1793 * Adam François Maximiliaan van der Duyn, 1793 - 1814 * Frans Adam Jules Armand van der Duyn van Maasdam, 1814 -1848 The last vasal of Maasdam,

Frans Adam van der Duyn van Maasdam Adam Frans Jules Armand, Count van der Duyn, ''lord of Maasdam and 's-Gravenmoer'' (13 April 1771 – 19 September 1848) was a Dutch officer and politician. He was part of the Triumvirate of 1813 that invited Prince William Frederick of Orange ...

(1771 -1848), was one of the three noblemen who briefly formed the provisional government of the Netherlands after its liberation from

Napoleonic France The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

by Prussian and Russian troops in 1813. He was part of the

Triumvirate of 1813 The Triumvirate of 1813 (''Driemanschap van 1813''), or the Provisional Government, governed the Netherlands briefly at the end of the Napoleonic era, before Prince William Frederick, the future King William I, came to power. It consisted of Gi ...

that declared the

Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands The Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands () was a short-lived sovereign principality and the precursor of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, in which it was reunited with the Southern Netherlands in 1815. The principality was procl ...

and invited William Frederick, Prince of Orange-Nassau to return from exile in England and accept sovereignty over the principality.J.W. Regt, "Geschied- en aardrijkskundige beschrijving van den Hoekschen-Waard", J. Boden, 184

/ref>

Notable people

Kees Verkerk, Olympic speed skater

Gallery

File:Maasdam.gif, Map of the former municipality of Maasdam around 1871 File:Maasdam molen de Hoop.jpg, Windmill De Hoop File:Maasdam straat.jpg, Street view File:Maasdam and surrounding area in 1421.jpg, Detail of a 20th-century map of the

, depicting the geography of Maasdam and surrounding area just before the second St. Elizabeth's flood (1421) which submerged most of the land shown.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in South Holland Former municipalities of South Holland Hoeksche Waard