/kloc-in the 6th century, the urban construction of Rotterdam developed gradually, and many ports were dug up in the quagmire, which laid the foundation for foreign traffic and trade. To18th century; Rotterdam's foreign trade is more prosperous, mainly concentrated in France and Britain. At that time, ships also sailed to Indonesia and the United States. By the19th century, Rotterdam was playing an increasingly important role in entrepot trade. Due to the unification of Germany in 1870, Rotterdam was industrialized in the Rhine region, especially in the Ruhr region, which made Rotterdam develop accordingly. With the rapid development of capitalist economy and the navigation of Suez Canal, especially the 1877 railway connecting the southern city and the 1895 new canal channel leading to Beihai, the transportation conditions have been greatly improved. With the expansion of the city, the establishment of port transportation network and the integration of rivers and canals extending in all directions, Rotterdam became the largest port in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 20th century and one of the best equipped ports in the world.
Rotterdam suffered great losses during World War II. 1On May 4th, 940, the German Air Force bombed the city indiscriminately, and the whole city center and vast areas in the east were completely destroyed. Many public buildings, including St. Lawrence Cathedral built in15th century, were blown to pieces. Only the city government, the general post office, the stock exchange, the Boymans Museum and other buildings survived. Port Val Airport in Rotterdam (the first civil airport in Europe) was also damaged. /kloc-in the autumn of 0/944, when the Germans retreated, they also wantonly destroyed urban facilities, such as the dock area of ocean-going freighters with a total length of more than 7,700 meters, and about 40% of the dock equipment was destroyed.
Reconstruction and development
After the war, the municipal authorities began to implement the reconstruction plan and expropriated the entire destroyed area. 1949 completed the reconstruction of port facilities and the maritime traffic gradually recovered. In the 1960s and 1970s, Portlake Port and Petrochemical Zone were built, the Bell River with a depth of 23m, a width of 400m-600m and a length of 12km was excavated, and Ropot Port was built. From World War II to the mid-1970s, the area of ports and industrial zones expanded from 26.3 square kilometers to 65,438+000 square kilometers, making Rotterdam the largest port in the world from 65,438+0965. At present, there are 400 sea routes to all parts of the world, and about 3 1 000 sea ships and 1.8-0.2 million inland ships call every year. The port's annual cargo throughput is as high as 300 million tons, handling more than 4 million TEUs. This port is one of the largest container ports in the world (the others are Hongkong, Singapore, Kaohsiung, new york, etc.). ) .300,000-500,000-ton giant oil tankers can be moored in the harbor. The bulk goods imported and re-exported include petroleum, petroleum products, ore, coal, grain and fertilizer. The main targets of import and export are Germany, Britain, France, Italy and other EU countries.
Rotterdam today
After more than half a century of development, the Netherlands has become an economically developed country. It is one of the earliest member States of the European Union, and its per capita GNP ranks among the top in Europe. There are a complete range of industries, including the largest oil refinery in Europe, a developed shipbuilding industry, and internationally renowned petrochemical, household appliances, electronic instruments, dairy processing, margarine and so on. In addition, there are automobile assembly, construction machinery, railway equipment, light industry (paper, clothing, coffee, tea, cocoa, cigarettes, beer) and other manufacturing departments.
Walking into Rotterdam is like being in a new big city. Its urban construction plan was implemented according to the new layout after World War II. The buildings are basically newly built after the war, with novel and unique appearance, mostly western European style, unique shape and rich colors. There are large banks, insurance companies and international trade center institutions in the urban area. In the old city, many streets and sidewalks are paved with stones, retaining the features of hundreds of years ago. Rotterdam is a city along the Maas River. There are many rivers in the city, and all kinds of ships are moored by the river. Near buildings, rivers and bridges, windmills unique to Holland can be seen everywhere, forming picturesque scenery.
The traffic in the city is very convenient, including buses, trams, subways and various boats. Cars often cross bridges, rivers and shuttles in river networks. The streets in the urban area are neat and clean, and its biggest feature is that residents' floors and windows have colorful flowers. It is a veritable European port garden city. There are many vegetable gardens and flower beds in the suburbs, where all kinds of vegetables and flowers are planted. There are many kinds of goods in the store, and the market supply is extremely rich. Most of the goods sold are products from Europe. Cars from Italy, Germany and Japan are running in the street. There are all kinds of household appliances here, besides Philips products in the Netherlands, there are also products from Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi and Siemens. Communication and post and telecommunications are developed, and public telephone booths can be seen everywhere in the street, which is quite convenient for external communication. There are many restaurants, restaurants and fast food restaurants with different ethnic flavors, and overseas Chinese restaurants provide authentic Chinese food.
Rotterdam is also a famous tourist city, which receives many tourists from all over the world every day. There are many museums, art galleries, parks, libraries, cinemas and concert halls in this city. People's life not only has a strong cultural atmosphere, but also can make full use of their leisure time to seek the pleasure of life.