Ant´werp

(Du. and Ger. Antwerpen , Fr. Anvers ), the chief port of Belgium, and one of the first on the Continent, the capital of a province of the same name, on the Scheldt, about 50 miles from the open sea. It lies in a fertile plain at an abrupt turn of the river, which is here from 160 to 280 yards wide, and has a depth varying from 25 to 50 feet. It is strongly fortified, being completely surrounded on the land side by a semicircular inner line of fortifications, the defences being completed by an outer line of forts and outworks. Fine quays have been constructed along the river banks. The general appearance numerous churches, convents, and magnificent public buildings, the stately antique houses that line its older thoroughfares, and the profusion of beautiful trees with which it is adorned. The older streets are tortuous and irregular, but those in the newer quarters are wide and regular. Some of the squares are very handsome. The cathedral, with a spire 400 feet high, one of the largest and most beautiful specimens of Gothic architecture in Belgium, contains Rubens' celebrated masterpieces, The Descent from the Cro , The Elevation of the Cro , and The A umption . The other churches of note are St. James's, St. Andrew's, and St. Paul's, all enriched with paintings by Rubens, Vandyck, and other masters. Among the other buildings of note are the exchange, the town hall, the palace, the theatre, academy of the fine arts, picture and sculpture galleries, . The harbour accommodation is extensive and excellent, large new docks and quays having been recently built, and other works being under construction or contemplated. The shipping trade is now very large, Antwerp being a great centre of the world's commerce, and the goods being largely in transit. The entries of ve els in a year aggregate over 13,000,000 tons. Much of the trade is with Britain. There are numerous but not very important industries. Antwerp is mentioned as early as the eighth century, and in the eleventh and twelfth it had attained a high degree of prosperity. In the sixteenth century it is said to have had a pop. of 200,000, and it had then an extensive foreign trade. The wars between the Netherlands and Spain greatly injured its commerce, which was almost ruined by the closing of the navigation of the Scheldt in accordance with the peace of Westphalia (1648). It was only in the nineteenth century that its prosperity revived. In the European War 195 (1914-8), the Germans, under General von Beseler, entered Antwerp on 7th Oct., 1914, and remained there until Nov., 1918. Pop. (1919), 322,857.—The province consists of a fertile plain 1093 sq. miles in area, and has a pop. of over 1,000,000. IMG:4014330425200354480_image074.jpg:alt caption Anubis