He severed the hand of anyone who did not pay, and threw it in the river. A giant called Antigoon is said to have lived near the Scheldt river and extracted a toll from passing boatmen.

There is a folklore tradition that the name Antwerpen is from Dutch handwerpen ('hand-throwing'). If Andoverpis is Celtic in origin, it could mean 'those who live on both banks'. Ī Germanic ( Frankish or Frisian) origin could contain prefix anda ('against') and a noun derived from the verb werpen ('to throw') and denote, for example: land thrown up at the riverbank an alluvial deposit a mound (like a terp) thrown up (as a defence) against (something or someone) or a wharf. Scaldis ('the Scheldt') and Antverpia ('Antwerp'), Abraham Janssens, 1609, oil on panel, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, AntwerpĮarly recorded versions of the name include Ando Verpia on Roman coins found in the city centre, Germanic Andhunerbo from around the time Austrasia became a separate kingdom (that is, about 567 CE), and (possibly originally Celtic) Andoverpis in Dado's Life of St. The city hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics.

The inhabitants of Antwerp are nicknamed Sinjoren ( Dutch pronunciation: ), after the Spanish honorific señor or French seigneur, 'lord', referring to the Spanish noblemen who ruled the city in the 17th century. It was founded before stocks and shares existed, so was not strictly a stock exchange. The Bourse of Antwerp, originally built in 1531 and re-built in 1872, was the world's first purpose-built commodity exchange. īoth economically and culturally, Antwerp is and has long been an important city in the Low Countries, especially before and during the Spanish Fury (1576) and throughout and after the subsequent Dutch Revolt. In 2020, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network rated Antwerp as a Gamma + (third level/top tier) Global City. The city is also known as the hub of the world's diamond trade. The Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. It is about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Brussels, and about 15 kilometres (9 mi) south of the Dutch border. Īntwerp is on the River Scheldt, linked to the North Sea by the river's Westerschelde estuary. With a population of 520,504, it is the most populous city center in Belgium, and with a metropolitan population of around 1,200,000 people, it is the second-largest metropolitan region in Belgium, after only Brussels. Antwerp ( / ˈ æ n t w ɜːr p/ ( listen) Dutch: Antwerpen ( listen) French: Anvers ( listen)) is the largest city in Belgium by area at 204.51 square kilometres (78.96 sq mi) and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region.

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