Beveren, The Netherlands

The municipality of Beveren is located in the north-eastern corner of the province of East Flanders, on the eastern edge of rural Waasland. It is located on the left bank of the Scheldt, directly opposite the city of Antwerp.

From the 1960s onwards, part of the vast, fertile polder area was transformed into a port and industrial area. Nevertheless, Beveren remains attractive in terms of landscape: in addition to a vast polder landscape and the more typical Wase farmlands with their convex fields, there are some beautiful nature and park areas here.

In the earliest history, the Land of Beveren was an immense plain with numerous rivers and islands. Breakthroughs, caused by rising sea levels, brought this country more and more under the influence of the tides. Settlements have sprung up on the border of this flood area, which are known to have been visited or inhabited by the Romans. With primitive dams, which were later raised and strengthened into dikes on the initiative of monasteries and abbeys, the first inhabitants of the region fought against the water and won their communal sheep pastures on the mudflats.

From the 17th century onwards, land reclamation began. In 1846 the second-to-last salt marsh area was dammed. For more than a century, the Scheldt seems to have been subdued. On the night of 1 February 1953, a heavy storm accompanied by spring tides made a breach in the seawall. Several polders were flooded and hundreds of houses suffered serious damage.

Dromos