Philippine

Philippine is a village in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, in the municipality of Terneuzen.

In the year 1505, Jeronimus Laureijn, Lord of Watervliet, obtained the patent to dike a new polder. He named this polder Sainct Philippine, after Philip the Fair. He also received permission to establish a so-called "closed city," which was also named Philippine. In 1583, the Duke of Parma built a fortification in Philippine to protect North Flanders from the Watergeuzen. However, in 1633, during the Eighty Years' War, Philippine fell into the hands of the Northern Netherlands and began to serve as a base for various operations against the Spanish overlords in Flanders. The fortress was expanded with a castle, four bastions, two ravelins, and a water or harbor gate. The harbor gate opened onto the Braakman, which was in open connection with the Schelde and the North Sea.

In the nineteenth century, Philippine developed into a thriving place for fishermen and mussel farmers. Due to extensive silting of the Braakman, a canal had to be dug in 1900 to maintain a connection between Philippine and the sea. However, Philippine increasingly lost its important position to the growing Terneuzen, which was located directly on the Schelde. In 1952, the death knell for the mussel farmers came with the closure of the Braakman. The closure of the Braakman just before the flood disaster of 1953 actually spared the hinterland of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen from flooding.

Philippine became a commuter village; all the fortifications were demolished to make way for new residential areas. But what remained is the fame of the mussel restaurants. During the mussel season (August-April), even buses of tourists come to the village of Philippine to enjoy a mussel meal in one of the many mussel restaurants.

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