Delft Schie

The Schie is a name used for four waterways in the vicinity of the Dutch Overschie. The Delfshavense Schie, the Delftse Schie, the Rotterdamse Schie, and the Schiedamse Schie are distinguished. The existence of four Schieën is the result of medieval rivalry between the cities of Delft, Rotterdam, and Schiedam regarding toll rights.

At the beginning of our era, the Maas delta was an area of peat marshes with a widely branched system of tidal creeks. In the following centuries, these creeks silted up and the area became landlocked. On a paleoarchaeological map of the area from 800 AD, we see at Overschie the mouth of the Schie into the Merwe (the old name for the Maas estuary), a northern branch towards Delft, and at the height of Zweth, an eastern branch towards Schiebroek.

With the founding of the city of Delft, the originally natural watercourse, the Schie, was channeled and further excavated westward under the name "de Delf." The first excavation work may have already taken place in Roman times when, for instance, the nearby Corbulo Canal was also dug. Archaeological excavations suggest that the continuation of the Schie, located north of Delft, the Vliet, partly coincides with this historical canal.

Schie was not only the name of the peat river but also the name of the first settlement on the Schie, now Overschie. Schie could mean separation and could be the divide between the Maasland (to the west) and the area between Schie and Gouwe.

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