Scheldt

The Scheldt is a river that originates in northern France and flows through Hainaut and Flanders via Antwerp to the North Sea. From this large port city the river flows to the west. Originally it divided itself into two branches, the Oosterschelde and the Westerschelde or Honte, with the Oosterschelde initially forming the main branch.

The river Scheldt consists of three parts, the Upper Scheldt up to Ghent. The length of this section is approximately 185 kilometers and no tide is noticeable here. The second part is the Zeeschelde from Ghent to the Dutch border and finally the Westerschelde. The Zeeschelde and the Westerschelde together form an estuary, where the tide is noticeable.

The Scheldt has been of great commercial and strategic importance for a very long time. The Romans were already interested in the Scheldt area, not so much because they liked it so much, it was too cold and wet for that. Flooding was certainly a big problem in their time. The reason for their interest was the connection by ship to Britannia. On Walcheren there was a temple where their sailors gladly enlisted the help and protection of the goddess Nehalennia before they sailed via the Roompot, possibly a corruption of Romanus Portus (Port of the Romans). At first, the area was firmly in Roman hands. The border was about 100 km to the north on the Rhine.

More information on Wikipedia

Passage