170 Route 13. ANTWERP. History.

unscrupulously pillaged, its central part burned down, and 7000
of its inhabitants slain by fire and sword; it afterwards suffered
severely during a siege of fourteen months, followed by its capture
by Duke Alexander of Parma in 1585, when the population was
reduced to 85,000; and in 1589 the population had farther dwindled
to 55,000. In addition to these disasters the city lost the greater
part of its commerce, which fell into the hands of the Dutch after the
union of the Seven Provinces, while the Peace of Westphalia finally
closed the Scheldt against sea-going vessels in 1648. In 1790 the
population had sunk to 40,000 souls. The collapse of the Austrian
Supremacy saw the dawn of a happier period. In 1795 the French
extorted from Holland the abolition of the Scheldt dues by the Treaty
of The Hague. Napoleon I., who recognised the strategical impor-
tance of the situation of Antwerp, caused a harbour and new quays
to be constructed in 1800-1803 (comp. p. 203); and in 1805 about
2400 vessels of 135,000 tons’ burden entered the port, while its in-
dustry also had undergone an astonishing revival. In 1814 the city
was defended against the Allies by Carnot, but it was surrendered
to the British under Gen. Graham, and afterwards incorporated with
the newly-constituted kingdom of the Netherlands. The prosperity
of Antwerp received a new impetus from the trade which it now
carried on with the Dutch colonies (in 1830 population 73,500),
but it was again utterly ruined by the revolution of 1830, in which
the citizens participated sorely against their will, and which diverted
its trade to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. In 1830 the town was
occupied by the insurgents and was bombarded by the Dutch
general Chassé, who in his turn was besieged and bombarded
here by the French in 1832. It was many years before Antwerp
began to recover from these calamities. Indeed the tide of pro-
Sperity did not again set in fully till 1863, when the right of
levying nayigation dues on the Scheldt, granted to Holland by the
peace of 1839, was commuted for a sum of 36,000,000 fr., one-
third paid by Belgium and the rest by the other powers interested.
Since that date, however, its commerce has rapidly increased, and
many foreign merchants have settled here. In 1850 the port was
entered by 1406 ships (282 steamers, 1424 sailing - ships) of
239,165 tons’ burden; in 4880 by 4475 ships (3158 steamers,
1317 sailing-ships) of 3,063,825 tons; in 1908 by 6158 ships
(5721 steamers, 437 sailing-ships) of 10,051,644 tons. In 1870
the value of the imports was 670 million francs, in 1909 about
2463 million francs; within the same period the value of the
exports rose from 3914 million to 2073 million francs. The prin-
cipal imports are wheat, coffee, hops, tobacco, wool, hides, petro-
leum, and timber. The most important industries of the city are
diamond -cutting, cigar-making, lace-making, sugar -refining,
brewing, and distilling. Antwerp is also an emigration-port of im-
portance (35,559 emigrants in 4908).