Antwerpen. a, Vlaamsches Hoofd. b, Fort Montebello. c, Nord Fort. d, Fort Bourg. e, Fort St. Hilaire. f, Lunette Kiel

Title

Antwerpen. a, Vlaamsches Hoofd. b, Fort Montebello. c, Nord Fort. d, Fort Bourg. e, Fort St. Hilaire. f, Lunette Kiel

Description

Two illustrations on one sheet show a city map of Antwerp with index. Above a view of Antwerp with sailing ships in front.

ca. 1750

Artist

Anonymus

Historical Description

Antwerp a port city in the Belgian region of Flanders and the capital of the province of Antwerp. The city was first mentioned in documents in 726. After the division of the Frankish Empire, which began in 843, and other, mostly warlike, divisions of the Middle Kingdom, Antwerp became part of the Eastern Frankish Empire, the early medieval forerunner of the Holy Roman Empire, and received city rights in 1291. The city experienced its first heyday in the 14th century. Thanks to its port and cloth trade, it was a leading trading center and financial center in Europe. Antwerp fell to Burgundy in 1430 and to Habsburg in 1477. Antwerp was the end point of an important medieval long-distance trade route, the Brabanter Straße. It was a trade fair route that ran from Leipzig via Erfurt, Marburg, Siegen, Cologne, Aachen and Liège to Antwerp. A large part of the former East-West trade in furs, hardware and cloth was carried out through them. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Antwerp was one of the largest cities in the world, at times the most important trading metropolis in Europe and an important cultural center where artists such as Peter Paul Rubens worked.