Rotterdam << ROT uhr `dam` >> (pop. 618,357) is the second largest city in the Netherlands . Only Amsterdam is larger. Rotterdam has one of the world’s busiest seaports. The city lies on both banks of the Nieuwe Maas River about 19 miles (31 kilometers) east of the North Sea . In 1872, engineers completed a channel called the Nieuwe Waterweg, which links Rotterdam with the sea. More than 150 nationalities are represented in the city, where half of the residents are foreign born.
Almost all the buildings in the heart of Rotterdam have been constructed since World War II ended in 1945. The city center was destroyed in the Rotterdam Blitz, the German attack on the city in 1940. One of the few surviving buildings there, the medieval St. Laurens (or St. Lawrence) Church, is a major landmark of the city. It was badly damaged by the bombing but was repaired after the war. Rotterdam’s old harbor district, Delfshaven, escaped destruction. It has many buildings that date from the 1600’s. Some of the Pilgrims who sailed to America in 1620 began their journey from Delfshaven.
In 1968, the Netherlands’ first subway system opened in Rotterdam. The Erasmus Bridge, opened in 1996, has become a symbol of Rotterdam. In the 1990’s and 2000’s, the city’s skyline expanded with several skyscrapers . The Maastoren building is the tallest structure in the country.
The Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum houses a large collection of Dutch art. A music center, the Doelen, includes several concert halls. Erasmus University Rotterdam was founded in 1973.
Rotterdam’s economy depends largely on its huge shipping industry. Europoort, the city’s vast harbor, serves the Netherlands, major industrial regions of Germany, and parts of France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Other important industries include oil refining, shipbuilding and repair, insurance, and banking. 
Rotterdam became a city in 1328, when it received a municipal charter. Rotterdam was a small fishing community until the 1600’s, when merchants increased their trade with England and France. Rotterdam became a thriving port in the late 1800’s after the Nieuwe Waterweg enabled large ships to travel between the city and the North Sea.
