Port of Rotterdam Live Cam

Origins and Medieval Beginnings

In the 13th century, the delta where the Rhine and Meuse rivers merged with the North Sea presented a shifting tapestry of sandbars, marshlands, and tidal channels. At that time, a small fishing settlement known as Rotta began to take shape on slightly elevated ground, strategically located near natural riverbanks to facilitate the unloading of herring, eel, and other fish caught by local skippers. In 1270, Count Floris V of Holland ordered the construction of the first dam on the Rotte River to protect the hamlet from flooding. This rudimentary dam—composed of wooden piles, revetted with brushwood and sand—mandated periodic maintenance, as storms regularly washed away sections of the embankment.

By erecting this initial dyke, medieval engineers effectively defined what would become the nucleus of the Port of Rotterdam. Across the centuries, peasants and fishermen laid networks of small canals, called “trekgaten,” linking inland pastures with the tidal creek known as the Rotte. Flat-bottomed boats—variably called “scharen” or “schuitjes”—were employed to carry peat and agricultural produce downriver to the harbor, where merchants exchanged goods for salt, wine, and cloth imported from Flanders. Through incremental extensions of earthen embankments and hand-dug channels, Rotta slowly evolved into a modest transshipment point, its very name eventually transforming into the modern Dutch “Rotterdam.”