Vlissingen

Flushing (Dutch Vlissingen) is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. In the 17th century Flushing was a main harbour for ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). It is also known as the birthplace of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. Flushing is mainly noted for the wharves on the Scheldt where most of the ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy (Koninklijke Marine) are built.

Population centres

• Oude Stad
• Rosenburg
• Paauwenburg
• Papegaaienburg
• Lammerenburg
• Westerzicht
• Oost-Souburg
• Ritthem (West-Souburg is just a quarter)
• Flushing

The city of Flushing

Having a strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Flushing has been an important harbour for centuries. It was granted city rights in 1315.

History of the name 'Vlissingen'

Research still hasn't been able to determine where the name Vlissingen was derived from originally. Most theories however relate the name to the word fles (bottle) in one way or another.

According to one story, when saint Willibrord landed in Flushing with a bottle in the seventh century, he shared its contents with the beggars he found there while trying to convert them. A miracle occurred, familiar to readers of hagiography, when the contents of the bottle did not diminish. When the Bishop realised the beggars did not want to listen to his words, he gave them his bottle. After that, he supposedly called the city Flessinghe.

Another source states that the name has its origins in an old ferry-service house, on which a bottle was attached by way of a sign. The monk Jacob van Dreischor, who visited the city in 967, then apparently called the ferry-house het veer aan de Flesse (the ferry at the Bottle). Because many cities in the region later received the appendix -inge, the name gradually could have evolved to Vles-inge.

According to another source, the name was derived from the Danish word Vles, which means tides. This could have led to the city's current name.

• In turn, the Dutch colony of Nieuw Vlissingen ('New Vlissingen') on the Antillian island of Tobago was definitely named after it.

Famous people

Admiral Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruijter was born here.

Transport

Railway stations: Vlissingen, Vlissingen Souburg. Ferry connection to Breskens

External links

• Official website (in Dutch, English, and German)
• Map
• A short history of Flushing
• Railway station Vlissingen:
  • departures (pdf)
  • departures, with stops and arrival times
  • station facilities