page_title: Delfzijl
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Delfzijl / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Delfzijl.
context_page_description: Delfzijl is a city and municipality with a population of 25,651 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Delfzijl was a sluice between the Delf and the Ems, which became fortified settlement in the 16th century. The fortifications were removed in the late 19th century. Delfzijl is the fifth largest seaport in the Netherlands, and the largest port in the North East of the country.
context_section_description: Delfzijl was established at the location where three sluices (Dutch: zijlen) were connected. In 1317, a sluice was built in the Delf, a canal which is now part of the Damsterdiep. Delfzijl has been the main sea port of Groningen since medieval times.
  In 1580, a square sconce and a church were built in Delfzijl. Fortification was expanded with six bastions in 1591. Also In 1591 Prince Maurice of Orange visited the port with a fleet of 150 ships which saw the capture of the city from the Spanish by a combined Dutch and English army. Followoing this an unsuccessful attempt was made in 1594 by Francisco Verdugo to capture the fortress Delfzijl. In 1628 Piet Hein moored his silver fleet at Delfzijl. The first sea battle in the Eighty Years' War was fought nearby in 1658 in the Eems estuary between Dutch forces under Jan Abels and Spanish forces under François van Boshuizen.   A fleet of Dutch ships from the West Indies landed here in 1665 under command of admiral Michiel de Ruyter, avoiding the English fleet that was blockading the Dutch coast. The fortification and the sluices were damaged during the Christmas Flood of 1717. In 1813–1814, the French held the city, while it was under siege by the Dutch. The fortifications were removed in 1875, making room for the train station, and leaving one branch of the moat for recreational purposes, with ice skating in some years.
  The town was damaged in World War II, and artifacts of the battle can be found in monuments, bunkers, and old armored vehicles usually on display, but disrupted now since 2017 by a major reconstruction of the water front area. Nearby  a group of museums attractively landscaped near woodlands and an indoor public swimming pool, an aquarium, and a sea dike, are also affected by the construction intending to make Delfzijl a better tourist attraction after the construction and more secure from sea flooding.
  Delfzijl sits at an elevation above low tide, and usually above high tide except for a few days per year. The town is protected by dikes and gates that can be opened to let water out at low tide, and closed to prevent flooding at high tide. When normal draining at low tide is not sufficient water is pumped near Delfzijl at Farmsum in a modern pumping station that replaced the historical old pump house in the 1970s. The possibility of rising sea level is a large concern in Delfzijl, and storms have occasionally splashed water over the sea dikes in recent years causing the dike to be raised starting in 2017.
  Traditional industries of grain milling, paper made from straw, and bricks made from clay have given way to newer industries and technologies. Colonial days are remembered in Delfzijl by Indonesian food and a variety of minority groups who are integrated into the community.
  On the edge of Delfzijl, and easily approached on foot or by bicycle across new parks and wood lands, the church at Uitwierde with its free standing tower dates from about the year 1200. The church sits on a historic protected artificial mound that dates from antiquity, and was necessary before dikes were built. The church pipe organ dates from 1888 and was moved from Heveskes in 1975. In the area are a few estates and manor houses with historic restaurants of interest as well as numerous farm houses and villages with old churches of historic interest.
  Industrial expansion in the 1970s and 1980s displaced old villages of Weiwerd and Heveskes which are remembered in photos and local monuments maintained by previous residents. Foundations of a ruined monastery were discovered in the excavations of Heveskes mound, together with a monolithic tomb dated from 3400 BC which was disrupted about 2200 BC and was displayed in the Aquarium Museum at Delfzijl, until recent developments caused the building to be demolished. The monastery was mentioned in records of 1319, and was destroyed in war in 1586. The village of Oterdum which was built against an older section of sea dike was flooded occasionally by storms and was demolished in the 1970s for raising the dike elevation. Coffins traditionally burie
caption: Map of the fortifications of Delfzijl from the Atlas Van Loon (1649)
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