ANTWERP. 



ANZUAN. 



391 



interior of Germany ; and by a convention concluded between Belgium 

 and Holland iu July, 1852, a junction line is to be laid down from the 

 city of Antwerp to Rotterdam in order to connect the Dutch and 

 Belgian railway systems. 



The manufactures of the province, which are of great variety and 

 importance, are mentioned under the towns. 



The chief towns are : ANTWERP : MECHLIN (Malines) : Boom, 

 situated about 10 miles S. of Antwerp on the Rupel, which is here 

 joined by the canal to Brussels ; great numbers of bricks and tiles are 

 made here, and vessels for river and canal navigation are built ; there 

 are several tanneries, distilleries, breweries, salt refineries, and rope- 

 walks in the town : population, 7000 : Ghed, which is situated on the 

 Greater Nethe, 25 miles E. of Antwerp ; the inhabitants of this town 

 have been long famous for the humane care they take of the insane, 

 who are sent here from different parts of the country ; the town 

 contains four churches, one of which is of great, antiquity, seven 

 chapels, and a town-hall: population, 7100: Lierre or Lier, at the 

 junction of the Greater and Less Nethe, 10 miles S.E. from Antwerp, 

 population 14,000 ; there are establishments for calico-printing and 

 for the manufacture of linen, silken, and woollen stuffs, cotton yarn, 

 and lace ; besides these there are several breweries, distilleries, and 

 oil-mills in the town ; rape is grown in large quantities in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; there are eight churches, an hospital, and a Beguinage in 

 the town : Turnhout, about 25 miles N.E. of Antwerp : population, 

 13,447 ; the town, which is well built, has manufactures of linen, 

 lace, thread, carpets, cutlery, paper, ticks, checks, and calico, and 

 establishments for bleaching linen, cotton-yam, and wax ; there are 

 also several brandy distilleries in the town : Lillo, a small town with 

 a population of 1000, but important on account of its fort, which 

 commands the navigation of the Schelde : Jlcrenthals, 20 miles E. of 

 Antwerp on the Less Nethe ; a canal which admits vessels of 70 tons 

 joins the town to Antwerp ; there are manufactures of woollen cloth, 

 laces, and leather : population, 3500 : Zandrlitt, in the north-west of 

 the province, 11 miles N.W. from Antwerp and not far from the right 

 bank of the Schelde, though a small town of only 1200 inhabitants, 

 deserves mention on account of its strong fortifications. 



The province of Antwerp is in the see of the archbishop of Mechlin, 

 and sends 4 senators and 9 representatives to the legislative chambers at 

 Brussels. By the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to the Archduke 

 Maximilian, it fell to the house of Austria, in whose hands it remained 

 till the French revolution, when it was formed into the department 

 of Deux-Nethes : in 1814 it became part of the kingdom of the 

 Netherlands, and in 1830 a province of the new kingdom of Belgium. 



ANTWERP, the principal seaport of Belgium, is called by the 

 natives Antwerpen, by the Spaniards Amberes, and by the French 

 Anvers. It is situated on the right bank of the Schelde, where the 

 river makes a considerable bend, in 51 14' N. lat., 4 24' E. long. : 

 population, about 90,000. This port, with its spacious dock, basin, 

 and quays, and its safe anchorage, is one of the best in Europe, 

 although the navigation from the sea is somewhat tedious. It has 

 sufficient depth for the largest vessels, and every convenience for ship- 

 building. It is 284 miles by railroad N. from Brussels, and 45 miles 

 from the mouth of the Schelde. The breadth of the river opposite to 

 the city is about 440 yards, and the rise of the tide is 12 feet. For 

 two miles in front of Antwerp the depth at low water is from 32 to 42 

 feet. The city is connected by railway with all the principal towns 

 of Belgium, France, and North Germany ; and its facilities of 

 communication are about to be extended by railway to Rotterdam. 



Antwerp is strongly fortified on the land side with ramparts, wet 

 ditches, and detached forts ; at the southern angle of the city there 

 is a large citadel, built by the Duke of Alba in 1568, and commanding 

 both the town and the river. In the polders on the left bauk of 

 the river facing the city are three strong forts, the principal of 

 which is the Tete de Flandre, a sort of citadel in itself. No 

 city of Belgium presents grander streets : the principal street, 

 the Place de Meir, will bear comparison with any street in Europe. 

 The gothic cathedral is one of the finest and largest ecclesiastical 

 buildings in Belgium : it is 500 feet long, 250 feet wide, and has 

 a spire 366 feet high. The interior is adorned with several of the finest 

 pictures of Rubens, who was a native of Antwerp, and to whom a 

 statue has been erected in the Place Verte. The H6tel de Ville, or 

 Town Hall, is a large and handsome building, with a front of about 

 260 feet ; and the Bourse, or Exchange, is the model on which those 

 of London (the late) and Amsterdam were built. The church of St. 

 Jacques, which contains the tomb of Rubens, the church of St. 

 Michael, the Oosterlings, which was originally the factory of the 

 Hanseatic League, the palace built by Napoleon in the Place de Meir, 

 St. Paul's and St. Andrew's churches, and the churches of the 

 Augustins are also fine edifices, and are decorated with the master- 

 pieces of Flemish art. The museum contains many masterpieces of 

 Rubens, Vandyck, and other Flemish painters. Many of the old 

 houses of the town deserve notice on account of their picturesque 

 architecture. The new quay and the great basin of Antwerp were 

 begun by Bonaparte, and were part of the plan by which he intended i 

 to make this city a great naval station. The area of the great basin ! 

 is 17 acres, and of the small one 7 acres. On each side of the great 

 basin are tw careening docks, made during the empire of Napoleon 

 for repairing the ships of war constructed here. The custom-house 



is at the head of the great basin. The citadel is a regular pentagon, 

 surrounded by a wet ditch 90 feet broad : it has five bastions, each 

 containing a casemate capable of holding 400 men. The river flows 

 along the magnificent quays of Antwerp in a direction of north-by- 

 east, and after passing the batteries on the right bank to the north of 

 the town it sweeps round to the west. This western bend is com- 

 manded by fort Ferdinand, a strong pentagonal fort on the right bank 

 of the river. 



Antwerp is the principal seat of the silk manufactures of Belgium, 

 and is especially famous for its black silks and velvets. It has large 

 manufactures of cotton, linen, lace, carpets, hats, cutlery, and surgical 

 instruments ; there is also a bleaching establishment which is worked 

 by steam, several sugar refineries, and other establishments common 

 in large towns. It contains a great military arsenal, dockyards, and 

 an extensive rope-walk. 



The commerce of Antwerp is considerable, though far below what 

 it was in the 15th and 16th centuries, when it is said to have had a 

 population of 200,000, and that 2000 vessels annually entered its port. 

 In 1829, 995 ships entered the harbour; in 1831, the year after the 

 revolution, only 382; in 1838 the number was 1538 with cargoes valued 

 at 4,555,6282. In 1848 the arrivals numbered 1143; but in 1849 they 

 rose to 1679, and there were then besides 16 steamers on the station. 



Antwerp has a large transit trade by land and sea. The imports 

 consist principally of coffee, sugar, and other colonial products, cotton 

 stuffs, and other manufactured goods, corn, raw cotton, leather, timber, 

 tobacco, wool, dyestufls, salt, wines, fruits, &c. The exports consist 

 chiefly of flax, cotton and linen manufactures, refined sugar, glass, 

 nails, zinc, oak-bark, grain and seeds, lace, ic. The French system 

 of money, weights, and measures is used in Antwerp. 



Antwerp in the llth century was a small republic. The industry 

 of its inhabitants, joined to its favourable situation, raised it to the 

 rank of the first commercial city of Europe during the reign of 

 Charles V. Previously to its capture by the Spaniards under the 

 Duke of Parma in 1585, Antwerp was one of the first cities in Europe ; 

 but it suffered much by that event. By the peace of Westphalia iu 

 1648 the navigation of the Schelde was closed, and this, added to 

 other calamities, destroyed the prosperity of the city. The navigation 

 of the Schelde was opened at the time of the French occupation of 

 Antwerp in 1792. In 1793 the French evacuated the town, but took 

 it again in 1794, and held it till 1814, when it was surrendered to the 

 allies after the treaty of Paris by Carnot, who had defended it up to 

 that time. After the revolution of 1830 the king of Holland refused 

 to evacuate the citadel of Antwerp in accordance with the terms 

 agreed on for the separation of Holland and Belgium. In consequence 

 of this, the French entered Belgium with a large army, and commenced 

 the bombardment of the citadel of Antwerp, Nov. 29, 1832. The 

 citadel, which was bravely defended by General Chasse' with 4500 

 men, surrendered on the 24th of December. 



ANWEILER. [PALATINATE.] 



ANXUR. [TERKACINA.] 



ANZIN. [NOBD.] 



ANZUAN, Anjouan, Hinzuan, or Johanna, one of the Comoro 

 Islands, situated in the Mozambique Channel, at nearly an equal 

 distance from the continent of Africa and the island of Madagascar. 

 Though not the largest of these islands Auzuau is the most important, 

 from having the best anchoring-ground, on which account, before the 

 acquisition of the Cape, it was frequently visited by English vessels 

 trading to the East Indies and China. 



The island is of a triangular form ; it lies between 12 and 12 25' S. 

 lat., and the most eastern point is in 44 34' E. long. Its circumference 

 is-estimated at from 70 to 80 miles; as to area it may be compared 

 to the island of Madeira, which it resembles in many other points. 



The shore rises in many parts with remarkable boldness, and is 

 broken by a few open bays. Rocky reefs extend from its extremities 

 far into the sea ; and from the south-western to the north-western 

 point it is bounded by a reef which is two miles from the shore in 

 many places. The interior of the island presents a succession of 

 mountains and valleys. The mountains are of volcanic origin and 

 some of them rise to a considerable height; one in the interior is 

 about 1000 feet high. With the exception of the highest summits, 

 which present barren rocks, the mountains are covered with trees, 

 chiefly fruit-trees and palni-trees. The valleys are rather narrow, but 

 they contain in some places much level ground which is partly culti- 

 vated and partly planted with trees. The continually changing 

 variety of the landscape offers many highly picturesque views, and 

 Sir William Jones does not hesitate to give them the preference over 

 the finest views in Switzerland and Wales. 



The climate is said to be mild, the heat at least not being oppres- 

 sive even in July. 



Some rice is grown. A kind of vetch is much more cultivated, and 

 forms the principal food of the inhabitants. Yams, papayas, and 

 sweet potatoes, abound in the kitchen-gardens. The fruit consists 

 principally of cocoa-nuts, limes, oranges, wild pine-apples, and plan- 

 tains. The areca-palms are numerous, as well as the shrub that 

 yields henna ; the fruits of the former and the leaves of the latter are 

 used here as in India. 



Homed cattle are numerous and excellent but small. Goats both 

 tame aud wild abound. Poultry is very common, and of guinea-fowls 



