Philippine is a small city in the province of

Zeeland Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It lies about southeast of

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an importan ...

. It is located on the border with

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, southwest of the city of

Terneuzen Terneuzen () is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands, in the province of Zeeland, in the middle of Zeelandic Flanders. With almost 55,000 inhabitants, it is the most populous municipality of Zeeland. History First mentione ...

. It received

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1506.

History

The landlord, Hieronymus Lauweryn, who founded the town in 1505, named it after Philip I. A fortress was built with a triangular market square. In 1599, a harbour was constructed, and the economy became based on fishing. Philippine was captured by the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

in 1633. The new Assumption of Mary Church was built in 1924 to replace the older church, which has now become a supermarket. It is a domed church with a square tower on the side. The church was destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1944 and rebuilt in 1954. Philippine has gained some renown for its

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

restaurants. In the village square, there is a fountain in the shape of a mussel. It became the centre of the mussel fishing after 1939 due to the influx of fishermen from the Belgian village Boekhoute whose river started to

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

. Philippine was a separate municipality until 1970 when it was merged with

Sas van Gent Sas van Gent is a town in the Netherlands. It is located in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Terneuzen and lies about 30 km south of Vlissingen on the border with Belgium. The Ghent–Terneuzen Canal pass ...

. In 2003, it became part of the municipality of

Gallery

File:Kanaal ter hoogte van de Philippine - Nederland.jpg, This canal runs adjacent to the northeast boundary of Philippine File:Philippine - Hervormde Kerk 2.jpg, Reformed Church in Philippine File:Philippine - Church 2.jpg, Catholic church of Our Lady at the St. Philips Square

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in Zeeland Former municipalities of Zeeland Terneuzen