The town is known for its historical center with canals, and for having the tallest windmills in the world.
Schiedam is also well known for the distilleries and malthouses and production of jenever, such as the internationally renowned Ketel One; in French and English, the word schiedam (usually without a capital s-) refers to the town's jenever. This was the town's main industry during the early Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th century, a period to which it owed its former nickname "Zwart Nazareth" ("Black Nazareth").
The town is also known for Saint Lidwina, one of the most famous Dutch saints, whose relics are located in the town’s basilica.
As a young settlement Schiedam soon got competition from surrounding towns and cities: in 1340, Rotterdam and Delft also were allowed to establish a connection between the Schie and the Meuse. From the 15th century onwards the town flourished as a place of pilgrimage due to the devotion afforded to Saint Lidwina, one of the most famous Dutch saints who lived her life in Schiedam. The town subsequently gained significance by fishing for herring. In 1428 a great fire swept through Schiedam, destroying large parts of the then wooden town.[citation needed]
In 1575 the world's first known commercial distillery started operations in Schiedam.[5] The 18th century was Schiedam's Golden Age, when the gin industry flourished. The standstill in drink imports from France made the boom in Schiedam's distilleries possible.[citation needed] From dozens of distilleries Schiedam jenever was exported throughout the world. The gin industry gave the town its nickname "Black Nazareth". This industry is now largely gone. Five windmills in the town, called De Noord, Walvisch, Drie Koornbloemen, Nieuwe Palmboom and Vrijheid − are the highest traditional-style windmills in the world because they had to stick out above the high warehouses, and many storehouses are relics of this past. In one of the former factories at the Lange Haven the National Jenever Museum operates.[citation needed]
At the end of the 19th and throughout the 20th century, the shipbuilding industry boomed in Schiedam, with large companies like Wilton-Fijenoord and others. In 1941, the ancient municipalities Kethel en Spaland were merged with Schiedam, which made large expansions of the town possible with residential areas in the north. [citation needed] At the end of the 20th century, the shipbuilding industry largely disappeared and today, Schiedam is mainly a commuter-area in the Rotterdam metropolitan area.[citation needed]
Schiedam exists of nine districts: Centrum ('Center'), Oost ('East'), Gorzen ('South'), West ('West'), Nieuwland, Groenoord, Kethel, Woudhoek and Spaland/Sveaparken.[7]
Demographics
55,44% Dutch background, 14,42% Western migration background, 30,15% Non western migration background[citation needed]
The most popular sports in Schiedam are soccer and field hockey. The town used to have two professional soccer teams, one named SVV (Schiedamse voetbal vereniging), whereas the other one was named Hermes along the Damlaan where also cricket was played. Both disappeared from the professional level after financial problems. Cricket is also rather popular in Schiedam due to having two cricket teams playing on the highest national level, the topklasse. The Dutch capital Amsterdam for example only has one. Earlier mentioned team Hermes D.V.S. boasts two topklasse titles, where rivals Excelsior '20 holds eleven titles respectively.[17]
^"Postcodetool for 3112DZ". Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
^Doxat, John (1972). "Bols". The World of Drinks and Drinking: An International Distillation. New York: Drake Publishers. p. 35. ISBN9780877492542. Retrieved 11 December 2023. [...] the oldest gin house in the world - presumably the world's oldest commercial distillers - Bols Boord & Son was founded in 1575, at Schiedam [...].