Antwerp

Antwerpen is a city in Belgium, and is the capital of Antwerp province in Flanders. With a population of 520,504, it is the most populous city proper in Belgium, and with a metropolitan area housing around 1,200,000 people, it's the second largest metropolitan region after Brussels in Belgium. Antwerp is on the River Scheldt, linked to the North Sea by the river's Westerschelde estuary. It is about 40 kilometres 25 mi north of Brussels, and about 15 kilometres 9 mi south of the Dutch border.

The Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. The city is also known for its diamond industry and trade. Both economically and culturally, Antwerp is and has long been an important city in the Low Countries, especially before and during the Spanish Fury 1576 and throughout and after the subsequent Dutch Revolt. Antwerp was also the place of the world's oldest stock exchange building, originally built in 1531 and re-built in 1872.