Ridderkerk (EN)

History

A settlement called Riede existed on the Merwede river as early as the 12th century. As the village was hit by floods several times between 1373 and 1375, the inhabitants moved away.

The inhabitants decided to drain the area, creating the polders Oud- and Nieuw Rijerwaard. In 1404, the first polder, the Oud Rijerwaard, was completed. It lay on the eastern side of the Lagendijk. A few decades later the western side was drained and the Nieuw Rijerwaard came into being. The first inhabitants settled on the Oostendam, the highest point of the Rijerwaard.

Ridderkerk was officially founded in 1446, when craftswoman Margriet van Comene drew up a charter with rules for the administration and the population. At the same time, other villages in the reclaimed Rijerwaard, such as Bolnes, Oostendam, Rijsoord and Slikkerveer, sprang up around Ridderkerk.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the inhabitants of the villages around Ridderkerk lived mainly from arable farming and cattle breeding. From the seventeenth century onwards, many farmers also started working with flax. The flax was soaked in the river Waaltje and processed into rope and linen, among other things. Flax also produced linseed, which was exported.

The advent of shipbuilding in the nineteenth century increased employment in Ridderkerk and the surrounding villages and improved and expanded the infrastructure. Large shipyards sprang up along the North and New Maas rivers and the population increased considerably.

In the nineteenth century, the villages of Rijsoord and Strevelshoek were merged into the municipality of Ridderkerk. Meanwhile, Ridderkerk's economy changed considerably. Shipbuilding and flax companies gave way to huge business parks and clean industry.

Researching the archives

The Stadsarchief Rotterdam has a collection of government archives from Ridderkerk. You can consult the archives in the reading room:

Other archives, visual material and literature

Stadsarchief Rotterdam also preserves material from private individuals, companies and institutions that are (or have been) active in Ridderkerk. Go to the Archives search page.

Visual material is accessible via the Image bank.

Books and magazine articles can be found in the Library catalogue (publications from 1994 onwards) or in the card catalogue in the reading room (publications up to 1994).

Family tree research

To search the civil registry and population registers, use the website WieWasWie or the Genealogy search page.

Original civil status records that are in the public domain can be requested from our reading room.