Rotte (river)

The Rotte (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈrɔtə] ^ⓘ) is a river in the Rhine-Maas-delta in the Netherlands. The Rotte is the eponym of the city of Rotterdam: the city's name references a dam (Middle Dutch: dam) which local inhabitants built across the river in the 13th century CE.^[1]^[2]

^ "Rotterdam Magazine, Volumes 3-4". City of Rotterdam. Retrieved 2 July 2024. In mediaeval times, the Rotte ran across the marshes into the much wider River Meuse (Merwe). About 1260, the low-lying lands bordering upon this charming stream were protected by dykes. A dam was built across the Rotte and supplied with locks. Near the dam fishermen, skippers and merchants settled; this group of houses was soon called Rotterdam [...].
^ Farinelli, Jill (5 September 2017). The Palatine Wreck. Seafaring America. Hanover: University Press of New England. p. 49. ISBN 9781512601176. Retrieved 2 July 2024. Rotterdam began in the 1260s as a tiny settlement of herring fishermen located where the Rotte Riiver drains into the Maas (at that time called the Merwe). To control flooding and reclaim land from the surrounding peat bogs, the inhabitants built a low earthen dike along the north bank of the Maas and a dam across the Rotte.