Botlek was originally the name of a stretch of the
Nieuwe Maas river, part of the
Rhine–Meuse delta near the
Dutch cities of
Vlaardingen and
Spijkenisse in the
province of
South Holland. Specifically, it was the name of the
strait that separated the island of
Rozenburg from the
sand bar of Welplaat. The strait itself was merely the continuation of the
Nieuwe Maas, and the stretch of the river south of Rozenburg continued to be called
Nieuwe Maas until the confluence with
Het Scheur formed the Brielse Maas
estuary (now the
Brielse Meer). Major
waterway regulation works were carried out in the Netherlands in the 19th and 20th centuries to improve water management and stop the delta from silting up; the Botlek was first dammed off at its southern end (connecting Rozenburg and Welplaat) between April 1949 and June 1950 and then rebuilt to the west in 1956. Parts Rozenburg and Welplaat on either side of the waterway were subsequently developed into an oil port, which could handle larger ships than the old harbor along the Nieuwe Maas. == Gallery ==