Voorburg was probably inhabited by humans as an urban settlement since about 2700 BC, although not continuously. The Romans arrived here in 47 AD and established a place between 69 and 70 AD, soon after or during the
Batavian Revolt. The first clear traces of a civil Roman settlement date from the time of Emperor
Domitian under whom the military district along the Rhine was transformed into the Roman province
Germania Inferior. It was initially named
Municipium Cananefatium, i.e. "Town of the Cananefates", since the site formed the nucleus of the
civitas of the
Cananefates, who lived west of the
Batavians. Voorburg became the capital of the tribal area of the Cananefates. After a supposed visit by Emperor
Hadrian in 121/122 AD, the place became known as
Forum Hadriani, named after the emperor and which means "Hadrian's Market". Around the middle of the 2nd century, Voorburg received
town rights and was given the official name
Municipium Aelium Cananefatum. Excavations have shown that Voorburg, despite its small size at the beginning (at most 1,000 inhabitants), was a fully-fledged Roman city. Laid out with a chess-board pattern, the town had bathhouses, shops and a city wall with gates. It was the northernmost Roman town on
continental Europe. Forum Hadriani was situated along the
Fossa Corbulonis, a canal connecting the
Rhine and the
Meuse, excavated in 47 AD by the Roman general
Corbulo. This waterway is known as the
Rhine-Schie canal. The section from
Leiden to
Leidschendam-Voorburg is more commonly known as the canal
Vliet, which is still a dominant landmark of the current municipalities. There was a strong population growth in the town and area in the 2nd century, with possibly around 27,000 people at that time living in this area and surroundings. However, from the 3rd century onwards the number of inhabitants fell sharply; this was related to the attacks by
Germanic tribes from above the Rhine, but increasing flooding may also have played a role. The Romans left here definitely around 270 AD, due to this continued Germanics attacks. The settlement continued to collapse over time with not many people left during the
fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. Only since the 20th century, Voorburg has become a place of considerable size again. 'Foreburgh' is a portmanteau of the words 'Fore' and 'burgh'. 'Fore' probably comes from the earlier Germanic word 'furrha', meaning forest; 'burgh' (also named into English as
borough) means fortified settlement. Thus, Voorburg literally means 'fortified settlement in the forest'. In the ninth century, the Netherlands were governed by a number of counts. In the twelfth century they divided their land into lower administrative divisions, i.e.
Amts. During this time Voorburg became a distinctive ambt, with the first Lord of the Amt of Voorburg being Dirk van Duvenvoorde. He was given the position around 1198. There was a small wooden chapel in Voorburg at that time. At the beginning of the thirteenth century this was replaced by the
Old Church of Voorburg. In the fifteenth century there were 108 houses in Voorburg. However, most people lived on small farms. Large areas of a wetland existed along the
Vliet canal. These wetland accumulated
peat, which could be made into a popular fuel at that time. The peat-rich soil led to a strong increase of inhabitants in the area and Voorburg. With trade on the Vliet canal, the area also became a lot busier from the seventeenth century onwards. Due to the new
Leidsche dam in the Vliet canal (which would become the town of
Leidschendam), trading skippers had to transfer their goods, travellers had to wait for their barge and workmen offered their services there. All those people had to live, eat or sleep somewhere. This also led to an increase in residents in Voorburg. Although an ancient city, during medieval
Holland it was never granted a 'city charter' by its sovereign leader(s) or none available is that old. Famous inhabitants of Voorburg include the 17th century author and poet
Constantijn Huygens, who spent many years building his small country house
Hofwijck with adjacent geometrically shaped gardens alongside the
Vliet. His son, the famous astronomer and mathematician
Christiaan Huygens, spent several years in his father's country house in Voorburg. The
house, located next to the main railway station, now functions as a museum. Philosopher
Baruch Spinoza lived in Voorburg from 1663 to 1670. In Voorburg, Spinoza continued work on the
Ethics and corresponded with scientists, philosophers, and theologians throughout Europe. He also wrote and published his
Theological Political Treatise in 1670, in defense of secular and constitutional government, and in support of
Johan de Witt, the Grand Pensionary of the Netherlands, against the
Stadtholder, the Prince of Orange. He equated God with Nature. Until 2009 Voorburg hosted the major branch of the country's statistics institute, the
CBS (Central Bureau for Statistics), which provides most of the statistical data used by the government. That year the CBS relocated a few kilometres eastward to Leidschenveen, one of the new developments in the municipality of
The Hague. Until June 2006 the town had three railway stations:
Voorburg,
Voorburg 't Loo and
Leidschendam-Voorburg station. The latter two are now part of the
RandstadRail network. Voorburg station used to be an
Intercity station, because there was an eternal agreement with the railways that every passing train should stop there. It lost that status, as the new railway station infrastructure is elevated and therefore no longer on the soil of Voorburg. ==Voorburg Cricket Club (VCC) Sportpark Westvliet, The Hague Cricket ground==