ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to make a contribution to political historiography by stressing the importance of extra-economic factors in the economic development of the Scheldt estuary; in particular geography, urban rivalry and political turmoil. It concentrates on the late fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries, because in this period economic hegemony passed first from Bruges to Antwerp, and subsequently from Antwerp to Amsterdam. Bruges, Antwerp and Amsterdam successively developed into metropolises of European, and even global importance. Lodovico Guicciardini's description confirms that the Scheldt estuary was the focal point of European international shipping around the middle of the sixteenth century. Research into the significance of the Scheldt estuary for the development of international trade and shipping can also boast a long tradition. The more difficult accessibility of port cities due to silting did not have to mean/imply an immediate obstacle to the growth and development of international trade and shipping or for the further development of these cities.
