Editing Hellevoetsluis (section)

==History==
The area has been settled since before Roman times and was concentrated around a body of water called the "Helle", which was later Latinized by the Romans to "''Helinium''" and "''Helius''". The name Hel(le) Voet, ''Helius' foot'' or "(land at) the lowest point of Helius", appears in documents from the 13th century and later, such as in 1395, when the Nieuw-Helvoet Polder is issued for inspection. This polder had a drainage sluice (Dutch: "''sluis''") in the southern dike: the ''Hellevoetse sluis''.

The history of Hellevoetsluis has always been connected with water. During the time of the [[Eighty Year's War]] and the forming of the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]] Hellevoetsluis was the naval port of the [[Admiralty of Rotterdam|Admiralty of de Maze]] ([[Rotterdam]]) and could accommodate an entire fleet within a special land-enclosed [[fortification|fortress]] with [[harbour]] and [[dockyard]] facilities, accessible through a [[canal]]. Thanks to its strategic situation the town grew from the beginning of the 17th century to be the homeport for the Dutch war fleet. In later years the port was fortified more and more and Hellevoetsluis, therefore, became a unique combination of a fortified town and a naval port. The [[Admiral|Admirals]] [[Maarten Tromp]], [[Michiel de Ruyter]], and [[Piet Heyn]] had their home base here and in 1688 during the [[Glorious Revolution]] [[William III of England|William III of Orange]]'s invasion fleet departed from the port.

In the early 1700s the English painter John Thornhill lamented on how townspeople in ports took advantage of travellers who often had to wait for the weather to calm before a ship could sail. Hellevoetsluis was one of the ports mentioned in his journal in 1711:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weaver |first1=Leonard |title=Harwich-Hook |date=1974 |publisher=Lindel International |location=Sussex, England }}</ref>

''Gravesend, Dover, Deal and Harwich

''The devil gave his daughter in marriage''

''And further to fulfil his will''

''He threw in Helvoetsluice and Brill'''' 

[[File:Hellevoetsluis 1866.png|thumb|260px|left|Hellevoetsluis in 1866.]]
The [[Voorne Canal]] ''Kanaal door Voorne'' was built in 1830 from Hellevoetsluis to Nieuwesluis (near [[Heenvliet]]) and made Hellevoetsluis an outport of Rotterdam. It was a period when the town grew and flourished; the shipping industry provided prosperity. Its neighbourhood {{ill|Vlotbrug, Hellevoetsluis|lt=Vlotbrug|nl|Vlotbrug (Hellevoetsluis)}} may have been named after a [[vlotbrug]] constructed over the canal.

In the first half of the 20th century, however, Hellevoetsluis went into decline. Ocean-going ships became too large to use the canal and the [[Nieuwe Waterweg]] was dug, making the Canal through Voorne redundant. The naval base was relocated to [[Den Helder]] in the 1930s, the Government [[shipyard]] was closed, and during World War II the Germans destroyed three-quarters of all buildings in 1944. They also used the canal as a base for [[Biber (submarine)|Biber submarines]].<ref name=lp146>{{cite book |title=Weapons of Desperation German Frogmen and Midget Submarines of World war II |url=https://archive.org/details/weaponsdesperati00pate_929 |url-access=limited |last=Paterson |first=Lawrence |year=2006 |publisher=Chatham Publishing |isbn=978-1-86176-279-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/weaponsdesperati00pate_929/page/n89 146]}}</ref>

After World War II Hellevoetsluis grew considerably. As a [[New town#Netherlands|New Town]], the population doubled in the 1970s. Today 43,000 inhabitants live in modern houses with abundant green areas nearby. It is home to many commuters working in [[Europoort]] or [[Rotterdam]].

During the flood of 1953 Hellevoetsluis was inundated and after this flood, the Netherlands implemented the "Deltawerken", a vast plan that put in place sea-defenses such as dams to protect vulnerable Islands in the Meuse-Rhine river delta.

The town is home to several buildings from the 16th-19th Centuries that are listed monuments. Among these are the "Admiraliteitsgebouw" (currently used as town hall), the "de Hoop" windmill, Fort/Bastion Haerlem, "Droogdok Jan Blanken": a historic shipbuilding site and, the [[Water Tower Hellevoetsluis]], designed by architect N. Biezeveld and built in 1896.