Vlaardingen () is a city in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas river at the confluence with the Oude Maas. The municipality administers an area of , of which is land, with residents in . Geography The city is divided into a northern part (locally known as the "Holy") and a southern part by the A20 motorway. On the east the city is separated from Schiedam by the A4 motorway. Other places nearby are Maassluis to the west, Schipluiden and Delft to the north, Schiedam and Rotterdam to the east and Spijkenisse in the south-west, on the other side of the Nieuwe Maas. The A20 connects Rotterdam to Hook of Holland. The Beneluxtunnel (the tunnel that runs under the Nieuwe Waterweg) connects the A20 to the A15. The centre of the town is on the west side of the old harbour, which is originally a stream ('De Vlaarding') from the peat lands north and east of the town, running to the Meuse estuary. History The area around Vlaardingen was already settled by about 2900 to 2600 BC. In 1990, a skeleton dated at about 1300 BC was dug up in the periphery of Vlaardingen; some human nuclear DNA was identified, the oldest found anywhere in the Netherlands. Although in the Roman Age a stronghold or maybe even a vicus Flenio must have been found in nowadays Vlaardingen, between roughly 250 CE and 700 CE the region seems to have been uninhabited, like much of the west of the Netherlands. In 726 or 727 the area is again mentioned as In Pagio Marsum, where a little church was established, around which Vlaardingen formed. The church is mentioned on a list of churches Willibrord, the Apostle to the Frisians, inhered to the Abbey of Echternach. In 1018 Vlaardingen was a stronghold of Dirk III, who levied an illegal toll on ships on the Meuse river. An army sent by German Emperor Henry II in order to stop this practice was defeated by Dirk III in the (First) Battle of Vlaardingen. In 1047, his successor Dirk IV repelled another such attack (Second Battle of Vlaardingen). The first of these battles was commemorated in 2018 by a historical reenactment The flood disaster of December 21, 1163 (Saint Thomas Flood), ended the growth of Vlaardingen. The Counts of Holland moved away and its development stagnated.