OSTENDE, a fortified town and sea-port of Belgium, in the province of West Flanders, is situated in 51° 14' N. lat., 55' E. long., 12 miles W. from Bruges, 88 miles by railway through Bruges, Ghent, and Malines W. by N. from Brussels, and contains about 15,000 inhabitants. The town is clean and well-built It contains a citadel, 5 squares, 3 churches, a prison, an hospital, and a town-hall, which is a large and plain but handsome building. The town stands upon a plain, and is entered by four gates. Of late years it has been much frequented during the summer as a watering-place; the sea-bathing is good, and there are excellent baths. The ramparts form an agreeable promenade, but the finest public walk is the Digue, or break-water, built nearly parallel to the seaward rampart of the town. The water at Ostende is bad.
Ostende has great facilities for carrying on trade with the interior by means of canal. and railways. The Ostende and Bruges Canal allows vessels of 300 tons to pass through it to Bruges. The Nieuport Canal terminates at Ostende • and by the canal from Bruges to Ghent, which is a continuation of the cutting from Ostende to Bruges, and which communicates with the Schelde, °stood° is connected with the heart of the kingdom of Belgium. The importance of the town has very considerably increased elects the introduction pf railways, by which it is connected nut only with all the important towns of Belgium but also with those of Germany and France. It is also the principal
landing place for travellers between England, Belgium, and Germany. There were 22,665 paesengers to and from England in 1849; in 1850 the number was 26,822. Passenger and mail steamers ply regularly to Dover. The number of ships (uot including steamers) that entered the harbour in 1849 was 464, and the departures numbered 425. The harbour is safe, but the eutmnee to it is rather intricate. Tho imports consist chiefly of colonial produce, wool, wine, and British manufactured goods: the exports are, agricultural produce, linens, leather, oak bark, tallow, and salt.
Ostende was a small village in the 9th century, but two °eateries later the port was much frequented. Old Ostende was destroyed by the sea in 1334. In 1372 the present Oetende was merely a fishing place. It was Inclosed with walls by Philip the Good in 1445, and fortified in 15S3 by the prince of Orange. The Dutch surrendered the town to the Spaniards after a long siege in 1604. It was taken by the allies in 1706, and in 1715 it was ceded by Holland to the emperor of Germany. Louis XV. took it in 1745, and restored it in 1743. In 1794 it was taken by the French, and remained in their possession until 1814, having been unsuccessfully attacked by the English in 1793.