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3th COST-B9 Congress on Antiprotozoal Chemotherapy and Trypanosomiasis and Leishmaniasis Seminars. Short history of Bruges Back to Location Bruges Situated at the Belgian coast, in the eleventh century Bruges was the commercial centre for Europe. But during this period the natural link between Bruges and the sea silted up. The city remained linked to the sea until the fifteenth century via a canal. In the Middle Ages Bruges became the most important trade centre of north-west Europe. Flanders was then one of the most urbanised areas in Europe. Flemish cloth, a high quality woollen material, was exported to the whole of Europe from Bruges. From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century Bruges had between 40,000 and 45,000 inhabitants, double the number now in the historic inner city. The fourteenth century, a period of crises for Bruges and Flanders with revolts, epidemics, political unrest and war, ended with the dynastic merger of Flanders and Burgundy. The Burgundian period in Bruges started in 1384. Bruges would remain the most important trade centre to the north of the Alps for another century. In the sixteenth century Bruges had clearly lost its leading position to Antwerp. However Bruges remained important as a regional centre with a lot of international commercial contacts and a flourishing art sector. The split from the Netherlands, final from 1584, led to the final decline of Bruges. Around 1600 Bruges was a provincial city with a modest maritime reputation. Bruges shipowners and merchants still traded with the Spanish empire, England and the East and West Indies. Bruges experienced the revolution period from 1789 to 1830 in a passive way. The first industrial revolution hardly disturbed the city. Around 1850 Bruges was the poorest city in the country. The middle classes spoke French, the illiterate people only knew their local dialect. French was decreed to be the official language for public life in 1885. Since the end of the nineteenth century Bruges was also known throughout Europe as a city of art and a tourist centre. The Bruges monuments, museums and particularly the unspoilt historic cityscape attract millions of visitors every year. Itinerary incomparable Bruges Scientific | Location | Social | Hotels | Organizers | Sc. committee | Registration | Abstract | Proceedings | Fellowships Sponsors | Home