SCHELDT (SCHELDE)

River that has long been an important route of transport in the Low Countries. Other rivers in the same delta are the Rhine, Waal, and Meuse (Maas). During the Revolt against Spanish rule, the northern provinces were able to maintain an effec tive blockade of the mouth of the Scheldt in Zeeland from 1585, which caused the decline of the harbor of Antwerp. The French armies reopened the Scheldt in 1792, but it was only after 1831 and the independence of Belgium that the Netherlands joined an interna tional treaty guaranteeing free access to the river. The abolition of tolls on the Wester-Scheldt in Zeeland facilitated the resurgence of Antwerp as an international port.