'East End')[2] is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium.

It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast.

In the Early Middle Ages, Ostend was a small village built on the east-end (oost-einde) of an island (originally called Testerep) between the North Sea and a beach lake.

The strategic position on the North Sea coast had major advantages for Ostend as a harbour but also proved to be a source of trouble.

The Siege of Ostend, 1601 to 1604, of which it was said that "the Spanish assailed the unassailable and the Dutch defended the indefensible", cost a combined total of more than 80,000 dead or wounded, making it the single bloodiest battle of the Eighty Years' War.

The Austrian Emperor Charles VI granted the town the trade monopoly with Africa and the Far-East.

[citation needed] In 1866, Ostend was the venue for a crucial meeting of exile Spanish Liberals and Republicans which laid the framework for a major uprising in their country, [citation needed] culminating in Spain's Glorious Revolution two years later.

In addition, other opulent buildings which had survived the wars were later replaced with structures in the modernist architecture style.

During December, Ostend's Christmas market, one of the largest in Europe, features vendors and food sellers along with ice skating, music and other events.

A light-show tunnel on one of the major shopping streets attracts and amuses visitors from all over Belgium, Europe and beyond.

Tourists from inland Belgium and from abroad mostly arrive by train (day trips) and head for the closest beach area, the Klein Strand, located next to the pier.

Notable sites include: The James Ensor museum can be visited in the house where the artist lived from 1917 until 1949.

Ostend has a maritime temperate climate, influenced by winds from the North Sea, making summers cooler than inland Europe.

The movies Place Vendôme with Catherine Deneuve; Daughters of Darkness[18] with Delphine Seyrig as Countess Bathory; Armaguedon[19] with Alain Delon; Camping Cosmos with Lolo Ferrari; and Ex Drummer, based on the novel by Herman Brusselmans; were partially shot in Ostend.