The near-complete destruction of the city centre during the World War II German bombing has resulted in a varied architectural landscape, including skyscrapers designed by architects such as Rem Koolhaas, Piet Blom and Ben van Berkel.

[11][12][13] The Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt give waterway access into the heart of Western Europe, including the highly industrialized Ruhr.

[18] Around the year 1350, a shipping canal (the Rotterdamse Schie) was completed, which provided Rotterdam access to the larger towns in the north, allowing it to become a local trans-shipment centre between the Netherlands, England and Germany, and to urbanize.

The Witte Huis or White House skyscraper,[21] inspired by American office buildings and built in 1898 in the French Art Nouveau style, is evidence of Rotterdam's rapid growth and success.

Some 80,000 civilians were made homeless and 900 were killed; a relatively low number since many had fled the city because of the warfare and bombing going on in Rotterdam since the start of the invasion three days earlier.

[12] A profile of Rem Koolhaas in The Guardian begins "If you put the last 50 years of architecture in a blender, and spat it out in building-sized chunks across the skyline, you would probably end up with something that looked a bit like Rotterdam".

For instance, the Prins Alexander Polder in the northeast of Rotterdam extends 6 m (20 ft) below sea level, or rather below Normaal Amsterdams Peil (NAP) or 'Amsterdam Ordnance Datum'.

The lowest point in the Netherlands (6.76 m (22.2 ft) below NAP) is situated just to the east of Rotterdam, in the municipality of Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel.

Since the early 1980s, when the construction of Rotterdam's second underground line interfered with the Rotte's course, its waters have been pumped through a pipe into the Nieuwe Maas via the Boerengat.

In its turn, the Rijnmond conurbation is part of the southern wing (the Zuidvleugel) of the Randstad, which is one of the most important economic and densely populated areas in the north-west of Europe.

Precipitation is generally moderate throughout the year, although spring and summer (particularly before August) are relatively drier and sunnier, while autumn and winter are cloudier with more frequent rain (or snow).

[48] Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe, with the rivers Maas and Rhine providing excellent access to the hinterland upstream reaching to Basel, Switzerland and into France.

In 2006, Rotterdam was the world's seventh largest container port in terms of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) handled.

A modern shopping venue is the Beurstraverse ("Stock Exchange Traverse"), better known by its informal name 'Koopgoot' ('Buying/Shopping Gutter', after its subterranean position), which crosses the Coolsingel below street level.

The Kruiskade is a more upscale shopping street, with retailers like Michael Kors, 7 For All Mankind, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger and the Dutch well-known men's clothier Oger.

[60] A major historical moment in the city's music history is the legendary Kralingen Pop Festival, which took place in Rotterdam in 1970 (featuring, among other, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, Canned Heat, It's a Beautiful Day, and Santana).

From the 1960s until the 2000s, Rotterdam had a thriving squatters movement, which not only accommodated thousands of people, but also created social centres and cultural venues.

[64] In fact, Rotterdam has an extensive film history,[65] ranging from avant-garde classics, such as The Bridge (Ivens, 1928), to internationally acclaimed documentaries from the post-war era, such as Steady!

Of major importance within this context has also been the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), an annual event that lasts more than ten days (end of January, beginning of February), which has been organized since 1972.

In addition to that, there are many international well-known architects based in Rotterdam like O.M.A (Rem Koolhaas), Neutelings & Riedijk and Erick van Egeraat to name a few.

Seating 51,480, its 1937 stadium, called Stadion Feijenoord but popularly known as De Kuip ('the Tub'), is the second-largest in the country, after the Amsterdam Arena.

De Kuip, located in the southeast of the city, has hosted many international football games, including the final of Euro 2000 and has been awarded a FIFA 5 star ranking.

Since 1972, Rotterdam hosts the indoor hard court ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, part of the ATP Tour.

The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organizer of the Tour de France, said in a statement on its web site that it chose Rotterdam because, in addition to it being another big city, like London, to showcase the use of bikes for urban transportation, it provided a location well-positioned considering the rest of the route envisioned for the 2010 event.

Rotterdam has a long boxing tradition starting with Bep van Klaveren (1907–1992), aka 'The Dutch Windmill', Gold medal winner of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, followed by professional boxers like Regilio Tuur and Don Diego Poeder.

The Kralingse plas was and is still a source of Olympic sailors like Koos de Jong, Ben Verhagen, Henny Vegter, Serge Kats and Margriet Matthijsse.

Rotterdam offers connections by international, national, regional and local public transport systems, as well as by the Dutch motorway network.

For business travellers, Rotterdam The Hague Airport offers advantages in terms of rapid handling of passengers and baggage.

RET runs buses in the city of Rotterdam and surrounding places like Barendrecht, Ridderkerk, Rhoon, Poortugaal, Schiedam, Vlaardingen, Delft and Capelle aan den IJssel.

An automated bus service, ParkShuttle, runs between Kralingse Zoom metro station and the Rivium Business Park in Capelle aan den IJssel.