Rotterdam is in terms of population the second largest municipality in the Netherlands (after Amsterdam, the country's capital) and the largest city in the province of Zuid-Holland (South Holland), the country's most populous province. The city has the largest port in Europe and was until recently the world's busiest port; it is found on the banks of the river Nieuwe Maas (i.e. "New Meuse"), one of the streams in the delta formed by the Rhine and Meuse rivers. The name "Rotterdam" derives from the city's origin at a dam in a small river, the Rotte, which from the north joins the Nieuwe Maas at the heart of the city.
