a river port of Holland, in the province of South Holland, on the Maas, 6 m. by rail W. of Rotterdam. Pop. 17,000. A very old town and the seat of a former margraviate belonging to the counts of Holland, Vlaardingen is now chiefly important as the centre of the great herring and cod fisheries of the North Sea. Its only ornaments are the old market-place and the gardens formed by the purchase in 1825 of a seat called the Hof. The chief industries are those connected with the large fishing trade.