It obtained city rights in 1163 from Count Philip of Flanders. The Battle of Nieuwpoort, between the Dutch and the Spanish, happened here in 1600. The city was a Dunkirker base.
The city was occupied by French forces for six years between 1757 and 1763, as part of the conditions of the Second Treaty of Versailles between France and Austria.
During the Battle of the Yser, part of the First Battle of Ypres in World War I, Karel Cogge opened the sluice gates on the mouth of the river Yser twice to flood the lower lying land, thus halting the German advance
