After the fall of Antwerp in 1585, shipping traffic to and from Antwerp was blocked by the Northern Netherlands. This blockade lasted until 1792. In 1809 a British invasion took place in Zeeland, the so-called Walcheren Expedition. The purpose of the British expedition was to capture the French squadron in Vlissingen. In addition, the British were planning to take Antwerp. Since the Belgian Revolt of 1830, access to the port of Antwerp has once again been via foreign territory from a Belgian perspective. In the Treaty of London of 1839, in which the Netherlands recognized Belgian independence, it was therefore laid down in Article IX that the Netherlands should guarantee free passage between the North Sea and the port of Antwerp across the Western Scheldt. In October and November 1944, at the end of the Second World War, the Western Scheldt was the scene of heavy fighting. The city of Antwerp was liberated by British troops in September 1944 and fell into the hands of the Allies almost undamaged. However, the Western Scheldt and with it access to the harbor were still in the hands of German troops. After the battle, the first allied shipping convoy arrived in Antwerp on 28 November 1944.
The Westerscheldetunnel has been opened since 2003. Before that, there were two car ferries. 1 between Kruiningen and Perkpolder and 1 between Vlissingen and Breskens. Nowadays there is a bicycle-pedestrian ferry between Vlissingen and Breskens.