Kontich is a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 located in the Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 province of Antwerp

Antwerp (province)

Antwerp is the northernmost province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on the Netherlands and the Belgian provinces of Limburg, Flemish Brabant and East Flanders. Its capital is Antwerp which comprises the Port of Antwerp...

. The municipality comprises the towns of Kontich proper and Waarloos. On December 31, 2010 Kontich had a total population of 20,584. The total area is 23.67 km² which gives a population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 of 866 inhabitants per km².

Kontich exists of three parts: Kontich Centrum, Waarloos and Kontich Kazerne. Kontich Kazerne has a big industrial center and a train station on the line between Antwerp and Mechelen

Mechelen

Mechelen Footnote: Mechelen became known in English as 'Mechlin' from which the adjective 'Mechlinian' is derived...

. The barracks

Barracks

Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...

 (kazerne in Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

) which gave the name to the settlement have closed however.

The Centrum part of Kontich has the town center.

The E19 highway between Antwerp and Brussels passes through Kontich.

"Kontich" comes from the Latin word condacum which means merge of 2 streams.

Famous inhabitants

• Martinus Dom
  Martinus Dom
  Martinus Dom, born Frans Daniël Dom, , was the first abbot of the Trappist Abbey of Westmalle in Belgium and founded the Trappist brewery. He was a son of Jan Frans Dom, a cattle merchant, and Elisabeth Van Berckelaer...
  
  , first abbot of the Trappist abbey of Westmalle (1791-1873)