The town of Zaltbommel was first mentioned as "Bomela" in the year 850. Zaltbommel received city rights in 1231 and these were renewed in 1316. In 1599 during the Eighty Years War, Zaltbommel was besieged by Spanish forces but was relieved by an Anglo-Dutch force led by Maurice of Orange. The bridge over the Waal at Zaltbommel (which has since been replaced) features in a celebrated twentieth-century Dutch sonnet, De moeder de vrouw, by Martinus Nijhoff.[5]
Zaltbommel was expanded to its current size on 1 January 1999, by a merger of the municipalities of Brakel, Kerkwijk and Zaltbommel. The municipality is situated in the heart of the Netherlands, close to the A2 Motorway, the railway line from Utrecht to 's‑Hertogenbosch and the rivers Waal and Maas.
