Romans, fishermen and the porpoise (until 1550)
People already lived here in Roman times, and in the Middle Ages Wenduine became a thriving fishing village.
- Gallo-Roman settlement: a Gallo-Roman settlement has been found in the area; it disappeared around 270 after raids by Germanic pirates and floods.
- A find in 1917: in Harendijke, German soldiers cutting peat in 1917 came across pottery shards and the remains of a wooden Gallo-Roman house.
- Frankish fishermen: from the 8th century people lived here again, Frankish settlers who lived from fishing; in the 10th century the first polders were reclaimed.
- Weinduna (1185): in 1135 there was a chapel of ease of Uitkerke here, and in 1185 Wenduine became a parish of its own and was first mentioned as Weinduna.
- The porpoise (1340): there was already a harbour in 1335, and in 1340 the fishermen were granted the right to catch porpoises; the harpooned porpoise still features in Wenduine's coat of arms.
- Fishermen's guild and Shetland: a fishermen's guild was formed around 1350, and by 1467 fishing boats from Wenduine were sailing as far as the Shetland Islands.
- The church as a beacon: the Heilige-Kruisverheffingskerk was extended around 1290, and in 1546 and 1547 its tower was raised because it also served as a beacon for shipping.
- The Graaf Jansdijk: after the storm floods of the 15th century the Graaf Jansdijk was built; the hamlets of Tarninge and Mosselinge disappeared through flooding or drifting sand.
From fishing village to farming village (1550 to 1880)
From the middle of the 16th century fishing disappeared and Wenduine became a quiet farming village.
- Decline of fishing: from the middle of the 16th century fishing declined, partly because of the religious wars.
- Iconoclasm (1566): in 1566 the church was ransacked during the Iconoclastic Fury, and in 1607 the army used it as a horse stable.
- A smaller church (1609): from 1609 the church was restored, but as there were far fewer parishioners it was rebuilt on a smaller scale.
- A municipality of its own (1796): around 1796 Wenduine became an independent municipality, which long remained poor.
The Princess of the Seaside Resorts (1878 to 1939)
At the end of the 19th century first patients and children, and then holidaymakers, discovered Wenduine's healthy sea air.
- Sanatoria (1878): the Hospices Maritimes sanatorium opened in 1878, followed in 1896 by the Home du Grand Air, a convalescent home for poor children.
- The steam tram (1886): only when the steam tram between Ostend and Blankenberge began running through Wenduine in 1886 did the village become easy to reach and tourism took off; the line is now the Coastal Tram.
- Villas and hotels: villa building began in 1888, and in 1895 the first hotel opened, the Pavillon des Dunes.
- Princess of the Seaside Resorts: Wenduine earned the nickname Princess of the Seaside Resorts and attracted a fashionable crowd until the 1930s.
- First World War: during the First World War the occupiers built coastal batteries in Harendijke.
- Town hall (1935): in 1935 Wenduine got a new town hall on the Markt, replacing the old one in the Kerkstraat.
Second World War and today's Wenduine
After the 1930s Wenduine changed from a fashionable resort into a holiday destination for a wide public.
- A new public: at the end of the 1930s Wenduine became a holiday destination for a broad section of the population, and many hotels became apartments.
- The mill without sails: in the Second World War the Germans had the sails of the Hubert mill removed; after the war the mill was restored, and in 1946 its surroundings were protected as a landscape.
- War graves: the Wenduine cemetery holds the graves of 83 veterans of both world wars, and a memorial honours three villagers who died in German concentration camps.
- New districts: after the Molenhoek district of the 1920s, the Manitoba, Neptunus and Steenoven districts followed in the polder in the second half of the 20th century.
- Part of De Haan (1977): in the 1977 merger Wenduine became part of the municipality of De Haan.
