Dort
or DORDRECHT, a town of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland; on an island formed by the Maas, 10 miles S. E. of Rotterdam. An inundation in 1421, in which upward of 70 villages were destroyed and 100,000 people drowned, separated the site on which Dort stands from the mainland.
It is one of the oldest, as in the Middle Ages it was the richest of the trading towns of Holland; and its trade is still considerable. Among its chief buildings are a Gothic cathedral (1363) and a handsome town hall (1339). The town is traversed by canals, and the largest ships are accommodated in its roomy harbor. Close by are a large number of shipyards, corn and saw mills, and manufactories of oil, sugar, ironwares, and machinery. Dort was founded in 1013.
Here, in 1572, the states of Holland, after the revolt from Spain, held their first assembly; and sat from Nov. 13, 1618, to May 19, 1619, the conclave of Protestant divines known as the Synod of Dort, which condemned the doctrines of Arminius as heretical, and affirmed those of Calvin. Dort is the birthplace of the brothers De Witt, of Cuyp, and Ary Scheffer; to the last a statue was erected in the market-place in 1862. Pop. (1918) 53,828.
DORTMUND DORTMUND (dort'mönt), a city of Prussia, province of Westphalia; on the Ems, 47 miles N. N. E. of Cologne. Its prosperity is due to its becoming the center of several important railway systems, to the extensive coal mines in the vicinity, and to the active manufactures of iron, steel, machinery, railway plant, etc. There are also a number of breweries, potteries, tobacco factories, es, chemical works, etc. It was once a free imperial Hanseatic town, and the seat of the chief tribunal of the Vehme . Pop . about 215,000.