Dort

Dort, or Dordrecht, a town of South Holland, 10 miles S. of Rotterdam, upon an island in the Maas, which was formed by the famous inundation of 1421, which swallowed up 70 villages and 100,000 people. It is one of the oldest and once richest trading towns of the Netherlands, and was founded in 1013. Its Gothic cathedral and its town-hall date from the 14th century. It is intersected by canals, and its harbour admits large East Indiamen and the huge wood-rafts of the Rhine. There are ship-yards, corn and saw-mills, and there are industries in oil, sugar, ironware, and machinery. In 1572 the first assembly of the States took place here, and in 1618 the Synod of Dort approved the doctrines of Calvinism. The De Witts, Ary Scheffer, and Cuyp were born here, the last of whom constantly introduces the features of Dort into his paintings.