r DORDRECHT, an important commercial city of Holland, capital of a cognominal district in the province of South Holland, 10 miles S.E. of Rotterdam. It is situated on an island of the Meuse, said to have been separated from the mainland in 1421, by an inundation which swept away 72 villages, and about 100,000 inhabitants. This is one of the oldest cities of Holland, but the period of its rise is uncertain. It was surrounded by walls in 1231 by Florent IV. Count of Holland, who made it his residence, and granted it many important privileges. In 1457, almost the entire town, including the church of Notre Dame, founded in 1366, and other public buildings, was destroyed by fire. It was one of the first towns to embrace the Reformed religion, and to throw off the yoke of the Spanish king. In 1572 a meeting of deputies was held here when the independence of the United Provinces was first declared; and in 1618 and 1619 sat the celebrated synod of Dort. The town-hall is a handsome building; and the principal church is an old Gothic structure 300 feet long by 125 wide, with a heavy square tower, and numerous monumental stones, some of great antiquity. The hall in which the synod was held is now a public house. The houses are generally of an antique fashion, with the gables turned outwards, and many of them date from the period of the Spanish occupation. Dort possesses a good harbour, from which two canals lead to the centre of the town, and thus facilitate the conveyance of goods to the warehouses. It carries on an extensive trade in corn, flax, salt fish, train oil, and timber, brought down the Rhine; and has shipbuilding docks, saw-mills, sugar and salt refineries, tobacco factories, linen bleaching, and white-lead works. Dort is the birthplace of the brothers De Witt. Pop. (1850) 20,875.