Dordrecht [key], city, South Holland prov., SW Netherlands, at the point where the Lower Merwede divides to form the Noord and Oude Maas (Old Meuse) rivers. An important rail junction and river port, it has shipyards and manufactures heavy machinery and chemicals. Founded in the early 11th cent., Dordrecht was the scene (1572) of the meeting of the Estates of Holland that proclaimed William the Silent stadtholder. Dordrecht has a 14th-century Gothic church (Groote Kerk) and an art museum.
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