Roots of Van Dort Series Part VI

And what about Dordecht? The surname of families Van Dort owes their family name because it means that they are descendants from Dordecht.

Dordrecht is described as the oldest city of Holland. Dordrecht is situated on the left bank of the Maas (Meuse) River, at the point where a long arm of the North Sea cuts deeply into the Dutch coastline. DORDRECHT is a town with about 119.000 people near ROTTERDAM, funded on an island surrounded by 4 rivers (DORDTSE KIL, HOLLAND'S DIEP, NIEUWE MERWEDE and OUDE MAAS) with 1,000 buildings older then 300 years, with idyllic old harbors and canals, so a wonderful city to work and live in.

Dordrecht, also called DORT, OR DORDT, gemeente (commune), Zuid-Holland province, south-western Netherlands, at the divergence of the Merwede, Noord, Oude Maas (Old Meuse), and Dordtse Kil rivers. Founded in 1008, it was the residence of the Counts of Holland until 1203 and was first chartered in 1220. It was fortified in 1271, and, although severely damaged by flood in 1421, it was one of the most prosperous medieval ports in the Netherlands until it was surpassed by Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

In 1572 Dordrecht welcomed the "Sea Beggars" (Water geuzen), Netherlands rebels against Spain, and was the scene of the first assembly of the United Provinces. It was the seat (1618-1619) of the important Synod of Dort, an international assembly of the Reformed Church (for which it had declared in 1572)

• The Oldest City of Holland
  

• The Financial center of Holland.
  

• The first assembly of the States of Holland in 1572 in which the Seven United Provinces under the leadership of William I the Silent of Orange declared themselves independent from Spain.
  

• The Synod of Dordrecht (1618-1619), an important religious institute of the Reformed church.
  

• The birth-place of the brothers de Witt, Johan de Witt, a 17th-century Grand Pensionary of Holland, and his brother Cornelius were natives of the town. Important men of state and the first republicans in the17th century, who were later lynched in The Hague.
  

• The 17th-century Dutch painters Albeart Cuyp (the most famous), Ferdinand Bol, Aeart de Gelder, Samuel van Hoogstraten, Benjamin Gerritz Cuyp, Abraham Bloemaert, Nicolaes Maes and Ary Scheffer.
  

• Museums with collections of paintings by old Dutch masters and local medieval antiquities.
  

E & OE