Dordrecht: Oldest City in South Holland, Netherlands - Part 1

Dordrecht, in South Holland province, is the fifth-largest city after Rotterdam, The Hague, Zoetermeer, and Leiden, with 118,654 residents. Formed along the Thure River amid peat marshes—a branch of the Dubbel in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta—near Baggijnhof. Granted city rights in 1220 by William I, Count of Holland, it is the oldest city in present-day South Holland. (Geertruidenberg was first but now lies in North Brabant.)