The Oude Maas (; en, Old Meuse) is a distributary of the river

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

, and a former distributary of the river Maas, in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of South Holland. It begins at the city of

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

where the

Beneden Merwede The Beneden Merwede () is a stretch of river in the Netherlands, mainly fed by the river Rhine. It starts as the continuation of the Boven Merwede after the branching-off of the Nieuwe Merwede ship canal. It flows from Hardinxveld-Giessendam to D ...

river splits into the Noord and the Oude Maas. It ends when it joins the

Nieuwe Maas The Nieuwe Maas (; "New Meuse") is a distributary of the Rhine River, and a former distributary of the Maas River, in the Dutch province of South Holland. It runs from the confluence of the rivers Noord and Lek, and flows west through Rotterd ...

to form Het Scheur.

Geography

The Oude Maas forms the southern boundary of the IJsselmonde island. Soon after Dordrecht the

Dordtsche Kil The Dordtse Kil ( pre-1947 spelling: Dordtsche Kil) is a short river in South Holland in the Netherlands. The river is tidal and forms the connection between the Oude Maas river and the Hollands Diep. The river is for most part artificial in origi ...

forks off and after that the Oude Maas forms the northern boundary of the Hoeksche Waard island, flowing west until the Spui river forks off at the town of Oud-Beijerland. The Oude Maas then heads northwest between the towns/cities of Spijkenisse and

Hoogvliet Hoogvliet is a borough of Rotterdam, Netherlands. As of 1 January 2004, it had 36,619 inhabitants. There is also a national chain of Dutch supermarkets with the same name. History The village Hoogvliet was first mentioned on 26 May 1326 in the ar ...

and joins the river

opposite the city of

Vlaardingen Vlaardingen () is a city in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas river at the confluence with the Oude Maas. The municipality administers an area of , of which is land, with residents in . Geog ...

. The combined river is known as Het Scheur and flows to the North Sea. The river is tidal and has nature and recreation areas.

History

During the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

the main flow of the Maas followed the current Oude Maas. During the later Middle Ages, a flooding event caused the Oude Maas to connect to the

Merwede The Merwede () etymology uncertain, possibly derived from the ancient Dutch ''Merwe'' or ''Merowe'', a word meaning "wide water") is the name of several connected stretches of river in the Netherlands, between the cities of Woudrichem, Dordrecht a ...

rivers. From that moment on, the Oude Maas was fed by both the Maas and the

. However, after the St. Elizabeth's floods the Merwede found a new and shorter path to the sea (the current Hollands Diep). As a result, the Oude Maas was devoid from much of the inflow of fresh water and changed into a brackish estuary. When the flow of the Merwede was better distributed among its lower branches (due to artificial means), the Oude Maas was once again a major distributary branch of both the Maas and Rhine. In the late 19th century the connection between the Maas and Rhine was closed off entirely (the current Afgedamde Maas) and the Maas was given a new, artificial mouth - the

Bergse Maas The Bergse Maas (; pre-1947 spelling: Bergsche Maas) is a canal that was constructed in 1904 to be a branch of the river Maas (French: Meuse) in the Dutch province of North Brabant. The Maas splits near Heusden into the Afgedamde Maas and the ...

. The resulting separation of the rivers Rhine and Maas reduced the risk of flooding and is considered to be the greatest achievement in Dutch hydraulic engineering before the completion of the

Zuiderzee Works The Zuiderzee Works ( nl, Zuiderzeewerken) is a man-made system of dams and dikes, land reclamation and water drainage work, in total the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century. The proj ...

and

Delta Works The Delta Works ( nl, Deltawerken) is a series of construction projects in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta from the sea. Constructed between 1954 and 1997, the works con ...

. From that moment on, the Oude Maas is only fed by the

Transport

Connections from the IJsselmonde island on the north: *with

island: ** road bridge ** road tunnel **

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

bridge *with Hoeksche Waard island: ** 1st and 2nd Heinenoordtunnel (motor vehicles, cyclists) *with Voorne-Putten island: ** Spijkenisser Bridge (motor vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians) ** metro tunnel

References

{{Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta Rivers of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta Distributaries of Europe Drechtsteden Hoeksche Waard IJsselmonde (island) Rivers of South Holland Rivers of the Netherlands