The Donge is a small river in the Dutch province of

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

. It rises from springs east of

Baarle-Nassau Baarle-Nassau () is a municipality and town in the southern Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. It had a population of in . The town is the site of a complicated borderline between Belgium and the Netherlands: it encloses 22 ...

as a stream called Leij. Near

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

the name changes to ''Donge''. It passes the village of

Dongen Dongen () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and village in North Brabant, in the southern Netherlands. In the past it had a profitable leather industry, and a few old shoe factories in the town's older sections remain. The town ...

and flows north to the town of Geertruidenberg where it is continued by the Amer together with the

Bergse Maas The Bergsche Maas (; History of Dutch orthography, current spelling: Bergsche Maas) is a canal that was constructed in 1904 to be a branch of the river Meuse, Maas (French: Meuse) in the Dutch province of North Brabant. The Maas splits near Heusde ...

. The Donge has a length of 35 km.Rijkswaterstaat (national Dutch authority on waterways and dikes) on river Donge (in Dutch)
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Use of the river

Because the Donge gets wider around the city of Geertruidenberg, it was mainly used for industrial purposes in that area. Until 1952 the powerplant Dongecentrale, which provided all of

with electricity was located at the river. When it was discontinued, the Amercentrale (located at the river Amer) took over its tasks, some of the ships with coals still use the Donge. Until 2005, 4 ship manufacturers were also located at the river. The only big industry left at the banks of the river are in the north-east side, around Geertruidenberg. In previous centuries, more upstream, the Donge was heavily used in the leather industry. Because of its relatively fast current, it was used to clean animal hides, and rinse chemicals from the processed product. Therefore, during the 20th century the Donge was one of the most polluted rivers in the Netherlands.

Miscellanea

* Two sub-dialects of the

Brabantian dialect Brabantian or Brabantish, also Brabantic or Brabantine (, , ), is a dialect group of the Dutch language. It is named after the historical Duchy of Brabant, which corresponded mainly to the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Brabant, the Belgi ...

arose due to the existence of the river. Because the people on either side of the river didn't have much contact in earlier days, ''West-Brabantian'' is mainly spoken on the west side of the river, as ''East-Brabantian'' is spoken, naturally, on the east side of the river.

External links

Video of Omroep Brabant on the Donge (in Dutch)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donge (River) Rivers of North Brabant Rivers of the Netherlands Geertruidenberg