- location Dordrecht Length 9 km Province South Holland Bridges Bridge over the Noord | - location Ridderkerk Source Beneden Merwede Mouth Nieuwe Maas | |
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Cities Dordrecht, Ridderkerk, Kinderdijk Similar Merwede, Nieuwe Merwede, Schenkel metro station, IJsselmonde, Bridge over the Noord | ||
The Noord ("North") is a short tidal river in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland.
Contents
Map of Noord, Netherlands
The Noord starts at the city of Dordrecht where the Beneden Merwede river forks into the Oude Maas and the Noord. It joins the Lek at the city of Ridderkerk and Kinderdijk, and the combined stream is thereafter known as the Nieuwe Maas. The distance is about nine kilometres. The direction of its water flow depends on the tides.
The Noord River separates IJsselmonde island from the Alblasserwaard mainland to the east. There are two connections between them:
HistoryEdit
During the early Middle Ages the river was considered to be the continuation of the Merwede river (itself a distributary branch of the Rhine) and was named accordingly. However, as a result of the St. Elizabeth's floods the Merwede found a new and shorter path to the sea (the current Hollands Diep) and the stretch leading north changed into a brackish estuary. From that moment on it was called the Noord. When the flow of the Merwede was better distributed among its lower branches (due to artificial means), the Noord returned to its former state as a tidal freshwater river, but the name remained Noord.