Donge

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The Donge is a river in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant. It rises near the village Dongen and flows north to the city of Geertruidenberg where it's continued by the Amer together with the Bergse Maas.

[edit] Use of the river

Because the Donge gets more 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 Noord-Brabant 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. These were relocated to a location at the Bergse Maas by the municipality of Geertruidenberg. Single-family homes and apartments are now built on these locations. The only big industry left at the banks of the river are in the north-east side, around Geertruidenberg, where petrol transporting company Van der Sluijs Groep B.V. (which transports petrol in the Benelux for instance BP) and Jan de Poorter B.v. which enriches minerals can be found. Both companies use the river for supply via ships. 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 skins, and rinse chemicals from the processed product. Therefore, during the 20th century the Donge was one of the most polluted rivers in the Netherlands.

[edit] Miscellanea

• Two sub-dialects of the Brabantian dialect 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.
• The area of the municipality of Geertruidenberg and the villages Made, Hank and Dussen (often Drimmelen is also included) is called De Dongemond because the Donge flows into another river (Dutch: uitmonden) in this area.