DORTMUND, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, on the Emscher, in a fertile plain, 5o m. E. from Dusseldorf by rail. Pop. (1933 ) • 540,480.
Dortmund, the Throtmannia of early history, was already a town of some importance in the 9th century. In 1005 the emperor Henry II. held here an ecclesiastical council, and in 1016 an im perial diet. The town was walled in the 1 2th century, and in 1387 1388 successfully withstood the troops of the archbishop of Co logne for twenty-one months. About the middle of the 13th cen tury it joined the Hanseatic League. In 1803 Dortmund lost its rights as a free town, and was annexed to Nassau. The French occupied it in 1806, and in 1808 it was made over by Napoleon to the grand-duke of Berg, and became the chief town of the depart ment of Ruhr. Through the cession of Westphalia by the king of the Netherlands, on May 31, 1815, Dortmund became a Prussian town.
The old walls were abolished in 1863 but the centre of the town retains a mediaeval aspect. Its ancient buildings include Reinoldi kirche, with fine stained-glass windows ; Marienkirche, the nave of which dates from the 11th century; and Petrikirche, with a curious altar, and the Dominican church, with beautiful cloisters. The 13th-century town hall was restored in 1899 and now contains the municipal antiquarian museum. Dortmund owes its develop ment to its situation in the centre of the Westphalian coal basin. In the immediate vicinity are also extensive beds of iron ore, and the town competes with Essen, Oberhausen, Duisburg and Hagen in the products of the iron industry. These in Dortmund include steel rails, mining plant, wire ropes, machinery, safes and sewing machines. Dortmund has also extensive breweries, and does a considerable trade in corn and wood. It is a railway centre and is also connected with the river Ems by the Dortmund-Ems canal, 17o m. in length.