​DUDERSTADT, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hanover, situated in a beautiful and fertile valley (formerly called Goldene Mark) watered by the Hahle, and on the railway Wulften-Leinefelde. Pop. (1905) 5327. It is an interesting medieval town with many ancient buildings. Notable are the two Roman Catholic churches, beautiful Gothic edifices of the 14th century, the Protestant church, and the handsome town-hall. Its chief industries are woollen and cotton manufactures, sugar-refining and cigar-making; it has also a trade in singing-birds. Duderstadt was founded by Henry I. (the Fowler) in 929, passed later to the monastery of Quedlinburg, and then to Brunswick. It was a member of the Hanseatic League, and during the Thirty Years’ War became a stronghold of the Imperialists. It was taken by Duke William of Weimar in 1632; in 1761 its walls were dismantled, and, after being alternately Prussian and Hanoverian, it passed finally in 1866 with Hanover to Prussia.