The strangest geographical marriage in Europe is… (simplifying) in Benelux

The most bizarre borders in Europe are in the Netherlands… and then in Belgium… and then in the Netherlands again… it’s strange. An authentic geographical matriosca.

The intertwined villages of Baarle-Hertog (which is Belgian, but is in the Netherlands) and Baarle-Nassau (which Dutch, but has parts in Belgium) compose the Strange Border in Europe.

Let’s uncomplicate: Hertog is made up of 22 enclaves inside Nassau. They are small pieces of land surrounded by Dutch territory.

An enclave is a territory belonging to a country, but it is completely surrounded by the territory of another country.

In turn, in Within HERTOG there are also parts of Nassau. There are seven sub-nclaves within the enclaves of Belgium.

It’s a kind of Geographic matrios.

The border crosses walks, offices, houses and even rooms. There, Being in Belgium, it is possible to sleep with someone who is in the Netherlands.

Van Goolwho lived in the Dutch part all his life, reports to some of the pros-and contractors of this caricature scenario: “Belgian bread is much better and gasoline It’s much cheaper in Belgium. ”

“However, for shopping, everyone goes to the Netherlands,” he said. Also, who has a house divided by borders pays taxes in both countries.

People tend to take advantage of different laws and tax regimes.

This geographical eccentricity attracts thousands of tourists every year around the world and has Origin in the Middle Ageswhen feudal agreements and land exchanges between nobles created a chaotic administrative situation.

O territory was divided for the first time in 1198. But the border issue became a matter again in 1830, when Belgium became independent of the Netherlands.

But even after the formation of the modern states of Belgium and the Netherlands, the divisions were maintained and officially recognized.

The last moves in the territory were made in 2018, after a beheaded corpse was found, which generated the chaos at the time of investigations.