There city of Baarle It counts about 6700 inhabitants is located in Holland, a few kilometers from the Belgian border in the province of the northern Barber, but it is not a country like any other: it is in fact composed of 22 Belgian Exclavicompletely surrounded by Dutch territory. So, is the city of Baarle Belgian? Yes, but not entirely. Some of these Exclavi belonging to Belgium contain in fact Further eight Dutch enclaves: to distinguish the areas of the Belgian city from the Dutch ones there are gods tracks on the flooring of the roadsbut they are also divided into interiors of buildings, offices, shops, parks, etc. And there are two different devices for Each scope of the public managementA: Two mayors, two police districts, two postal systems, two different transport agencies, and so on.
When we talk about enclave We refer to the territory of a state completely surrounded by another state: for example San Marino, an autonomous state completely surrounded by Italy, and is therefore an enclave for Italy. With the term ExclaveInstead, reference is made to the territory belonging to a state but inserted in a foreign state, for example champion who is within the Swiss borders, and is therefore an Exclave for Italy and an enclave for Switzerland.
Here, to Baarle occur Both these situations simultaneously And above all one within the other, like a matryoska: for this reason, the city of Baarle is considered the place with the definition – and management – of the most complicated boundaries in the world.
The story of Baarle: because the city is thus “chopped” and the border between Holland and Belgium
It all starts in 1843 with the Maastrich treatyt, with which they settled The boundaries between Belgium and Holland: On this occasion, to define the border in some areas it was very complicated. Among the most difficult areas there is precisely that of the stones – blocks of stone with which the border was delimited – 214 and 215: here, just within those 50 km in which the city of Baarle is located, it was not possible to trace a clear line, so the two states had to find an internal agreement to win sovereignty on well 5 732 land parcels. The agreement brought – which is not rare to time – to the partition of pieces of the city of Baarle. But the question does not end here: the dispute between the two countries continues until 1959year in which the International Court of Justice actually attributes the belonging of the enclaves to Belgium. In the 1974 Holland and Belgium then sign an agreement to formalize the borders between the stupid 214 and 215, but in 1995 There is a new twist: it emerges that a lot of land, south of the hamlet of Ulicoten, has not been officially assigned to neither of the two countries. It will also become an Exclave attributed to Belgium.
How the city of Baarle is organized
The inhabitants, Between Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassauare less than 10,000 and, when they move in their city, they cross the border between Belgium and Holland several times a day. When walking on the street, understanding in which nation you find it is quite simple: it is sufficient to look around and observe the roads, on which they are reported Special partition tiles And a “B” to indicate the Belgian area, and “NL” for the Dutch one. Except that this also happens in the middle of the wall of a building where there are homes inside: it is therefore not rare, in your own home, Sleeping in Holland and cooking in Belgium. To understand therefore if a building is Belgian or Dutch, the entrance door is used.
The inhabitants generally speak Both Dutch and Frenchbut their nationality are well divided: in fact, there are two different mayors, two police and therefore judicial systems, two services that regulate transport, even two different websites of the municipality, one with Baarle-Hertog.be domain and a Baarle-Nassau.nl.
It is not difficult to imagine how much, during the Before that the Second World WarBaarle was a nerve point for it sorting of the mail, the distribution of food, the protection of prisoners. A real borderlandwho still makes a lot of talk about himself and who lends himself to almost comic situations, so much so that he is ironing on himself and also organize experiential tourist routes to discover the bizarre stories of the enclaves.
