Hi fellow Steemians, I am living in a tiny little village in the southernmost part of the Netherlands called Vaals. The town of Vaals has about 9700 inhabitants and is so far south, it touches both the German and Belgium border. My house is literally less then 300 meters from the Belgium border and just under 100 meters from the German border!
Amongst the Dutch Vaals is simply known for what is called the three-borders-point. This is the location where the borders of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands meet. The three-borders point also happens to be the highest point of the Netherlands (a staggering 322,4 meters above sea-level)!
As you can imagine, the area around Vaals has a rich history due to its geographical location close to two other countries.
Back in the day, the people of Vaals used to carry Belgium Francs, German Marks and Dutch Guilders in their wallets. And just to get around during their daily activities, people had to cross borders regularly. You can imagine that with the opening of the borders and the introduction of the Euro, life became a little easier for the local people.
Ok enough about Vaals, my plan was to tell you about another patch of land with an interesting history. And it is only a stone's throw away from where I live! Neutral Moresnet is a piece of land covering roughly 3.5 square kilometers that from 1816 to 1920 was what is called a condominium. Without going into the details, a condominium is not a country but an area over which multiple countries claim dominium. However, without dividing the area into separate national zones (more on condominium here).
After the empire of Napoleon had been demised, a group of European ambassadors came together for what is now is known as the congress of Vienna. At this congress, the borders between European states were restored. Although a general agreement was met between all parties involved there was one small patch of land over which the Netherlands and Germany could not meet. You've guessed it, we are talking about Neutral Moresnet here.
Due to a valuable zinc spar mine located in the area, both Germany and the Netherland wanted to claim the land. Since no agreement could be made it was decided to declare the area a neutral territory with a joint administration. Later on, in 1830 when Belgium gained independence from the Netherlands, the Belgians also took over the reins from the Netherlands in the joint administration of Neutral Moresnet.
Through the years some remarkable developments occurred in the neutral state. This was partially due to the unique situation it was in.
After August of 1903, a casino was opened in Neutral Moresnet. This was mainly due to the fact that Belgium had banned casinos earlier that year. With a population of only 3000, this was a remarkable development.
In 1908 it was proposed to make Neutral Moresnet the first Esperanto speaking state in the world named Amikejo which translates to place of friendship. A group of locals actually learned the Esperanto language and at some point, Amikejo was announced Esperanto's capital of the world!
In 1914, when Germany invaded Belgium Neutral Moresnet was in the hands of the Germans. And finally, in 1919 in the Treaty of Versailles, Moresnet, along with a number of small German municipalities was handed over to Belgium.
And with that, what was originally a four-borders-point turned into a mere three-borders point, as it remained until today.
Thanks everyone, for reading!
Main source: Wikipedia.