Curious...?
Today we drove over to Baarle, the common name given to two municipalities (villages) in two different countries; two municipalities intermingled in wildly confusing ways.
Baarle has a combined population of about 8,860 and is located mostly inside the Netherlands. However Baarle-Hertog is Belgian and comprises of 22 enclaves (within the Netherlands) ...but then, within the 2 biggest of those 22 Belgian enclaves there are 7 Dutch sub-enclaves belonging to Baarle-Nassau, the Dutch municipality that surrounds Baarle-Hertog. There is also a Dutch enclave located within Belgium.
The name Baarle was first mentioned back in 922 and has a long and chequered history of ownership. Country of residence is decided by the location of the front door and so it is that each house has to pay taxes in the country in which its front door is located. It wasn't surprising to learn that the front door is sometimes moved a few metres if the tax situation is better in the other country, particularly business taxes.
Returning to the notion of the bi-national quadripoints ... there are only two others in the world. One in the Austrian semi-enclave of Jungholz in Germany, and another in Bangladesh, with a semi-enclave in India.
Much as I would love to write up the history of Baarle, it's complicated and confusing. Anyone who is interested can read more of it here .
2 comments:
A very interesting report. You might want to take a look at the article that appeared in hidden europe magazine last year (Issue 3, July 2005) on European exclaves and enclaves, that included a good map of the Jungholz quadripoint. In their September 2006 issue, they have an article that picks up more on the same theme. More on their website at www.hiddeneurope.co.uk.
Thanks anonymous ... it looks like a really interesting magazine and one I hadn't heard of ... much appreciated.
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