Because the infectious decease of this question has found its way over from r/belgium
bassabas on
If I had a guess it is because it is part of the County of Bentheim, which was never part of any of the Dutch area’s bordering it. Any historians that can ellaborate?
AlfredvonTirpitz on
Emlichheim specifically
The village of Emlichheim (Low Saxon: Emmelkamp) lies directly on the border. The angular “indentation” or “dent” is caused by the border running along the Vechte River and the Coevorden–Picardy Canal. This made the area both strategically and naturally separated in the past.
Signal-Mind7249 on
We gave that piece to germany so it looks more like a face.
potato13254 on
Now we have a little mouth
Attygalle on
The real answer to your question is simply that this is how history worked out.
But also that there’s little of value there. It’s bogland. It’s sparsely populated and always has been. So it wasn’t relevant to conquer for anyone.
Having said that, the region is historically far more aligned with NL than other border areas of Germany – for instance, the religion over there was a Dutch reformed one, not the “standard” Lutheran one most of North Germany had.
It could easily have turned out to be Dutch but then its back to paragraph one and two. The only reason you ask this question is for aesthetic map making reasons. There is no economic or military strategic reason for NL to have it – and it was like that for centuries in the past as well.
toppottoo on
We never owned it. We did get some land after ww2, but gave everything back except ‘de duivelsberg’.
Asjemenou12 on
History and nationality
TheEcte on
why do YOU not own that piece of land?
DrBreakalot on
Too many hills
achterlangs on
The area was not part of any of the states that ended up forming what would become the netherlands. It was however among the states in middle francia, the last common shared border.
EverySquare1047 on
So we could keep maastricht
Moist-Imagination627 on
Because the EU is not a central superstate like the US is, so we can’t draw perfect straight line borders between our sovereign countries like the US does with some of its states.
Every county was owned by a certain count, who in turn served a certain king. That particular county just so happens to have belonged to a German count, and therefore it is part of Germany.
FastFredNL on
Weight till you see the town of Baarle-Nassau lol
cekelly86 on
Too many Germans
kalsoy on
The real question is why doesn’t Germany not own the area north and south (and west) of it?
Ans no, this is no based WWII joke, as the war didn’t affect Grrmany’s shape in its west. The answer dates back to the 1580s when several parts of the 7 Nether Lands declared themselves to be an independent federation. And why those 7 – that again dates back to the Burgondy rule and Reformation.
In the end it all comes down to which nobility owned which plots of land. The kind of nations back then didn’t think in territorial terms but in network terms. Maps were hardly available so nobody would notice a weird shape anyway.
Armando22nl on
To make it the country with the best shape in the world.
Mission-Decision7639 on
Why are you so stupid.
GenericUsername2056 on
It’s difficult to traverse swampland which historically was and also currently is sparsely inhabited. There wasn’t much of value to be gained by taking it.
26 commenti
Because its germany’s land
So i can buy cheap gas in Germany;)
The Anglo-Saxons stopped us from taking it.
There was an attempt. xD
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_annexation_of_German_territory_after_the_Second_World_War#Bakker_Schut_Plan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_annexation_of_German_territory_after_the_Second_World_War#Bakker_Schut_Plan)
Because the infectious decease of this question has found its way over from r/belgium
If I had a guess it is because it is part of the County of Bentheim, which was never part of any of the Dutch area’s bordering it. Any historians that can ellaborate?
Emlichheim specifically
The village of Emlichheim (Low Saxon: Emmelkamp) lies directly on the border. The angular “indentation” or “dent” is caused by the border running along the Vechte River and the Coevorden–Picardy Canal. This made the area both strategically and naturally separated in the past.
We gave that piece to germany so it looks more like a face.
Now we have a little mouth
The real answer to your question is simply that this is how history worked out.
But also that there’s little of value there. It’s bogland. It’s sparsely populated and always has been. So it wasn’t relevant to conquer for anyone.
Having said that, the region is historically far more aligned with NL than other border areas of Germany – for instance, the religion over there was a Dutch reformed one, not the “standard” Lutheran one most of North Germany had.
It could easily have turned out to be Dutch but then its back to paragraph one and two. The only reason you ask this question is for aesthetic map making reasons. There is no economic or military strategic reason for NL to have it – and it was like that for centuries in the past as well.
We never owned it. We did get some land after ww2, but gave everything back except ‘de duivelsberg’.
History and nationality
why do YOU not own that piece of land?
Too many hills
The area was not part of any of the states that ended up forming what would become the netherlands. It was however among the states in middle francia, the last common shared border.
So we could keep maastricht
Because the EU is not a central superstate like the US is, so we can’t draw perfect straight line borders between our sovereign countries like the US does with some of its states.
Every county was owned by a certain count, who in turn served a certain king. That particular county just so happens to have belonged to a German count, and therefore it is part of Germany.
Weight till you see the town of Baarle-Nassau lol
Too many Germans
The real question is why doesn’t Germany not own the area north and south (and west) of it?
Ans no, this is no based WWII joke, as the war didn’t affect Grrmany’s shape in its west. The answer dates back to the 1580s when several parts of the 7 Nether Lands declared themselves to be an independent federation. And why those 7 – that again dates back to the Burgondy rule and Reformation.
In the end it all comes down to which nobility owned which plots of land. The kind of nations back then didn’t think in territorial terms but in network terms. Maps were hardly available so nobody would notice a weird shape anyway.
To make it the country with the best shape in the world.
Why are you so stupid.
It’s difficult to traverse swampland which historically was and also currently is sparsely inhabited. There wasn’t much of value to be gained by taking it.
It sucks. You Germans want it? LOL you have it.
Why are countries not vierkant?
This is the part you have questions about? Not [Baarle Hertog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog) which is multiple pieces of Belgium inside The Netherlands