Border region

The border region is a region in the Belgian province of Limburg, just over 5,000 acres, surrounded on three sides by the Province of Liege , and bounded on the north by Dutch Limburg .

The border region was much in the news in 1960, when the six villages along the river Enter object were politically heated debates in Belgium. These villages were legal since 1963 Dutch with facilities for French speakers . The area was in 1963 Limburg exclave in the country of Overmaas, but historically it is a smaller part of a largerLimburg-speaking region, which formerly extended further south. East of Feeding situated an area in Flanders Flat Dietse region is called, where French is the official language of the government, but that is still a transitional dialect between the German ( Central Franconian dialects : Ripuarisch ) and Dutch ( Low Franconian survives).See also: Language Dispute in the border region

Content
[verbergen]
 * 1 Geography
 * 2 Dialect Geography
 * 3 History
 * 3.1 Prehistory and Romans
 * 3.2 Feudal lords
 * 3.3 Modern times
 * 4 External links

[Geography edit ]
In the border region are six villages and hamlets along the sixteen municipality Feeding form, which extends over 50 square kilometers. The region is sparsely populated (82.11 inhabitants / km², ie. 1: 12,000 sqm) and has 4157 inhabitants (January 2012), of whom about a quarter Dutch.

Villages and hamlets within the municipality are: In particular, the three 's-Gravenvoeren, Sint-Pieters-Feeding and Sint-Martens-feeding is known, thanks to the recognizable names.

The region consists of a hilly landscape, with its valleys, through which two tributaries of the Meuse flows, Enter and Gulp . Four Villages enter waters off the Enter, like the Dutch villages Mheer and Noorbeek . Teuven and Remersdaal waters but off the Gulp. The Berwijn is a river that rises east of Feeding, south of the town flows to enter the Armenian village Moelingen and then close the Meuse flows.

The border region is in fact part of the Herve, like the southeastern Dutch province of Limburg . Nearly 20% of the border region is natural. In Feeding is also the highest point in Dutch-speaking Belgium: the southeastern village Remersdaal at 287 m altitude.

[Dialect Geography edit ]
Social Cultural makes the border region part of the Meuse-Rhenish dialect continuum, in line with the current Dutch South Limburg and the Plat Dietse region between Liège and Aachen. The subdivision of the Dutch Limburg in micro format can be found in the Belgian border region. Also there to divide the dialects in three variants: The last part of the East Limburg-Ripuarisch or Trench Lands (like Vijlens or Heerlen or What Raedts), the second to the East Limburg (like Valkenburgs) and the first to the Central Limburg (such as Maastricht ).
 * 1) the western Voerens ( Moelingen )
 * 2) Central Voerens ( 's-Gravenvoeren )
 * 3) the eastern Voerens ( Sint-Martens-Voeren , Sint-Pieters-Voeren , Plank , Teuven and Remersdaal ).

Prehistory and Romans [ edit ]
Of the area where the current border region is a part, was the prehistoric flint edited which was abundantly available. The oldest traces of habitation dating back to the Neolithic period (sites include the Feeding Mountain and Hoogbos ). Later, the Romans exploited one or two large villas . The region was also in the Gallo-Roman period occupied in various settlements.

Steenboskapel in the hamlet Schophem

The Roman occupation is indicated by an important villa of the second century, rebuilt in the seventh, the place stone forest, in the hamlet Schophem . She studied in 1840-1846 by H. Del Vaux. [1] With the excavated materials ( spolia ) was here in 1850 Steenboskapel built. The substructure of a Gallo-Roman villa on the site "On the Sæle" was investigated in 1867 by H. Schuermans. [2]

There were also found traces of the Via Mansuerica, a military road ( military road ) from the seventh century, which was the connection of the Moselle in Trier on theHigh Fens to the Meuse in Maastricht, and thus between the major roads Bavay - Cologne and Reims - Cologne.

Feudal lords [ edit ]
For the history of the border region in the Frankish and Carolingian times, the Middle Ages and the Modern Era In earlier centuries, the region did not own unit. These six villages have belonged to all the Overmaas / old Limburg area, Brabants possession came after the Battle of Worringen in 1288 . About the Principality of Liège around the area was ruled from Brabant, and later went with Brabant on the Burgundian Netherlands of EmperorCharles V and his Habsburg successors.

During the Ancien Régime made ​​the villages Moelingen, 's-Gravenvoeren and St. Martensvoeren as Dalhemse ships banks are part of the Brabant with associatedcountries Overmaas . The village Teuven (Remersdaal included) was originally part of the aldermen in Montzen also connected to Brabant duchy of Limburg. The village of St. Peter Feeding finally was like possession of the Teutonic Order a rich glory .

Modern times [ edit ]
The current border region is composed of the previously Dalhemse villages Moelingen and 's-Gravenvoeren in the west, it also Dalhemse St. Martensvoeren and the formerly rich free glory St. Peter Feeding (since the crusaders separately St. Martensvoeren) in the middle, and from formerly the old Limburg Teuven (Remersdaal included) in the east. The old borders are also somewhat reflected in the dialect, to the east all the transition between the Limburg dialects and Ripuarisch belongs.

The transfer of the region to Limburg at the official establishment of the language border (1963) resulted in political squabbling that had arranged a national dimension in the 1980s and led in 1987 to the fall of the federal government. See also Language Dispute in the border region .