Belgium Has The Oddest, Most Recently Changed Borders In The World

Snake borders, pan borders and fuster cluck borders; Belgium!

Also on twitter @ibxtoycat

[democracydignityhumanrights]

Yes I’d like 3 Luxemburgers, 2 French Fries, a Belgian Waffle, all with a side of drugs.

[EPMTUNES]

Do an "all the borders of Australia" video. Lots of oddities to be discussed

[Bram]

If you illegally park in both countries at the same time, you could get 2 tickets

[Azivegu]

A bit of a correction, North Brabant and Limburg in the Netherlands are majority catholic. Its mostly when you get north of the major rivers (Meuse and Rhine) that you see majority protestant. The two aforementioned provinces stayed in the Netherlands because they were under control by the Dutch government during the secession.

[ferrenberg]

"Oh I'm in Belgium, oh I'm in the Netherlands" 😂😂😂

[MaartenvanRossemLezingen]

Spa is extremely famous for having a spa you silly noodle! In fact *the term spa is derrived from Spa.* The more you know I guess xD

[TheTrueAltoClef]

30:20 Belgian colonialism is one of the first things people talk about when talking about colonialism

[Hoehlenmaensch]

Just imagine: Elections, and people are like "so who you gonna vote for" "i'm not, i live in the belgian part of town, we have the next election next year"
Also: such a small country, but a really long video. Could've travelle with that beach tram from end to end in that time. xD

[psd_seth]

Yay! Belgium! I’ve been to Brussels, Bruges, Waterloo, and Zeeland (NL.)

I agree that Brussels isn’t the best part of Belgium, however it’s definitely worth a visit just to see the Grand Place!

However, Bruges is one of my favourite cities in the world. It’s so beautiful, especially at night. (Also, you pronounced it wrong in the video.)

Another great video, Toycat!

P.S: Second Channel, DO CARE?! Hurray!

[Dylan_Lanckman]

When mentioning the Belgian colonial empire, don't forget about the Belgian Concession of Tianjin in China (where belgium in fact did great things like building Trams and running water infrastructure), and the governing of the leprans colony in Molokai, Hawaii (controlled by Monk Damian's mission).

[mjouwbuis]

The reason they didn't speak French in Lille is that it is actually in French Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of France. You must have noticed bilingual signs Lille / Rijsel, the latter being the Flemish name. I'm actually surprised they didn't speak French since France is neglecting their Dutch connection and doing away with language education, but I guess actual people are more stubborn than their government ;) It would be interesting to know the history on France having a Dutch speaking community, I only know they have but not why. Maybe you can do an item on it or something.

[shruiiiii]

I live in Germany, working in Aachen and I have many collegues from Belgium, who are speaking German. It is easy to go from Aachen to the Netherlands or Belgium. They got so many beautiful cities! *_*

[doesntmakeanysenceu]

the Belgium/Netherlands border isn´t really based on religious differences, the southern dutch provinces of Limbourg and North Brabant are catholic, just like Belgium. the divide happens on the river Rhine. In general, people north of the Rhine are Protestant (reformed) while people south of the Rhine are Catholic.

[r.v.b.]

The Dutch-Belgian border isn't based on religion. The southern regions of the Netherlands are, just like Belgium, traditionally Catholic and have mainly become Catholic due to the Twelve Year's Truce (1609-1621) when most Protestants travelled northwards and both the Spaniards and the Dutch revolutionaries got a grip on the regions they possessed. The religious boundary is present along the Dutch river delta (Meuse and Rhine).

Saying Belgium seceded from the Netherlands because of a difference in religion is far-fetched. Even after Belgium split from the Netherlands, the Netherlands still had a population that was around 40% Catholic. The Dutch king was Protestant and hadabsolute control, which he used to intermingle with Catholic church affairs in the south (trying to nationalize it), angering religious leaders. Belgian Catholics weren't happy about it, neither were they used to it (like Dutch Catholics). However, Catholic leaders weren't the only reason. The revolt was also caused due to the fact that the south contained a great number of liberals, most of whom opposed the absolute rule of a northern king and thought independence was the easiest way to create a state with their ideals. They allied with the Catholics, promising they would leave church affairs to the church. Aside of these liberals, the Belgian elites (from bourgeoisie to nobility) were also an important factor. They were mainly angry due to a growing dominance of the Dutch language (due to Dutchification reforms) and it solely becoming used in parliament, court and administration. French was the language of these elites due to its high historical status, whereas standard Dutch was uncommon, even in Flanders. The commoners of the current region of Flanders and Brussels spoke Dutch dialects, but they weren't the ones with power, influence and strong opinions about "the bigger picture". Most of these commoners didn't even master a form of standard Dutch.

Another factor was France. Belgium was ceded to the Netherlands to create a strong buffer state and weaken France's dominant position in Western Europe. France sought to create division in the United Netherlands and used the (structural) differences between the north and the south to do so (they actually sent people to cause uproar). However, rather than creating an independent Belgium, they tried to use the division to weaken the Netherlands, strenghten their own position and gain more territory (as is visible in their Talleyrand Plan). During the Belgian Revolt, which was initially starting to fail, France eventually sent their own armies and forced the Dutch northwards.

[jefntungila]

I am Belgian and Belgium could not be more nationalistic at the moment. Belgian flags everywhere, everyone celebrating our third place finish at the world cup.

[nissepik]

Need to correct you on the Luxembourgish-border issue, in the treaty of London 1838-39 Luxembourg had to give up lands to Germany, France and Belgium in order to gain independancy. (because of the belgian revolutionaries). Belgium got the bigger cut of the cake and Luxembourg stood unified with the Netherlands. (Cause Monarchy)
During the french occupations the luxembourgish dialects in the belgian region went extinct. You can still find some people that live very close to the border speaking it.

P.S. Do not call the beauty that is the luxembourgish language a german dialect, filthy anglo RTTT TZEEE
But on an honest note, it's usually germans claiming it to be and not understanding how the entire language-dialect continuum seems to work. I am often confused as a dutchmen by germans, so if you're ever interested in the geo-political conflicts from a native here. Hmu

[Aprill]

I took a break from watching anime for this video, keep it up :)

[tobeytransport]

22:00 yes they do get on very well because the king of Belgium and the duke of Luxembourg are cousins

[thomasvannuland]

I'am from the netherlands, North brabant and i hope the east of belgium and the east of north brabant will be reunited and back to the Het hertogdom brabant.

[celer]

Commenting only to boost your engagement stats.