The Weird Border Between France and The Netherlands

We all know that France and the Netherlands don't share a border, right? Belgium's in between, right? Not exactly, both countries DO share a border, just not where you might expect it. That border is in a tiny island in the Caribbean called Saint Martin. Its tumultuous history is explained in this video, I hope you enjoy it!

📚 Chapters

00:00 - The discovery of the island
00:44 - Saint Martin nowadays
01:41 - Claims to the island in the past
03:18 - The Treaty of Concordia and the legend
04:37 - Most reasonable explanation for the French having more land
04:50 - After the Treaty of Concordia
05:10 - Check out this other weird border!

📑 Sources

🫂 Attributions

🎵 Music

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

[rockspyder]

😂I thought they were sarcastically referring to Belgium as the “weird border” between France and the Netherlands, which it actually is!😂

[sailorssilence]

Hi. I am a resident of Sint Maarten and a historian. There are some historical inaccuracies in this video.

1. In 1624, the first Europeans visited St. Martin. There is no official record as to who they were.
2. The first Dutchman set foot on St. Martin in 1627, settling in the Little Bay Rea on the western side of the sand bank between Great Bay and the salt pond. This settlement was called Lammerenberg.
3. The Spanish conquered the island in 1632, not 1631.

Thanks :)

[weather]

You explain complicated history in such simple words. Keep goin dude you will get out there someday!

[RedmarKerkhof]

I wish more disputes were settled with drinking games.

[ilesdunord-noobyoutuber-sx]

Cool video. Its always great to see Youtubers make videos about our little island.

[Ozymandias]

My aunt worked at the hospital there as a doctor and had just retired and built a new house for herself when it was washed away by Hurricane Irma in 2017. So she had to move in with my cousin who is a civil servant there and get back out of retirement. His apartment building was one of the few buildings left standing, Trump's villa on the French side also survived the category 5 hurricane.

[ernestov]

Criminally underrated channel. Subscribed.

[juancarlossolano]

This was super cool. Could you do a video explaining why in the ABC/SSS islands Dutch is not the most prevalent language unlike other islands in the Caribbean? Would be interesting to compare it to Suriname, where in Paramaribo at least Dutch is the main language of communication

[Ell.]

Just a small, random correction, jenever is not Dutch gin, it's the drink that came before it that the British based gin off of.

[MissBTarot]

I actually hadn't spotted the island in the thumbnail and thought you were going to do a video on Belgium for a bit

[gijsv]

1648 was also the treaty of Munster, independence of the Netherlands. After 80 years of war with Spain.

[Nigu_Flags]

I really enjoyed this video! It was entertaining all the way through and I learned stuff I didn't know, plus your editing and comedic timing are very good :)

[laabh]

YOO, EPIC Channel, I think you can fill the hole in my heart that politics with paint left behind, also could you cover smth South Asian next?
Thanks in advance!

[lucavello]

Watching this from Saint Martin. Great video!

[Manectricz]

Good video, this channel will probably blow up pretty soon

[Aidan_Au]

Thanks for using the country ball emojis and making videos with subtitles!
Could you please make videos about Norway and Nordic countries? Thank you!

[techno]

Great video! Entertaining. Loved the bruh sound effect

[bomee]

lets go he uploaded
also congrats on 200 subs, you deserve it

[alternateaccount]

Pleasent to see the rise of another great infographic channel that makes use of Polandball, keep the tradition going brave soldier o7

[TimmieHenHen]

cant believe you have only 595 subs you deserve more!