Another thing that caught my eye on the Vennbahn scans (1:50k) sent
by Brendan: the boundary markers on the "normal" bede border have a
designation that is taken from Belgian maps (judging by the letter
font). Sometimes it says "Gr." + number, sometimes "Bne" + number. So
the two scans (Monschau1 and 2) also demonstrate the fact that the
Germanophone area in Belgium is split in two at this spot: in the
north, there is the German-speaking municipality of Eupen, and in the
south it is the German-speaking municipality of Bütgenbach. The one
in the middle is the Francophone municipality of Waimes (with a
protected German-speaking minority, to be sure; the German name is
Weismes). The fact that Germanophone Belgium is divided only has to
do with municipal boundaries; as far as I know, no-one has ever asked
the trees on the municipal territory of Waimes what language they
speak; anyway, a name like Kreuz im Venn doesn't look French, or even
Walloon, to me.
The spot where the northern Germanophone Belgian boundary reaches the
international boundary looks like to be where the N67/L214 crosses
the border (the scans seem to indicate that the municipal border runs
along the southern roadside, so it looks like to be the westernmost
boundary marker at that side of the road).
The spot where the southern Germanophone Belgian boundary gets to the
German border is more interesting. This is at boundary marker no. 663
of the Ruitzhof enclave. This means that there should be another
municipal boundary segment between Waimes and Bütgenbach, running
across the Vennbahn, from the bede Ruitzhof to the "normal" bede
boundary. But where? Brendan, do you have maps detailed enough to
show this boundary?
The reason I bring this up is because apart from the division of the
federal Belgian state in regions (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels),
there is another division, too, in so-called communities (the Dutch-,
French-, and German-speaking communities). The Germanophone community
(consisting of nine municipalities) even has its own government,
responsible for things like culture and education. For these things,
the Germanophone area is completely autonomous and does not depend
from either the Walloon or the Francophone governments. So these
points I am now referring to are really bi-national tripoints!
By the way, the northernmost spot of the northern German-speaking
territory is the bedenl tripoint! So this is a tri-national
quadpoint, really! The Germanophone municipality here is Kelmis,
incorporating the former Moresnet neutral area.
Peter S.
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "Brendan Whyte" <brwhyte@h...> wrote:
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