Tripoint
A tripoint, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 176 international tripoints. Nearly half are situated in lakes or seas. On dry land, the exact tripoints are indicated by markers or pillars, by larger monuments; the more neighbours a country has, the more international tripoints that country has. China with 16 tripoints and Russia with 11 to 14 lead the list of states by number of tripoints. Within Europe, landlocked Austria has nine tripoints, among them two with Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Island countries such as Japan have no country tripoints, the same goes for states with only one neighbour state, like Portugal or Denmark; the United States with two neighbour states has no country tripoints. Canada, as well, has five tripoints on land where the boundaries of provinces and territories meet, including one quadripoint where four provinces and territories meet. Border junctions are most threefold.
There are a number of quadripoints, a handful of fivefold points, as well as unique examples of a sixfold and eightfold point. No more than eight borders meet at a single multipoint anywhere on earth, but the territorial claims of six countries converge at the south pole in a point of elevenfold complexity. Well-known international tripoints include: the Treriksröset of Finland and Sweden the Vaalserberg of the Netherlands and Belgium the "Dreiländereck" of Germany and Switzerland the Schengen tripoint of Germany and Luxembourg the Triple Frontier of Argentina and Paraguay the Tres Fronteras of Brazil and Colombia the Mont Dolent of Italy and Switzerland the Trójstyk of Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia Mount Roraima, where Venezuela and Guyana all meet Bratislava is the only capital city in the world, located at a tripoint: Slovakia and Austria; the city's administrative area extends to the tripoint, but the point lies outside of urban Bratislava itself. Some historic tripoints: the historic Three Emperors' Corner of Austria–Hungary, the Russian Empire, German Empire the historic Piz da las Trais Linguas of Austria–Hungary, the Kingdom of Italy, Switzerland the historic Rock of the Three Kingdoms between the former kingdoms of Galicia, León, Portugal.
The Tossal dels Tres Reis, located where the borders of the ancient Kingdoms of Valencia and Aragon meet. For a full list, see list of tripoints. While the exact line of an international border is fixed by a bilateral treaty, the position of the tripoints may need to be settled by a trilateral agreement. For example, China and Mongolia have set the position of the two relevant tripoints by the trilateral agreement signed in Ulaanbaatar on January 27, 1994; the agreement specified that a marker was to be erected at the eastern tripoint, called Tarbagan-Dakh, but no marker will be erected at the western tripoint (which was defined as the peak of the mountain Tavan-Bogdo-Ula. List of tripoints of English counties Tri-state area Quadripoint Maritime boundary Media related to Tripoint at Wikimedia Commons Penedo dos Três Reinos Tripoint border of China and North Korea
Wallonia
Wallonia is a region of Belgium. As the southern portion of the country, Wallonia is French-speaking, accounts for 55% of Belgium's territory and a third of its population; the Walloon Region was not merged with the French Community of Belgium, the political entity responsible for matters related to culture and education, because the French Community of Belgium encompasses both Wallonia and the majority French-Speaking Brussels-Capital Region. The German-speaking minority in eastern Wallonia results from WWI and the subsequent annexation of three cantons that were part of the former German empire; this community represents less than 1% of the Belgian population. It forms the German-speaking Community of Belgium, which has its own government and parliament for culture-related issues. During the industrial revolution, Wallonia was second only to the United Kingdom in industrialization, capitalizing on its extensive deposits of coal and iron; this brought the region wealth, from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, Wallonia was the more prosperous half of Belgium.
Since World War II, the importance of heavy industry has diminished, the Flemish Region surpassed Wallonia in wealth, as Wallonia declined economically. Wallonia now suffers from high unemployment and has a lower GDP per capita than Flanders; the economic inequalities and linguistic divide between the two are major sources of political conflicts in Belgium and a major factor in Flemish separatism. The capital of Wallonia is Namur, the most populous city is Charleroi. Most of Wallonia's major cities and two-thirds of its population lie along the Sambre and Meuse valley, the former industrial backbone of Belgium. To the north lies the Central Belgian Plateau, like Flanders, is flat and agriculturally fertile. In the southeast lie the Ardennes and sparsely populated. Wallonia borders Flanders and the Netherlands in the north, France to the south and west, Germany and Luxembourg to the east. Wallonia has been a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie since 1980; the term "Wallonia" can mean different things in different contexts.
One of the three federal regions of Belgium is still constitutionally defined as the Walloon Region, but the region's government has renamed it Wallonia, it is called Wallonia. Preceding 1 April 2010, when the renaming came into effect, Wallonia would sometimes refer to the territory governed by the Walloon Region, whereas Walloon Region referred to the government. In practice, the difference between the two terms is small and what is meant is clear, based on context; the root of the word Wallonia, like the words Wales and Wallachia, is the Germanic word Walha, meaning the strangers. Wallonia is named after the Walloons, the population of the Burgundian Netherlands speaking Romance languages. In Middle Dutch, the term Walloons included the French-speaking population of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège or the whole population of the Romanic sprachraum within the medieval Low Countries. Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in 57 BC; the Low Countries became part of the larger Gallia Belgica province which stretched from southwestern Germany to Normandy and the southern part of the Netherlands.
The population of this territory was Celtic with a Germanic influence, stronger in the north than in the south of the province. Gallia Belgica became progressively romanized; the ancestors of the Walloons became Gallo-Romans and were called the "Walha" by their Germanic neighbours. The "Walha" started to speak Vulgar Latin; the Merovingian Franks gained control of the region during the 5th century, under Clovis. Due to the fragmentation of the former Roman Empire, Vulgar Latin regionally developed along different lines and evolved into several langue d'oïl dialects, which in Wallonia became Picard and Lorrain; the oldest surviving text written in a langue d'oïl, the Sequence of Saint Eulalia, has characteristics of these three languages and was written in or near to what is now Wallonia around 880 AD. From the 4th to the 7th century, the Franks established several settlements mostly in the north of the province where the romanization was less advanced and some Germanic trace was still present.
The language border began to crystallize between 700 under the reign of the Merovingians and Carolingians and around 1000 after the Ottonian Renaissance. French-speaking cities, with Liège as the largest one, appeared along the Meuse river and Gallo-Roman cities such as Tongeren and Aachen became Germanized; the Carolingian dynasty dethroned the Merovingians in the 8th century. In 843, the Treaty of Verdun gave the territory of present-day Wallonia to Middle Francia, which would shortly fragment, with the region passing to Lotharingia. On Lotharingia's breakup in 959, the present-day territory of Belgium became part of Lower Lotharingia, which fragmented into rival principalities and duchies by 1190. Literary Latin, taught in schools, lost its hegemony during the 13th century and was replaced by Old French. In the 15th century, the Dukes of Burgundy took over the Low Countries; the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 raised the issue of succession, the Liégeois took advantage of this to regain some of their autonomy.
From the 16th to the 18th century, the Low Countries wer
Amsterdam Ordnance Datum
Amsterdam Ordnance Datum or Normaal Amsterdams Peil is a vertical datum in use in large parts of Western Europe. Created for use in the Netherlands, its height was used by Prussia in 1879 for defining Normalnull, in 1955 by other European countries. In the 1990s, it was used as the reference level for the United European leveling Network which in turn led to the European Vertical Reference System. Mayor Johannes Hudde of Amsterdam in a way came up with the idea after he expanded the sea dike after a flood in Amsterdam in 1675. Of course a dike should be storm-resistant to protect a city against flooding, in this case a margin of "9 feet and 5 inches" was deemed enough to cope with rising water. So he measured the water level of the adjacent sea arm, Het IJ and compared it with the water level in the canals within the city itself, he found that the water level at an average summer flood in the sea arm was about the same as the level on the other side of the sea-dike, plus the margin of 9 feet and 5 inches.
The constant water level in the canals of Amsterdam, called Amsterdams Peil, equalled the level at summer flood at sea in the sea-inlet, which changes throughout the year. AP was carried over to other areas in the Netherlands in 1860. In this operation, an error was introduced, corrected between 1885 and 1894, resulting in the Normaal Amsterdams Peil; the zero level of NAP was the average summer flood water level in the IJ just north of the centre of Amsterdam. It is physically realised by a brass benchmark on a 22-meter pile below the Dam square in Amsterdam; the brass benchmark in the Amsterdam Stopera, a tourist attraction, is no longer used as a reference point. Above mean sea level Normalnull – German height reference system derived from Amsterdam Ordnance Datum Normalhöhennull – Current German height reference system linked to NAP P. I. van der Weele: De geschiedenis van het N. A. P. 1971, Dutch Royal Society for Sciences, Governmental Commission for Geodesy / Frans J. P. M. Kwaad: Het Normaal Amsterdams Peil - Achtergronden en geschiedenis
Belgium
Belgium the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, the North Sea to the northwest, it has a population of more than 11.4 million. The capital and largest city is Brussels; the sovereign state is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Its institutional organisation is structured on both regional and linguistic grounds, it is divided into three autonomous regions: Flanders in the north, Wallonia in the south, the Brussels-Capital Region. Brussels is the smallest and most densely populated region, as well as the richest region in terms of GDP per capita. Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups or Communities: the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community, which constitutes about 59 percent of the population, the French-speaking Community, which comprises about 40 percent of all Belgians. A small German-speaking Community, numbering around one percent, exists in the East Cantons.
The Brussels-Capital Region is bilingual, although French is the dominant language. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Belgium was part of an area known as the Low Countries, a somewhat larger region than the current Benelux group of states that included parts of northern France and western Germany, its name is derived after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, the area of Belgium was a prosperous and cosmopolitan centre of commerce and culture. Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, Belgium served as the battleground between many European powers, earning the moniker the "Battlefield of Europe", a reputation strengthened by both world wars; the country emerged in 1830 following the Belgian Revolution. Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa.
The second half of the 20th century was marked by rising tensions between the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking citizens fueled by differences in language and culture and the unequal economic development of Flanders and Wallonia. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Despite the reforms, tensions between the groups have remained, if not increased. Unemployment in Wallonia is more than double that of Flanders. Belgium is one of the six founding countries of the European Union and hosts the official seats of the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, as well as a seat of the European Parliament in the country's capital, Brussels. Belgium is a founding member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD, WTO, a part of the trilateral Benelux Union and the Schengen Area. Brussels hosts several of the EU's official seats as well as the headquarters of many major international organizations such as NATO.
Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy. It has high standards of living, quality of life, education, is categorized as "very high" in the Human Development Index, it ranks as one of the safest or most peaceful countries in the world. The name "Belgium" is derived from Gallia Belgica, a Roman province in the northernmost part of Gaul that before Roman invasion in 100 BC, was inhabited by the Belgae, a mix of Celtic and Germanic peoples. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings. A gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire; the Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided the region into Middle and West Francia and therefore into a set of more or less independent fiefdoms which, during the Middle Ages, were vassals either of the King of France or of the Holy Roman Emperor. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 15th centuries.
Emperor Charles V extended the personal union of the Seventeen Provinces in the 1540s, making it far more than a personal union by the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 and increased his influence over the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. The Eighty Years' War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands; the latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and comprised most of modern Belgium. This was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. Following the campaigns of 1794 in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Low Countries—including territories that were never nominally under Habsburg rule, such as the Prince-Bishopric of Liège—were annexed by the French First Republic, ending Austrian rule in the region; the reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, after the defeat of Napo
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, where its capital was Berlin; the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a great power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia, which became a military power under Frederick William, known as "The Great Elector". Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great, the third son of Frederick William I. Frederick the Great was instrumental in starting the Seven Years' War, holding his own against Austria, Russia and Sweden and establishing Prussia's role in the German states, as well as establishing the country as a European great power.
After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a major power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles, many wars; because of its power, Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule, although whether Austria would be included in such a unified German domain was an ongoing question. After the Napoleonic Wars led to the creation of the German Confederation, the issue of more unifying the many German states caused revolution throughout the German states, with each wanting their own constitution. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful member states and Austria; the North German Confederation, which lasted from 1867 to 1871, created a closer union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War but many of its laws were used in the German Empire.
The German Empire lasted from 1871 to 1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony, this was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. The war united all the German states against a common enemy, with the victory came an overwhelming wave of nationalism which changed the opinions of some of those, against unification. In 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the legal predecessor of the unified German Reich and as such a direct ancestor of today's Federal Republic of Germany; the formal abolition of Prussia, carried out on 25 February 1947 by the fiat of the Allied Control Council referred to an alleged tradition of the kingdom as a bearer of militarism and reaction, made way for the current setup of the German states. However, the Free State of Prussia, which followed the abolition of the Kingdom of Prussia in the aftermath of World War I, was a major democratic force in Weimar Germany until the nationalist coup of 1932 known as the Preußenschlag.
The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which has become one of the largest cultural organisations in the world. In 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire. After the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states, including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia; the towns were poverty stricken, with the largest town, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was caused by Prussia's neighbours, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns could not compete; these issues led to feuds, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these towns gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west, allowed the urban middle class of Brandenburg to prosper.
It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, as it faced two dangers that the other German territories did not, partition from within and the threat of invasion by its neighbours. It prevented partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea, which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories; the second issue was resolved through expansion. Brandenburg was surrounded on every side by neighbours whose boundaries were political. Any neighbour could consume Brandenburg at any moment; the only way to defend herself was to absorb her neighbours. Through negotiations and marriages Brandenburg but expanded her borders, absorbing neighbours and eliminating the threat of attack; the Hohenzollerns were made rulers of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1518. In 1529 the Hohenzollerns secured the reversion of the Duchy of Pomerania after a series of conflicts, acquired its eastern part following the Peace of Westphalia. In 1618 the Hohenzollerns inherited the Duchy of Prussia, since 1511 ruled by Hohenzollern Albrecht of Brandenburg Prussia, who in 1525 converted the Teutonic Order ruled state to a Protestant Duchy by accepting fiefdom of the crown of Poland.
It was ruled in a personal union with Brandenburg
Neutral Moresnet
Neutral Moresnet was a small Belgian–Prussian condominium in central-western Europe that existed from 1816 to 1920 and was jointly administered by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Prussia. After 1830, the territory's northernmost border point at Vaalserberg connected it to a quadripoint shared additionally with the Dutch Province of Limburg, the Prussian Rhine Province, the Belgian Province of Liège. Today it is known as the Three-Country Point, being the meeting place of the borders of Belgium and the Netherlands. During the First World War, Neutral Moresnet was annexed by Germany, although the allies did not recognise the annexation; the Armistice between France and Germany in November 1918 forced Germany to withdraw from Belgium and Neutral Moresnet. A year the Treaty of Versailles awarded Neutral Moresnet to Belgium, effective 10 January 1920, when the territory was annexed by Belgium to become the municipality of Kelmis; the area is of interest to Esperantists because of initiatives in the early 20th century to found an Esperanto‑speaking state, named Amikejo, on the territory of Neutral Moresnet.
During World War II, Kelmis and the surrounding area was again annexed by Germany and had its name reversed to Moresnet, but the territory was returned to Belgium in 1944. After the demise of Napoleon's Empire, the Congress of Vienna of 1814–15 redrew the European map, aiming at creating a balance of power. One of the borders to be delineated was the one between the newly founded United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Prussia. Both parties could agree on the larger part of the territory, as borders followed older lines, but the district of Moresnet proved problematic because of the valuable zinc spar mine called Altenberg or Vieille Montagne located there. Both the Netherlands and Prussia were keen to appropriate this resource, needed in the production of zinc and brass—at that time, Bristol in England was the only other place where zinc ore was processed. In December 1815, Dutch and Prussian representatives convened in nearby Aachen and on 26 June 1816, a compromise was reached, dividing the district of Moresnet into three parts.
The village of Moresnet itself would become part of the Dutch province of Liège, whereas the Prussian village Moresnet would become part of the Prussian Rhine province, the mine and the adjacent village would become a neutral territory pending a future agreement. The two powers, both barred from occupying the area with their military, established a joint administration; when Belgium gained its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, the Belgians took over the Dutch role in Neutral Moresnet. Formal installation of border demarcation markers for the territory occurred on 23 September 1818; the territory of Neutral Moresnet had a somewhat triangular shape with the base being the main road from Aachen to Liège. The village and mine lay just to the north of this road. To east and west, two straight lines converged on the Vaalserberg; the roads from Germany and Belgium to the Three‑Country Point are named Dreiländerweg and Route des Trois Bornes respectively. From 1883, Neutral Moresnet used a tricolour with horizontal bars in black and blue as its territorial flag.
The origin is unclear and has been explained in two different ways: Some hold that the colours were taken from the two conflicting powers' flags, with black and white standing for Prussia and white and blue for the Netherlands. According to Flags of the World, "it seems more that the colours have been taken from the emblem of the Vieille Montagne "; the territory was governed by one from each neighbour. These commissioners were civil servants from the Belgian Verviers and the Prussian Eupen; the municipal administration was headed by a mayor appointed by the commissioners. The Napoleonic civil and penal codes, introduced under French rule, remained in force throughout the existence of Neutral Moresnet. However, since no law court existed in the neutral territory and Prussian judges had to come in and decide cases based on the Napoleonic laws. Since there was no administrative court either, the mayor's decision could not be appealed. In 1859, Neutral Moresnet was granted a greater measure of self-administration by the installation of a municipal council of ten members.
The council, as well as a welfare committee and a school committee, were appointed by the mayor and served an advisory function only. The people had no voting rights. Life in Neutral Moresnet was dominated by the Vieille Montagne mining company, which not only was the major employer but operated residences, shops, a hospital and a bank; the mine attracted many workers from the neighboring countries, increasing the population from 256 in 1815 to 2,275 in 1858 and 4,668 in 1914. Most services such as the mail were shared between Prussia. There were five schools in the territory, Prussian subjects could attend the schools in Prussian Moresnet. Living in the territory had several benefits. Among these were the low taxes, the absence of import tariffs from both neighbouring countries, low prices compared to just across the border. A downside to their special status was the fact that people from Neutral Moresnet were considered to be stateless and were not allowed a military of their own. Howeve
Limburg (Netherlands)
Limburg is the southernmost of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands. It is in the southeastern part of the country, stretched out from the north, where it touches the province of Gelderland, to the south, where it internationally borders Belgium, its northern part has the North Brabant province to its west. Its long eastern boundary is the international border with the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Much of the west border runs along the River Maas, bordering the Flemish province of Limburg, a small part of the Walloon province of Liège. On the south end, it has borders with the Flemish exclave of Voeren and its surrounding part of Liège, Wallonia; the Vaalserberg is on the extreme south-eastern point, marking the tripoint of Netherlands and Belgium. Limburg's major cities are the provincial capital Maastricht, as well as Heerlen, Sittard-Geleen in the south, Venlo in the north and Roermond and Weert in the middle. More than half of the population 620,000 people, live in the south of Limburg, which corresponds to one-third of the province's area proper.
In South Limburg, most people live in the urban agglomerations of Maastricht and Sittard-Geleen. Limburg has a distinctive character; the social and economic trends that have affected the province in recent decades have generated a process of change and renewal which has enabled Limburg to transform its peripheral location into a globalized regional nexus, linking the Netherlands to the Ruhr metro area and the southern part of the Benelux region. A less appreciated consequence of this international gateway location is rising international crime drug-related in the southernmost part of the province. Limburg's name derives from the fortified town of the same name, situated on the river Vesdre near the High Fens, now in the nearby Belgian province of Liège, its name is derived from the Germanic elements *lindo, "lime tree," and burg, "fortification." Limburg town was the seat of the medieval Duchy of Limburg. None of present-day Limburg was part of this duchy, which had its northern border along what is the modern southern border of South Limburg.
South Limburg in the Middle Ages was made up of the lands of Valkenburg and Herzogenrath, which under the rule of the Duchy of Brabant came to be known collectively as the Lands of Overmaas. The Duchy of Limburg and its dependencies first came under Brabantian control in 1288, as a result of the Battle of Worringen in the 15th century under the Duchy of Burgundy. By 1473, the Lands of Overmaas and the Duchy of Limburg formed one unified delegation to the States General of the Burgundian Netherlands. Both the terms Overmaas and Limburg came to be used loosely to refer to this sparsely populated province of the so-called Seventeen Provinces. Maastricht was never part of this polity; the central and northern part of present-day Limburg belonged to different political entities, notably the Duchy of Jülich and the Duchy of Guelders. After 1794, the French unified the region, along with Belgian Limburg, removed all ties to the old feudal society; the new name, as with all the names of the départements, was based on natural features, in this case Meuse-Inférieure or Neder-Maas.
After the defeat of Napoleon the newly-created United Kingdom of the Netherlands desired a new name for this province. It was decided that the historic connection to the town and duchy of Limburg was to be restored, albeit only in name, it is important to note that the history given below is that of the region, the current province Limburg of the Netherlands. There existed no polity or other entity going by that name covering this territory until 1815. For centuries, the strategic location of the current province made it a much-coveted region among Europe's major powers. Romans, Habsburg Spaniards, Habsburg Austrians and French have all ruled parts of Limburg. For long periods of history the region was not united under the same rule; the first inhabitants of whom traces have been found were Neanderthals. In Neolithic times flint was mined in underground mines, including one at Rijckholt, open to visitors. Just after the Roman conquest the Eburones, the inhabitants of most of the area of current Limburg, were annihilated by the legions of Julius Caesar with help of neighbour tribes, this as a punishment for a successful ambush set by their leader Ambiorix.
After this genocide the area was repopulated with a diverse set of peoples that under Roman rules, amalgated in the Tungri. The southern part of current Limburg, along the Via Belgica was Romanized and a few still existing towns and cities were founded in this period, including Mosa Trajectum and Coriovallum. Bishop Servatius introduced Christianity in Roman Maastricht, where he died in 384; as Roman authority in the area weakened, Franks took over from the Romans, the area, now called Austrasia, flourished under their rule. The middle and southern part of the current province formed an important part of the heartland of Austrasia. In 714 Susteren Abbey was founded, as far as is known the first proprietary abbey in the current Netherlands. Main benefactor was the consort of Pepin of Herstal. Charles Martel was born in nearby Herstal and Charlemagne had close links with the area, he made Aachen the capital of the Frankish empire. In 870 the treaty of Meerssen, the third partition
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