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Found a hidden country on an 1850s map of Europe last week, almost missed it completely.
I was looking at this old map I picked up at an estate sale in Pittsburgh, dated 1854. At first I thought it was just a smudge near the border of Prussia and Austria. But then I got my magnifying glass out and realized it was a tiny territory called 'Neutral Moresnet', only about 1.5 square miles. Turns out it was a real place that existed from 1816 to 1920 because they couldn't decide who got the zinc mine there. Has anyone else stumbled across a borderline fictional sounding country on a map that actually existed?
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carr.daniel22d ago
Close but not quite right on the dates. Neutral Moresnet actually started in 1816 and lasted until 1920 when Belgium officially took over after World War I. The whole thing really was just a weird compromise over that damn zinc mine.
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martinez.karen22d ago
carr.daniel knows their stuff, but people always forget the weird details. Like the fact that they had their own flag, a tiny army, and even a postal system. That zinc mine was basically the whole reason this place stayed neutral for over a century. Wonder if the locals ever got sick of being an international oddity?
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