Baarle once started as one hamlet, one community.
Archaeological discoveries proved that the earliest settlements date back to about 3,000 years ago. The first time the name of Baarle (then written as Barla) appears in written history is the year 992. So officially Baarle has a history of more than 1,000 years.
In the year 992 countess Hilsondis of Stryen founded the Abbey of Thorn and granted the abbey with some gifts out of her properties in Baarle (Barla), Gilze and Sprundel.
From that moment a part of Baarle belonged to the abbey of Thorn.

Enclaves

The enclave-situation in our village today dates back to the Middle Ages.
In the year 1198 the Duke of Brabant (Hendrik I) and the Lord of Breda (Godfried I van Schoten) made a deal concerning Breda. At that time Breda was threatened by the Count of Holland (Dirk VII) and to defend Breda, Godfried I van Schoten made a deal with the Duke of Brabant concerning the rights of Breda. The Duke of Brabant re-established his rights in Breda. After that, the Duke, as a feudal tenant, granted Godfried I with the loan of Breda and added a lot of territory to the seignory of Breda.

Doing so, the territory of Baarle was added to Breda. But the Duke kept the cultivated area himself, because of the taxes. From that moment Baarle was divided in two different parts: Baarle of the Duke of Brabant (in Dutch: Hertog van Brabant) and Baarle of Breda. The people started talking about Baarle of the 'Hertog' and Baarle of 'Breda'. When Engelbrecht van Nassau became Lord of Breda in the year 1404, one begins to speak of Baarle of the 'Hertog' and Baarle of 'Nassau'. Later on the names were abbreviated to Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau.
Some parts of Baarle still belonged to the abbey of Thorn.



Throughout time this strange situation in Baarle stayed this way. Even the Westphalian Peace of 1648, Napoleon in 1795, the independence of Belgium in 1839 couldn't change the situation in Baarle.
After the defeat of Napoleon, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was established in 1815. Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau belonged to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, so at that moment, there were in fact no enclaves anymore. But Baarle-Hertog still belonged to the province of Antwerp and Baarle-Nassau to the province of Noord-Brabant. In 1823 these provinces started dicussions about the situation in Baarle. Their proposal was: that Baarle-Hertog and a portion of Baarle-Nassau was added to the province of Antwerp, so that the 'enclave situation' would come to an end. The border between Antwerp and Noord-Brabant would be a clear line in that proposal. But the independence of Belgium made an end to these plans.
After the independence of Belgium the two governments had several talks about the difficult situation in Baarle. They tried to find a solution.
In 1875 the two governments made plans for a solution in Baarle. Finally the plans were rejected by the Belgian Parliament in 1892. The enclaves were safe again.
In 1912 the two provinces started talks about the situation in Baarle again. Some proposals were made, but the World War I in 1914 made and end to these plans.
In 1935 mr Heerkens Thyssen asked questions in Dutch Parliament about the serious situation in Baarle. The people of Baarle reacted immediately with writing letters to the Dutch Parliament in which they stated that Baarle should stay as it was.

Solution

A first step to a solution came in 1974 when the two governments signed the borderagreement at April the 26th. The two governments recognized the border between the Dutch municipal of Baarle-Nassau and the Belgian municipals Poppel, Ravels, Weelde, Turnhout, Merksplas, Wortel, Minderhout, Meerle and Baarle-Hertog (not the enclaves but the hamlet of Zondereigen).
The final step to a solution was made in 1995 when the borders of the enclaves were recognized by the two governments. This last agreement means the final saving of the enclaves.