Unusual: a farmer rolled a stone and changed the border between France and Belgium

A farmer from the Belgian city of Erquelinnes He wanted to drive his tractor through a field, but as a stone blocked his way, he moved it. What this man did not know was that because of this eventuality, he changed the boundaries of the border between Belgium Yes France.

The alteration of the cartography was discovered by a group of “history buffs”, Jean-Pierre Chopin, Philippe Fayt and Jean-Paul Maieu, while they were browsing the places with maps of the time.

// Zombie fire: the strange phenomenon facing the coldest village in the world

The stone in question weighs 150 kilos and moved the boundary of the border into 2.29 meters. Engraved with the date of 1819, established the border after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 in the Belgian city of Waterloo, before the formation of Belgium as a state in 1830.

About the reasons for this movement, two versions are circulating among the inhabitants of the city: some claim that the rock has moved towards maneuver better with the tractor, but others suggest that the farmer intended expand your farm.

“The 1819 limit has been moved, Belgium and our municipality are enlarged. The French obviously do not agree, so we will have to put things in their place, ”wrote the mayor of the Belgian municipality of Erquelinnes on Facebook. David Lavaux, which drifted to the point of contention with a French television crew TF1. According to officials in both countries, the plan now is to ask the farmer to return the stone to its original place.

// Hero of the day: climbed a two-story building and saved a grandmother who was about to fall from the balcony

However, if the man does not comply, the case could end up in the ministry of Foreign Relations Belgium, which in turn should convene a commission at the Franco-Belgian border, something that it hasn’t happened since 1930.

“But if you show good intentions, you won’t have any problem, we will solve it in a friendly manner,” the mayor told the local newspaper. Sudinfo.