Countries That MAYBE Shouldn't Exist
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 มิ.ย. 2024
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▶ In this video I talk about a few countries that maybe shouldn't exist. Or at least countries that have a negative public perception regarding their existence. This might be, usually, for one of 4 reasons: either they don't represent a specific nation per se, they are geographically small and/or exist within another country, when they don't have much political autonomy as it is, or even when they depend directly on another country to exist. The point of the video isn't, however, to make the argument for their disappearence, rather, to explain why - despite filling one or more of these previous reasons - they do in fact deserve to be their own country and why that makes sense.
Throughout the video we will cover countries such as Belgium, Lesotho, Eswatini, The Gambia, Moldova, San Marino and the other Microstates (Vatican, Monaco, Andorra and Liechtenstein), as well as North Korea and Luxembourg.
▶ TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
01:00 Belgium
02:46 Lesotho
03:54 Eswatini
05:45 The Gambia
07:08 Moldova
08:18 San Marino
09:09 Liechtenstein
10:34 Andorra, Monaco, Vatican City
11:21 North Korea
12:34 Luxembourg
13:46 Summary
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*Are there any other countries that shouldn't exist?*
North Macedonia.
France
Spain
Except for Malta, if it even counts as one, I think all European small states must go.
Switzerland can be divided although the 3 that would benefit have lost key wars.
Austria should with Germany but that has been and undone by WW2. Heck history helps keep it going :)
The US
You were wise enough not to bring up any Balkan country, this whole comment section would have exploded if you did.
All Balkan countries je Timor Leste 🇹🇱
@@osheridan The only true correct statement about the balkans ever.
@@osheridan Holy shit, you rival Ipocritus in wiseness.
As a Balkan person I can confirm
@@osheridanno. The Balkan peninsula belongs to the almighty paraguyay🇵🇾🇵🇾
About Belgium: even tough the languages are different, Flanders and Wallonia are culturally more linked with each other than any neighboring country and more than they’d both want to acknowledge.
As Belgians, we question our own existence and governmental structures constantly. But when foreigners question our existence, we stand united in saying "mind your own f*ing business!". What I'm saying is: the more we hear that we shouldn't exist from the outside, the higher the chance that we will stay together out of pure spite
As a fellow Belgian I agree. But I genuinely hope we will remain united. We are already so small, why should we be any smaller? Also, I just wouldn't like to live in an independent Flanders. Many Flemish nationalists are really racist and backwards in their thinking (although I know a few who are not). Are you Flemish, Walloon or East Belgian (German) by the way?
As a fellow Belgian, I would love to see our country split up.
United in what ? Economy ? Army ? Culture ? Language ? Gastronomy ? Bruxelles ?
As a belgian citizen i want unite wallons with brussel, be cause wa are french speakers and brussel and wallons will be the belgium
Sounds good. No more blanco cheques to fund all those stupid policies.
Love how Moldova is the country almost everyone agrees should unite with Romania, even Moldovans!
I'm pretty sure the Russian minority is against it
To be fair, Bessarabia has been a historical region that’s culturally unique.
@@ferretyluvbadass🇸🇦
@@Scbalq Wrong Arabia. Bessarabia is that area that’s now Moldova and that part that’s owned by Ukraine under it. It’s the area between the Dniester and Prut rivers. It’s named after the Romanian Basarab Dynasty.
@@ferretyluv chill bro I was just trying to make a stupid word game ☠️
Gotta point out Uruguay as well. A place colonized by both Spain and Portugal, became part of the United Provinces of Rio de La Plata upon independence from Spain, rose up against the Buenos Aires government together with other provinces to establish federalism but was opportunistically annexed by Portugal/Brazil as part of the new United Kingdom. Then Brazil became independent, a bunch of rio-platenses invaded the territory and started a rebellion to rejoin the United Provinces, but the war was inconclusive so the British intervened and proposed that neither side should have it and instead it should become a buffer state between the two continental giants, as well as a free port city in Montevideo to counter Buenos Aires’ attempts to tax access to the Plata river system. So, a place with almost identical culture to Argentina, historical claims by Brazil and is very sparsely populated is an independent state basically because neither side could beat the other and the British wanted an international port in the region.
Rare British W.
Let Uruguay be whatever they want at this point
- sincerely, a Brazilian
Makes sense.
It's the kind of compromises that international politics is all about.
And I'm sure that locals appreciate that they can decide their own future instead of being run by their neighbors.
I see a mountain!
Could you imagine if the quality Uruguayan football players were added into the Brazil or Argentine teams?
As a Spaniard 🇪🇸, it doesn't bother me that Andorra 🇦🇩 exists. And as a fun fact, it has a football team that currently plays in the Second Division of Spain (Futbol Club Andorra, based in Andorra la Vella and owned by Gerard Piqué)
Andorra also has its whole own league
@@core_russell3869FOR THE WHOLE 90k POPULATION
The European microstates are amazing why would anyone want them gone
My condolences. I will🙏to you and for you.
btw, for the English speakers, that translates to Andorra Football Club
Lots of former colonies are recent creations, but Pakistan is probably the only country whose name is an acronym created in 1933. The borders were arbitrarily drawn in 1947 and it gained independence the same year. It’s national language is basically a dialect of Hindi written in Arabic which is only the 5. most spoken native language (less then 8%). Pakistani national identity is pretty strong even though it’s national history is less then 70 years old and extremely culturally diverse
Some part of Pakistan should belong to Afghanistan.
@@ironheart5830 I think Afghanistan has bigger issues to solve
@@user-ml1vz4vq7j Pakistan really afraid of Pashto nationalism.
basicaly most african countries except theyre not so nationalistic..
Less than 70? 1947 was 76 years ago.
There was a time when both the North and South Koreans viewed the current status as temporary, and the Korean War was a civil war. But that ship sailed a long time ago.
Cool
it's still temporary cuz whenever ww3 happens one will take over the other
As far as I know, a lot of Koreans would theoretically like the countries to be united again, but realize it won't be practical for a long time.
South Korea consider all North Koreans as citizens of South Korea so any North Korean that goes manages to get to the South have full the South Korean citizenship rights.
North Korea constantly propagandizes about unification - but under North Korean rule which obviously isn't acceptable to South Korea.
The war is not technically over, no peace treaty has been signed, just a ceasefire.
@@Spacemongerrnaaa. they are totally different cultures Today
Thank you USA
I'm from El Salvador and I think all 7 central american countries should merge into one single country. We all speak spanish, we have common history and culture and we could be more relevant politically and economically in case a union ever happens
Belize disagrees
@@reddykilowatt a good percentage of Belizeans speak spanish, and well maybe their history is a bit different, but still a union could be the best for all of us
Only if Bukele leads the union.
We must reunite the First Mexican Empire, brothers
Yet it was the egos of local elites that split up Central America.
I recommend watching History Matters’ series of ‘Why Does X Country Exist.’ You’d be amazed at the amount of political intrigue and historical conundrums that influence the existence of these countries.
As someone with half the familly from Chișinău, Republic of Moldova and half from Maramureș, România, I really hope to see the two countries unite as soon as possible for there simply is no other scenario leading to Republic of Moldova ever being safe and prosperous.
At the end of the day they are two romanian states and the only reason they are not one today is the USSR invasion during WW2 and all the sovietization and brainwashing that followed.
One can only pray and hope the re-union will happen soon for things regionally and globally only seem to be getting rougher.
Yo u are wrong brother!
Why should we unite again and again and again?
U think this time we will be safe?
NO WE ARE NOT SAFE WITH ROMANIA WE ARE SAFE ON OUR ON.
And I don't like Russia
@@Bogdan122-ch1gt I dont know what you mean with "safe on our own" when our army is smaller than the police of your average state in the region and Russia is openly hostile (occupies the eastern part of Moldova, literally showed maps involving the invasion of Moldova on international TV in the early stages of Ukraines invasion, financing coup attempts, etc).
Did we manage it on our own in the 90's when Russia invaded us and took part of our country?
No.
Meanwhile Romania has extremely powerful friends (strategic partnership with Washington, NATO member and EU member, good friend of Poland and Turkey) and a fastly growing medium sized army which includes modern fighterjets, HIMARS and Patriot missiles.
Not to mention Romania literally fought a world war for us (my maramureșean ancestors all fought on the eastern front for Bessarabia, at Stalingrad and Crimea).
Nobody even remotely cares about Moldova like Romania does.
The fact Moldova could join the EU and NATO tomorrow by uniting with Romania but doesnt is some of the most serious forms of self sabotage in history.
Im not sure if they would unite cause the culture is actually very different
@@languageseureka how so? Whats so different.
Because I am half bessarabian half maramureșean and have seen no notable cultural differences whatsoever.
@@AntoniuDraculeaas a Romanian this shouldn't even be a problem
For me, makes more sense Andorra being the only Micro-State of Europe
Disagree, Vatikan might not be a Nation or a State, but its also not Part of Italy, it has a different sovereignty level (inter-/supranational) and international legal status
@@danielrodel1334Yeah the Vatican is the only micro-state of Europe that makes sense, and this is coming from someone who's very against religions.
Catalonia should be independent and merge with Andorra. No more European micro states.
@@eduardog3000 Andorra should annex Catalonia
Bro, everyone forgetting about Liechtenstein
Bonus fact about Luxembourg: the reason the Dutch king isn’t ruling it like William III did…..is because in contrast to the Netherlands only male inheritance was allowed in Luxembourg. It went to a different branch, but still in the same family. Though that has been growing apart since the la te 1800’s.
Amazing knowledge 🙏
Great work!
The federated states of Micronesia probably should be joined to the Solomon Islands and a few other small pacific nations and territories, it would help boost their economic competitiveness and promote tourism. I don’t think that it would happen, but since they’re US protectorates anyway, their governments would be similar and they also have a similar culture as well. And if I’m calculating correctly, their combination would make them the 11th largest country in the world by sovereign territory, but still be only 106th per land area, which is wild. Get places to visit when you get the chance!
The citizens of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands would never agree to being joined to the Solomon Islands or other poor island nations in their vicinity. They'd lose that special status with the U.S., which gives them the opportunity to become U.S. citizens incredibly easily. It's like a special fast-track process that only they get. That's a golden ticket out. Citizens in those countries don't want to lose their golden tickets if they can help it.
Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau are in free association with the US, which makes them arguably the 'most dependent', or 'least sovereign' countries in the world among all UN member states. They should have been definitely included in this video.
Much more likely the the 3 US associated states would join the US with Guam and Northern Marianas as a future state than to ever merge with another country - especially the Solomon Islands.
@@szbszig New Zealand also has 2 Free Association States who chose the other option they have, more sovereignty without secession like a modern Vassal State of sorts.
I understand they may choose to rejoin The USA at any time as Territories correct me if I'm wrong!
@@sordman2 i thought Guam & Northern Mariana Islands would form 1 State of Mariana Islands but damn, do you see them 3 Nations ever choosing to rejoin The US? I believe they can at any time.
There are some big categories around this. There are countries that should exist but can't, usually because whoever is the sovereign won't allow it. And there are colonial dependencies which may call themselves countries while others don't. That complicates the calculation of how many countries there are.
Such a nice video. Pretty sure you can have a part 2 or even 3!
Thanks! I think so, yeah :)
Great video
Just geographically, I've always thought Laos was weird. It's completely landlocked and sandwiched in-between Thailand and Vietnam. It has a pretty natural mountainous border with Vietnam but it looks like Thailand is just pushing it into the mountains
The relationship between Thailand and Laos is like that of Switzerland and Germany. There used to be another country, Lanna, in northern Thailand, and Central Thailand was called Siam. Siam took over Lanna and part of Laos. The Lao, Central Thai, and northern Thai languages are all similar to each other.
Idea for the next video Territories that countries probably shouldn’t have
Great idea!
Albania wasn't mean to have Nothern Epirus
Good idea.
Let's start with Russia and Crimea.
@@General.Knowledge that's gonna be controversial as fuck, so prepare for a lot of hate comments if you'll proceed with that idea.
Poland with Prussia
You missed a bit of history regarding the Republic of The Gambia (I still don't understand why they don't just call it Gambia themselves, but that is another matter), between 1651 and 1661, some parts of The Gambia St. Andrew's Island in the Gambia River including Fort Jakob, and St. Mary Island (modern day capital of Banjul) and Fort Jillifree came under the rule of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (now in modern day Latvia) having been bought by Prince Jacob Kettler, their colonies were formally sold to England in 1664. The Duchy themselves also owned Tobago in Caribbean (which was likewise formally sold to England in 1690) and at the same time were vassals of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Because it's a river. You wouldn't say "seine" or "Volga" you'd say "the Volga" etc
@@Kmc1qlAq8Dt6tpVC In reference to the river itself sure you'd use that nomenclature however, not the name of the country itself. We'll use the two examples you put forth, you wouldn't say the Seine in the France or the Volga in the Russia now would you? However, in this nations case it would be The Gambia (the river) in The Gambia (the nation) it doesn't quite make sense now does it?
That is why I was questioning why not drop the "The" from the country name and just refer to it as the Republic of Gambia (or Gambia in the shorthand) rather what it is currently called the Republic of The Gambia (or Gambia in the shorthand) the "The" in the country name is superfluous, seems other people understood my meaning tho it appeared to fly over your head.
@@HypnoticChronic1 the gambia country literally the gambia river. A lot of country's have "the" prefixes, eg The Netherlands. It is not correct in english to just say "netherlands". Same with how in the western world Ukraine is historically called "the Ukraine", becuause "Ukraine" in most slavic languages means "borderland", so "the borderland". "The Sudan" is the official name for sudan - now that's a little less known because sudan in arabic literally just means "black", and "the black" obviously doesn't make any sense unless its just talking about the people of sudan, who are black. Then there's "The Lebanon", because the Lebanon is a mountain chain after which the country gets its name. In the case of lebanon and ukraine these aren't that well used anymore though. In French as well you have "La France" ("The France") etc etc,
@@Kmc1qlAq8Dt6tpVC Notice how many of those countries that do use the "the" prefix are plural in name and not singular in their official titles? The United States of America, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The Kingdom of the Netherlands etc. versus the "the" just being additive in the titles so its grammatically correct when its singular, the Republic of Singapore, the Argentine Republic, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia etc. while conversely we still use the "the" in the shorthand in regards to the plural nations the US, the UK, the Netherlands etc. but we do not use it in the shorthand for the singulars, Singapore, Argentina, Saudi Arabia etc. why?
Because its redundant and unnecessary, Gambia works just as well grammatically in English (which is their official language) as The Gambia and the only reason its even there in the first place is due to the name being a holdover from Portuguese and the Brits just kept it.
Suffice to say it need not be there and would still work in a functional sentence for example "have you seen what happened in Gambia?" see still works perfectly fine without the "the" that is the main crux of my argument.
Actually, Namibia and Botswana have the same reasons to exists as Lesotho and Swaziland
True. We just let them exist.
Yeah, but South Africa doesn't want either one of them anymore. That and the fact that South Africa itself is still threatening to dissolve as a nation really kills any chance of expansion.
@@DTD110865 I doubt South Africa will stop existing as a South African myself. People look at an ethnic map and assume we all just hate each other over here when that's not the case. I just came back from the store right now and the outside world is much more different from what the internet tries to portray the country as. There were two women who were friends speaking to each other in their own respective language Sotho and Zulu and they understood each other's languages. A group of 4 guys in front of me at the line 2 of them were white and 2 of them where black all came back from skateboarding to buy something to drink and having fun. It's not really the case from my day to day experience to think that people here just hate each other. It's mostly just the media and politicians who try to stoke artificial differences for their own benefit.
On the question of Lesotho and eSwatini, our government doesn't want to absorb them. They kinda just let them exist and they're fine with that. An invasion is far from likely too as we wouldn't gain anything economically aside from just water from Lesotho. Plus they would be a burden on local tax payers. If both countries were incorporated they would be the poorest provinces and some of the least populated. From a cultural point of view yes it does make sense to incorporate them as there are more Sotho here than in Lesotho and more Swati here than eSwatini and both groups speak languages that are mutually intelligible with most of our languages as well. It's also important to add that Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe as well have similar peoples as ours. But any effort for unification would have to wait cause we have our own problems right now.
Agree
“Why does this planet exist?”
-Aliens
"is it for me?🥺"
- Aliens
dont intteract with the bots@@mg45yeetz9
Countries and borders are man-made. Planets are not. Some people want to eliminate country borders.
Love your videos!❤
All the 🌎 too.
Thanks!
I ❤ only Allah.
Very interesting video.
Korea should reunite as the Korean Empire with the descendants of the monarchs before 1910.
You missed a lot of small countries like Djibouti, Qatar, Brunei, Singapore
There are also a lot of strangely devided islands: Hispaniola, Borneo, New Guinea, Timor, Ireland
Finally there a a lot of neighbouring countries that are very similar that one could be tempted to unify (although the residents would likely protest very loudly): USA-Canada, Germany-Austria, Portugal-Spain, Australia-New Zealand, UK-Ireland
Maybe the one about the islands might make a fun video...
You will get riots about: UK-Ireland and Portugal-Spain so much can I tell you. Lmao
Of course the obvious one is to chop up America and share the bits out to make a larger Mexico and a much larger Canada.
@@simonmultiverse6349
No. How about annex Canada like the US tried to do in 1812?
UK-Ireland? HAHAHAHAHA!
And Germany and Austria will not unify because of world wars.
@@KometVonHelvetienwould never happen But would make so much sense
As someone from Belgium i wake up every day wondering why we are a country. Flanders and wallonie are basically 2 countries already with different rules different majority political parties different everything but not on Paper. Our public transport services arent even the same.
it’s the waffles 😂
Before it was one countrie
If you think we're the only country in the world that does not have one and the same public transport service then boy you're in for a ride...
I would 100% vote to break up not out of hate for the Wallonië people but just because we have now really tried and absolutely failed obviously its not working out lets just stop this thing
@@reddykilowatt no, broodje américain !
I'm from Eswatini formly Swaziland I remember being taught in about my country stayed as a British Protectorate as a way of protection from the Boers in the late 19th century but always maintained our nation identity
Best geography and history channel by far
Worth noting that even Flanders and Walloonia are close culturally to the two larged countries respectively boarder, they are still notably different from them none the less. Not to mention France is known for being really bad to minority languages, so that's always something to think of when becoming part of them is a possibility. Just ask the Bretons about it, not looking good for their language.
They speak the same language. The only difference is a handful of terms used in Wallonia but not in France. The differences between standard French and Quebec French are much bigger.
@@BamBamGT1 No, just no ? Flanders and french in Wallonia is different.
Regarding the potential split-up of Belgium there are two several possible scenarios in my opinion:
1- Flanders being absorbed by the Netherlands, Wallonia by France, the German speaking area into Germany and Brussels becoming a city-state
2- Each of them besides the german area becoming distinct nations. (It's more unlikely for Wallonia though)
Brussels becoming a city-state would make the more sense in the following scenarios because of it's geopolitical role inside the European Union but since it's located in Brabant it's kind of complicated and cultural areas of Belgium go beyond the simple split between Walloons and the Flemish and history wise.
Nah, not more unlikely. We really don't want to go with France, i would not mind being the first EU federal state, or being independent, but really the french are not people we want to unite with.
But, hé, i like Belgium. I like this difference that force us to compromise, discuss, that make us so much more resilient to crisis (we can litterally survive without governement lol). And i say that as a Brabantian, the only waloon who pay more taxe than they receive.
And i kinda love vlaams people, they are just good people.
@@gameknightjek2640 As a Luxembourger, I hope Belgium won't split-up.
0:31: 🌍 Exploring the existence of certain countries and addressing the reasons behind their independence.
3:41: 🌍 Lesotho and Eswatini remained independent from South Africa due to factors such as their native African populations and the apartheid regime.
6:13: 🌍 The video discusses the history of The Gambia and Senegal, their attempts at unification, and the challenges they faced.
9:18: 🏰 Liechtenstein's late start as a country and its membership in various confederations allowed it to maintain its independence and avoid being annexed by Germany or Austria.
12:13: 🌍 The video discusses the Korean War and the history of Luxembourg.
Recap by Tammy AI
@ General Knowledge - totally agree. I was think to Singapore!
Both Lesotho and Eswatini had low mineral deposits, in contrast to South Africa and hence the British weren't too much interested in occupying these nations fully
Also, technically you could also ask why does South Korea exist
"Also, technically you could also ask why does South Korea exist"
Well, it works better for the Korean people than North Korea, so you've got to consider that.
@@DTD110865are North Koreans undeserving of respect?
@@koffibeen3818 The North Korean government is.
Palau, FSM, and Marshall Islands are also countries that aren't really countries. The US funds much funds the government and defense of these countries, just like New Zealand does with Cook Islands and Niue. The only difference is these 3 are UN members and Cook Islands and Niue aren't.
so how many seats do the US have?
well done
The knocking @13:48 scared the hell out of me lmao
Why was North Korea the one pointed out? 'North and South Korea' fits better the explanation imo
If you use German reunification as a template, it makes sense. Because Germany reuniting, legally speaking, was the Republic of Germany taking control over what was the DDR. As in Korea, the government in the South would continue as is, and would take over the North. The government would stay exactly the same, Republic of Korea, only the DPRK would cease to exist. What we colloquially call "South Korea" wouldn't go anywhere, again this is legally speaking.
North Korea is bigger in size than South Korea lol
@@stevens1041 I don’t see a reason to assume that it would be South Korea taking the north.
@@johnka5407How about they actually have a functioning economy and aren’t a nation of peasants
@@sebe2255 Economy is important at war, but not everything. North Korea has other advantages.
Also I hope that by 'a nation of peasants' you meant poor people.
Korea: Yes, we're waiting for this to happen!!
Belgium: they hate their neighbors more than themselves... this division won't happen...
Lesotho: maybe South Africa should divide itself into 4 or 5 countries!! (Cape, Natal, Orange and S.A.R. known as Transvaal)
Why should SA divide itself??😭
belgian here, nah
i wanna rejoin the dutch (allong with wallonians, i'm not doing it without em)
As another Belgian, I'd rather have no devisions or annexations
understandable
@@TheLordsOfTheDucks
Leve België, vive la Belgique :)
this knocking sound at the end scared the sht out of me
I remember a board game I played years ago in which one scenario was a breakup of Belgium which leads to a war between Holland and France
Every country represents a nation. Not every country represents an ethnic group.
True
especially one beginning with 'U' somewhere in eastern Europe... I can't recall the name right now
@@walterbrunswick that nation your saying is literally built by their ethnic group
@@KartingRulesdo you know what the name means and why it is called that?
No. Every country represents a sovereign state. Not all sovereign states are a nation state. These have completely different definitions.
If the criteria is same language and same-ish people then this could apply for the Arab world (mainly in the Arabian peninsula), Spanish speaking part of Latin America, the Malay speaking nations including Singapore and Brunei...and why not merging US with Canada and Australia with New Zealand?
Arab speaking countries are very different culturally, historically and even demographically.
Colonies are a different story.
Which app do you use plz tell
Funny tidbit about Liechtenstein: The House of Liechtenstein bought the present-day country of Liechtenstein (then Vaduz and Schellenberg) and gave it its name (well, the Emperor did) but the first member of the family who actually visited this tiny country did so only 100 years after the purchase. The land they owned in Czechia alone was several times larger (and far more valuable) than the territory of this tiny principality. They lost all of their possesions in Czechia after WWII as they were declared German nationals. As a result, Czechia and Liechtenstein did not have proper diplomatic relations since the end of the war until 2009. They dispute the expropriation at the International Court of Justice to this day.
The title of Grand Duke of Luxembourg remained to the Dutch crown, i.e. thr Dutch King and Grand Duke would be the same person. Unlike the kingdom of the Netherlands however, Luxembourg was only hereditary through male lineage. William III had no living sons at the time of his passing, making the severance from the Netherlands complete. BeNeLux remained a strong trading alliance and an example for other European unions yet to be established.
Belgium used to be a country because of religion, which they don't follow anymore
In some ways that is similar to Northern Ireland.
13:50 holds crap the Belgiums are knocking on his door!!
I love your new intro
Fun fact: senegambia was still a country when taylor swift was born
it would have worked if they called it Gambegal instead. 😂
Has she written a song about it?
(Please consider this an invitation for geographilic Swifties to draft some parodies. 😂)
I think questioning the existence of Belgium is more a meme on TH-cam videos than something we Belgians actually want. The support for separation is very low. If not the country would have splitted already long ago. I also hear people claiming that the Flemish people are culturally closer to the Dutch and the Walloon people are culturally closer to the French. I think this is a very bold claim and not true at all. We share languages, so far the cultural similarities. But if you ever travel through the country, you will be surprised how similar we actually are. We eat the same food, have the same shops, the same brands, the same celebrations, the same religious history... All these things differ at least with one of our neighbours...
Which one ?
@@lioneldemun6033 Most of the Dutch have a protestant background (apart from some provinces in the South that actually used to be part of Greater Belgium). The Dutch have a completely different food culture and fill in their traditions in a very different way (look for example at Sinterklaas, which is celebrated on a different day and in a different way). The French have an enormous country, so saying we are more like the French is like saying we are more like the Polish or the Danes. We might culturally resemble a bit more to the north of France, but then again we have different food cultures and different celebrations. Nevertheless, within the same country, the food we eat is very similar, the celebrations are similar and social conducts are more or less the same. I saw someone claiming that politically we vote differently, but if you separate all countries where the poorer regions vote more left and the richer regions vote more right, I think you can literally separate any country. The claim that our country has to split is spread by extreme right parties, but doesn't have enough support within the country itself.
In Europe as a whole, country borders are not cultural at all anymore and are just political. You can cross the border and only the infrastructure would change. Basicaly the same people and sometimes even the same language. As someone from Noord-Brabant I have way more in commom with people from Antwerpen or Leuven than with people from Leeuwarden or Groningen.
So advocating for the erasure of a country for cultural reasons is dumb. The only thing that is broken about belgium is the national government.
Dang the new opening part is fire 🔥
That knocking in the background towards the end of the video had me confused asf lol
You deserve 1M subs
Agree 100%
H getting there, he getting there, I remember last year he had 500k
Thanks! It gets harder to gain more subscribers as you get closer to it. But hopefully one day we'll get there! :)
As a Belgian, I'm tired of seeing so many people forget that there's more to Belgian history than the revolution of 1830. The Walloons and the Flemish were united as much at the time of Rome, as of the Franks, as of the Burgundian, Spanish and Austrian Netherlands. The people of Antwerp and Namur, for example, have much more history in common with each other than they do with France. In fact france only controlled the region for a few decades in total and always in times of war. The only exception being the flemish coast wich was a French territory for a few centuries before changing hand to the burgundians. Even the people of Liege who today are widely consider as walloons were independent for nearly 9 centuries from the rest of the contry.
The idea of a strongly divided belgium with 2 clashing culture is a modern concept.
We even had the Brabant revolution wich created the first belgian state a few decades before the actual belgian revolution.
It's also important to remember that French and Dutch are both originally foreign languages and cannot by themselves sum up the divisions in the Belgian society. A hundred years ago, your average belgian would most likely not understand either oh those. Local dialectes were wide spread while french was the languague of the elite.
Yeah local Dutch dialects lol
These regions were also not united since Roman or Frankish times in any sense aside from belonging to the same political entities. Like the transition period from Rome to Frankish is especially weird to bring up as the Franks and their settlement are the reason half the country speaks Dutch. And they weren’t united in any way during the middle ages.
The unity of the region comes with the Burgundians and Charles the Vth who creates the notion of the Low-Countries. And you can then say that some unity existed between Dutch and French speaking Belgium since the Unie van Atrecht (basically the Catholic-protestant split) and later as Austrian Habsburg possessions. However Flanders and the Netherlands are closely linked even during this period. Antwerp was a center of the Protestant reformation and one of the major Protestant cities. It isn’t until Antwerp is sacked and people flee north that Amsterdam becomes the leading Protestant stronghold. And on top of that the Flemish traders also brought a lot of wealth to the city, which until that point was actually the main Catholic city in Holland
@seanbaggen2656 You are quite right to say that talking about the Roman and Frankish empires (Carolingian as well as Merovingian) as the origins of Belgium proper is an exaggeration. During these periods the territories were part of the same whole, of course, but they were so decentralised and diverse that you can't really consider them to be united. I chose to mention them more to recall a part of history that is rarely mentioned but whose foundations enabled Belgium to emerge much later. Without the Romans and Germanic migration, we wouldn't have a Latinised south and a Germanised north, just Celts. Similarly, without the Frankish empires, there would have been no feudal system and therefore no county of Flanders or Hainaut or duke of Brabant or Burgundy.
I completely agree that the Burgundians were the first to really create the concept of the Low-Contries and the first to really separate the region from France and the Holy Empire.
In my opinion, the religious wars that followed the Protestant reformation are the source of the division between Belgium and the Netherlands, which would otherwise have remained united. However, religious and governmental differences gradually drove the 2 countries apart for almost 2 centuries before they once again unite in 1815.
However, what many people tend to forget is that a country is not defined solely by its language. Just because a country doesn't have its own national language doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. Switzerland and Austria are no less legitimate countries than Belgium.
@@axome235 But without the Frankish migration the Netherlandds wouldn’t exist either
Of course, but they are still “Dutch” or rather Nederlandse/Nederfrankische dialects. Just like how Austrians speak German. Just because the Netherlands is called the Netherlands doesn’t mean it has a monopoly on the term for the language. And in fact Flanders and the Netherlands share the language institute that decides on the language, so this is also reflected in reality
What matters is now not centuries ago...
You don't live in the past ? Do you ? Or maybe you are 600 years old...
When close neighbours speak the same language, share the same artists, watch mostly the same tv series, have a common litterature, spend their hollidays in the same places...
A Liégeois is closer to Paris than a Brestois, Niçois or Basque is !
But if you are unhappy with that you can still ask for French to be banned from Belgium and replaced by Walloon or English.
I m missing an obvious country in this list but not surprised to see that you felt obliged to keep it off the list
Nice intro!
Bruh i forgot that i even commented on this video😂
The same question can also be applied to Singapore, Brunei and Uruguay in South America.
Singapore basically money
Brunei. I only discovered that Brunei is an independent country nine months ago.
@@missouriresole4726 Nah, Singapore split from Malaysia because of ethnic clashes. Brunei though, they just didn't want to join Malaysia I guess lol
You missed 1 thing about Belgium around 1830. The upper echelon ( what we belgians call the bourgeoisie) of Flanders spoke french. Not dutch. It's only recently that changed.
Mockingly called Franskiljons.
Also Brussels was full dutch speaking untill like 100 or even 50 years ago
Anyone else noticed the knocking through the entire end of the video? Like after 14:05
You missed Singapore, the only country forced into independence without wanting it.
The argument of a country not representing a certain group makes no sense. A group can consist of anything that you want as long as there is something in common, and a country is one of those things that you can have in common.
Depends, countries with big cultural differences between several groups are usually quite dysfunctional. So yeah being similar helps.
@@Rui301 That still doesn't mean that they're not a group. It's just not a group with identical cultural elements.
as a belgian, disagreed
walloons, flemings, luxembourgers, dutchies
same people, gotta reunite
simple as
Most Dutch I know actually don't mind a united Benelux as long as Brussels isn't the capital.
same in my case
tho i do NOT accept the name benelux, it's stupid
i suggest:
English: Belgica/Netherlands
Dutch: Nederland
French: Belgique
why? because they mean the same thing, look at the united kingdom of the netherland's french name. oh and i wouldn't want brussels to be the capital either@@lynxfresh5214
I can hear a lot of knocking in the background towards the end of the video. What happened there?
What's up with the background knocking near the end? I want an explanation!
As a Flemish man I distance myself from any resemblance to the Dutch
100%, ze zouden ons toch alleen als buitenbeentje zien
@@Seba_ntnAs they should 😁
Anders zouden we onszelf elk jaar als oranje fluostiften moeten verkleden...
As a Dutch man, better yet a Hollander, I also distance myself from any resemblance to the Flemish.
this is double dutch to me@@Seba_ntn
The Vatican is not the head of Christianity, it is the seat of the Bishop of Rome. The Bishop of Rome is head of the Catholic Church.
Preach brother!
That’s ok - it’s only 1000 years since the great schism.. you can’t expect him to be up to date of these things.
But why can't your little school clubs just have one headquarters... Wouldn't that make more sense?
Designate that whole "nation" to your hobby so there's more space for normal folk everywhere else in the west
@@Alex-zs7gw there was never one headquarters, that's what the Great Schism was all about.
@@timleber2257 yeah but now membership is at an all-time low, you'd think you'd combine so that it's not scrapped for good
I'd rather it was scrapped but everyone has their own taste in hobbies
I love the new intro
What's that knocking noise in the background? 🤔
Oh come on, Flanders and Wallonia would never just be annexed, and splitting up will also never happen. Belgium still has a culture but everyone seems to ignore it
Who are the common artists ? Singers ? Actors ? Writers ?
@@jandron94JCVD
Singers: Stromae, Jaques Brel...
Writers: Tom Lanoye, Herman Brusselmans, Saskia De Coster ...
What are you trying to say man, small countries have cultures too yk
@@jandron94Belgium is a united state at its core, no one really wants things to change. And if we would split then no way we'd let us be annexed by other countries after all the wars we've fought for our independence
UNDERRATED CHANEL
Thanks!
@@General.Knowledge de nada
The knocks on the doors were really funny
Construction happening in the background?
The question should have been why both North and, South Korea exist?
The Japanese, US, and Soviet imperial.
As a dutchman i feel weird after seeing Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of South Africa once being dutch. I can't even imagine what i must be like to live in a decently large country haha (although SA was of course a colony but still its huge compared to the netherlands now)
I've been to Liechtenstein last Month (for a day journey) and yeah I can agree, Liechtenstein is a weird mix between Switzerland and Austria. Also the dialect was weird to hear, (says a swiss.)
Excellent
I have a suggestion
The british caribbean islands. Why aren't they a federation with one government?
Is a british trick to have more votes in international organizations?
Also Malta, wich is a lot smaller than Sicily, and still is a republic
missed uruguay, ecuador, many central american countries, brunei, singapore, switzerland, cyprus and austria
Imagine if Belgium splits and we have the 2 new nations of Bel and Gium
Belgi and Um*
YAY more bad roads!
Why skipping Belarus and the 2 states on Hispaniola island?
i mean...Belarus is complicated because they have a identity but its slowly dying
Two countries with differents languages, culture and history.
13:25 somebody building a house in the background?
Why is macedonia a countrie bro
Countries that MAYBE should exist.
Like Catalonia or Scotland
@@pranawdhital Taiwan (the true China), for instance.
@@josueveguilla9069 Taiwan does exist
@@josueveguilla9069 why is it true China? Elaborate. You seem to imply some sort of deep knowledge of Chines history
@@TheManinBlack9054 Because the Kuomintang managed to recover any cultural and religious artifacts that were still left intact and took them to Taiwan. Remember Mao Zedong's so called "Cultural Revolution"?
Willfully showing my own ignorance to this, I'd also be curious about El Salvador and possibly several of its neighbors, as well as Timor Leste, city states like Singapore, or what makes a pacific island nation one island vs a chain
I hear some odd knocks when you speak about luxembourg.
North Macedonia should be on this list.
What about Bosnia & hercegowina? Its pretty much like belgium but even worse and only exists because the west didn't want the serbs to win anything by that war in the 90s.
If you want to divide Bosnia again in Srpska and a Bosniak-Croat state...
As a Bosnian I agree, but only if Germany annexes us. Saves time waiting for a working/travel permit. Papa?
Are you from Portugal? I saw in the vídeo about the name of the European countries
General Knowledge said MAYBE, ladies and gentlemen.
around the 4 minute mark - the voice says that South Africa became independent in the 30s and then it is repeated few more times
please let the rest of the world into your secret information and we may all learn this new information
I was taught that South Africa became a Union in 1910 and a republic in 1961
either I was taught BS or what is said in this video is not true
I believe he cites the 30s due to this being when the Statute of Westminster went into effect, which granted a great deal of autonomy to the British dominions, South Africa included. Whether that counts as independence or not is a matter of interpretation.
@@CarpeVerpa thank you for your reply
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_South_Africa
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Constitution_of_1961
I repeat what I wrote earlier - weather in the 30s the Statute of Westminster went into effect or not - countries of the Commonweath gained independence not all on one day
Read up when each and every country actually gained freedom from the UK
so the history put forward in this video is not the same history that went into effect in the real world
And apartheid didn't last very long : from 1948 until 1991, 43 years only
It would make sense for Lesotho and Eswatini to join South Africa if South Africa wan't such a mess.
No it would not, South-Africa already has 12+ ethnic groups in its borders. Adding two more ethnic groups will only increase ethnic tensions.
Maybe South Africa should join them
@@JUAN_OLIVIER you're not adding 2 new ethnic groups tho. You're just adding a couple more Sotho and Swazi. South Africa already has more Sotho and Swazi people than Lesotho and Eswatini
@JUAN_OLIVIER you're not adding any new ethnicities
There are more Sothos in SA than there are in Lesotho.... same with Eswatini
We are the same
My guy. We don't have ethnic tensions in South Africa. I live in an area with many Sotho people and we speak each others languages. From an economic standpoint we can't afford 2 million people for now.@@JUAN_OLIVIER
Bro is the best!
His graphics are just too good.
As a Belgian, I am starting to grow tired of everyone Questioning our existence let us decide what we want what for the last almost 200 years has been unity between each other
Also stop listening to the far right nutjobs there a extremely loud minority far from being able to call a formal dissolution vote
Sure dude
love the beer
Nope, only socialists, communists, and leftist journalists want unity. Think about it, Vlaams Belang and N-VA are the parties with the most votes in Flanders for a reason, while the Walloons vote for socialists and communists.
@@RedRocketthefirst he's right though ☠️
Vroeger wou Wallonië onafhankelijkheid en tis ook nooit gebeurd, het zijn idd gwn de extreme partijen die dit willen maar onze politici gaan wss het nooit écht doen, opsplitsen
This reminds me of the time Momo Gaddafi said Switzerland shouldn't exist.
One of the funniest UN moments ever
Sequel idea: Countries that maybe should still exist
the intro!!