A small historical reference
Geography: The municipality of Comines-Warneton includes the traditional villages of Comines (Dutch: Komen – Comines is also the name of the village on the other side of the Belgian-French border), Comines-ten-Brielen, Houthem, Warneton (Dutch: Waasten), Bas-Warneton (Dutch: Neer-Waasten), Ploegsteert and Le Bizet.
They were all transferred in 1963 from the arrondissement of Ypres in the Dutch-speaking province of West Flanders to the newly created arrondissement of Mouscron in French-speaking Hainaut.
The five municipalities (Comines, Houthem, Ploegsteert, Bas-Warneton, Warneton) were merged into a single Comines-Warneton municipality in 1977. Since then, the municipality forms an exclave of both Hainaut and Wallonia, being surrounded by the Flemish province of West-Flanders and the French department of Nord and not connected to the rest of the French-speaking area of Belgium.
Date of foundation:
History:
Population: 18 111
Sights:
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