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The France–Luxembourg border stretches 73 kilometers (45 miles) in length, to the northeast of
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and to the south of
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
.


Description

It begins in the west at the Belgium-France-Luxembourg
tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...
(), at the junction of the Belgian municipality of
Aubange Aubange (; german: Ibingen; lb, Éibeng; wa, Åbindje) is a municipality and city of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. On 1 January 2012 the municipality, which covers 45.6 km2, had 16,042 inhabitants, giving a p ...
, the French commune of Mont-Saint-Martin and the Luxembourgish commune of
Pétange Pétange (; lb, Péiteng, ; german: Petingen) is a commune and town in south-western Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette. Pétange lies on the borders with both Belgium and France. , the town of Pétange, which lies in t ...
. This point is located on the
Chiers The Chiers (; lb, Kuer, german: Korn) is a river in Luxembourg, Belgium and France. It is a right tributary of the Meuse. The total length of the Chiers is aproxamately , of which in France. The source of the Chiers is near Differdange, i ...
. It then follows a general easterly direction to the Germany-France-Luxembourg tripoint (), at the junction of the German municipality of
Perl Perl is a family of two high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it also referred to its redesigned "sister language", Perl 6, before the latter's name was offic ...
, the French commune of Apach and the Luxembourgish commune of
Schengen The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and ...
. This point is located on the
Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A ...
.


History

When the province of Trois-Évêchés was created in 1552, a first Franco-Luxembourgish border then became existing: it was located between the north of the arrondissement of Metz and the south of that of
Thionville Thionville (; ; german: Diedenhofen ) is a city in the northeastern French department of Moselle. The city is located on the left bank of the river Moselle, opposite its suburb Yutz. History Thionville was settled as early as the time of th ...
. The border villages of Hussigny and
Rédange Rédange (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Réideng'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Moselle department The following is a list of the 725 communes of the Moselle departmen ...
were ceded by
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
to
Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...
in 1602. After the
Treaty of the Pyrenees The Treaty of the Pyrenees (french: Traité des Pyrénées; es, Tratado de los Pirineos; ca, Tractat dels Pirineus) was signed on 7 November 1659 on Pheasant Island, and ended the Franco-Spanish War that had begun in 1635. Negotiations were ...
in 1659, despite the changes that occurred in the dynasties of its sovereigns, the territorial surface of Luxembourg experienced no variation until 1795, except for those agreed by Marie-Thérèse and the
King of France France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the fir ...
Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
, recounted in the two boundary treaties of 1769 and 1779.


Convention of May 16, 1769

The convention of May 16, 1769 put an end to the existence of several enclaves in France and
Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands nl, Oostenrijkse Nederlanden; french: Pays-Bas Autrichiens; german: Österreichische Niederlande; la, Belgium Austriacum. was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The pe ...
(of which Luxembourg was a part at the time), this convention also formed a new boundary line: "The Ruisseau de
Frisange Frisange (; , ) is a commune and town in southern Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette. , the town of Frisange, which lies in the north of the commune, has a population of 1,302. Other towns within the commune include Aspel ...
will serve as Limits in this part, from the place where it leaves the Territory of Frisange, as far as that where it enters the Territory of Ganderen, and from this point, pulling as far as the Moselle, the Limit will remain as it is now, so that Ganderen, Beyern and all that currently belongs below the said Limit to the Empress Queen, will henceforth belong to France”. The King ceded to the Empress-Queen, via Article XVIII, his rights, claims and possessions over the villages and places located to the left of the Frisange stream. Her Majesty the Empress Queen for her part renounced, via article XIX, all claims to the seigniories that France has so far claimed to possess as dependencies of Thionville, insofar as they are located to the right of the said Frisange stream and the limit marked by article XVIII.


Convention of November 18, 1779

The King of France ceded to the Empress-Queen, on the border of Luxembourg, the village, land and seigneury of , as well as the property of Haillon with their belongings, dependencies and annexes (article XXIX). The Empress-Queen ceded to the King, in the same province, the villages of Gernelle and Rumelle, together with their belongings, dependencies and annexes (article XXX).


19th century

The communes of
Évrange Évrange (; german: Ewringen) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Transportation Évrange is served by the N53 Route nationale. See also * Communes of the Moselle department The following is a list o ...
and
Hagen Hagen () is the 41st-largest city in Germany. The municipality is located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme (me ...
were united by decree of 12 April 1811 in Frisange (at the time in the Department of Forests); then reintegrated into the Moselle, under the treaty of 1814. Before the Revolution, the village of
Manderen Manderen (, lb, Manneren) is a former commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Manderen-Ritzing.Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...
, belonged to the
Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands nl, Oostenrijkse Nederlanden; french: Pays-Bas Autrichiens; german: Österreichische Niederlande; la, Belgium Austriacum. was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The pe ...
as a dependent of Luxembourg. Following the conquests of France, this village was classified in the department of Forests ( canton of Remich). Occupied by
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
in 1815, the village was finally ceded by it to France in 1829. From 1871 to 1918, following the German annexation, the Franco-Luxembourg border was reduced to a line that ran from Mont-Saint-Martin to Hussigny-Godbrange.


21st  century

The last modification of the course of the border dates from 2007 with the exchange of land with a total area of 87,679m2 between the French municipality of
Russange Russange (; ; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Réisséng''/''Réisseng'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Moselle department The following is a list of the 725 communes of the M ...
and that of Luxembourg
Sanem Sanem ( lb, Suessem ; german: Sassenheim) is a commune and town in south-western Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette. The administrative centre and largest town is Belvaux. , the town of Sanem, which lies in the north of t ...
, west of
Esch-sur-Alzette Esch-sur-Alzette (; lb, Esch-Uelzecht ; german: Esch an der Alzette or ''Esch an der Alzig'') is the second city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the country's second-most populous commune, with a population of 35,040 inhabitants, . It lies ...
, as part of a
brownfields In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land pre ...
project to reconvert steel wastelands into tertiary and university hubs.


List of municipalities bordering this border

From west to east:


French communes


Luxembourgish communes


Passages


Railway crossing points

There are currently four open rail crossings:


Road crossing points

There are many road crossing points crossing the border, the major one being
European route E25 European route E25 is a north–south European route from Hook of Holland in the Netherlands, to Palermo in Italy which includes ferry crossings from Genoa to Bastia (Corsica), from Bonifacio to Porto Torres (Sardinia) and from Cagliari to Pal ...
from
Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...
via Saint-Avold and
Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...
() to
Luxembourg city Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Gr ...
(), crossing the border at Zoufftgen.


References


See also

* The Zoufftgen train collision which occurred on October 11, 2006 exactly at the Franco-Luxembourg border *
List of countries and territories by land borders This list of countries and territories by land borders gives the number of distinct land borders of each country or territory, as well the names of its neighboring countries and territories. The length of each land border is included, as is the ...
Borders of France Borders of Luxembourg International borders European Union internal borders * France–Luxembourg relations {{DEFAULTSORT:France-Luxembourg border