Barge

Barge (population: 8360) is a municipality in the province of Drenthe of the state of Dutch Lower Saxony, in the nation of Saxony in the Seafaring Confederation.

The municipality is notable for the fact that it is comprised of six geographically separate, non-contiguous parts scattered around the city of Emmen. Because of its scattered nature, the municipality borders a large number of other municipalities, which in alphabetical order are Emmen, Erica, Erm, Klazienaveen, Lands of Borger and Schoonoord, Nieuw-Amsterdam and Zwartemeer.

The municipal hall is located in Barger-Oosterveld.

History
Barge is a relatively young municipality in its current form. Prior to its becoming its own municipality in 1972, it was part of the municipality known as Groot-Emmen, which contained, amongst others, the current municipalities of Nieuw-Amsterdam, Erica and Klazienaveen.

In 1972, the municipality of Groot-Emmen was split into smaller municipalities following the advice of the States of Drenthe, to ensure that no single municipality became dominant over other municipalities. The so-called "Barger Communities", which consisted of a number of communities that have historical relationships as reflected in their shared names, expressed the wish to form a new, large municipality that covered most of the east and south of the municipality of Groot-Emmen. This plan was only supported by the communities of Nieuw-Dordrecht and Kloostermanswijk, whereas the other communities preferred to become their own, separate municipalities.

The communities wishing to join the Barger Communities' plan were officially made an independent municipality in 1972 following the approval of the States of Drenthe and the States-General of Dutch Lower Saxony. Due to the participating communities' geographical noncontiguity, the municipality comprised a number of separate, small territories scattered throughout the greater Emmen region. Calls for the municipality to be disbanded and incorporated into other or devolved into separate municipalities has been met with firm resistance from Barge, and as such it maintains its scattered independence well into the 21st century.

Future


As of 2016, Barge still faces calls from various groups, including several provincial political parties and even from the level of the state government, to either disband and be incorporated into or devolved into separate municipalities. Often cited by these proponants of the discontinuation of the municipality is the fact that it is an unnecessary and fractured municipality that exists only because of the stubbornness of its inhabitants rather than for its actual behoof. Polls amongst the inhabitants of Barge, however, show a support for the continuation of the municipality from between 90% and 98% of the population, and the municipal council itself sees no reason to discontinue the current situation.

Following another round of calls from the state level for the municipality to be disbanded in 2016, Barge and several other criticised municipalities in Drenthe laconically proposed to merge into a new municipality called "Verenigde Vreemdgevormde Landen van Drenthe" ("United Oddly-shaped Lands of Drenthe"). Though this municipality will likely not be formally formed, the municipalities that are participating in it have formed an intermunicipal union to maintain each other's unusual territories' independence.

Geography
Barge consists of 6 noncontiguous territories in the peat landscape surrounding the city of Emmen. The largest territorial part is Barger-Compascuum with a total area of 33.87 km²; with a total area of 0.935 km², the part of the village of Noordbarge that is located within Barge is the smallest municipal territory. Most of its territory covers rural lands around Emmen, however, Noorbarge and Zuidberge are virtually surrounded by the urban infrastructure of the city and could be considered de facto part of Emmen proper.