The Semslinie is a part of the border between the Dutch provinces of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

and

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...

that runs right through the former Bourtanger Moor. The almost straight line runs from Wolfsbarge to the Huis ter Haar at

Musselkanaal Musselkanaal (also: ''Stads-Musselkanaal''; Gronings: ''Muzzelknoal'') is a town in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Groningen (province), Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Stadskanaal. It was established by the Groningen, city of ...

. The border is slightly bent at

Stadskanaal Stadskanaal () is a town and municipality with a population of 32,715 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. It was named after the canal Stadskanaal. From 1800 until 1900 this area was ideal for its peat mining, and so ...

. The slightly bent line between Musselkanaal and

is sometimes called ''Koningsraai''. The Semslinie is named after Johan Sems.

History

On August 3, 1614, the provinces of

and

asked Johan Sems (asked by Groningen) and Johan de la Haye (asked by Drenthe) to determine the border between the two provinces. Determining the exact border was necessary because both provinces wanted to get

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

from the bog ( Bourtanger Moor) between them. Before the 17th century, there was no large-scale peat harvesting and the provinces never bothered about the exact location of the border. Another reason for determining the exact border was that Groningen and Drenthe both claimed

Ter Apel Ter Apel (; Gronings: ''Troapel'') is a village with a population of 8,866 residents in the municipality Westerwolde in the northern Netherlands, in the province Groningen in the region Westerwolde. The town lies on the stream Ruiten Aa, which ...

. On March 2, 1615, the map with the new border was presented. Ter Apel was allocated to Drenthe. Groningen argued that the

Ter Apel Monastery Ter Apel Monastery ( nl, Klooster Ter Apel) is a former monastery in the village of Ter Apel in the northeastern Dutch province of Groningen. It is the only monastery in the larger area of Friesland and Groningen that survived the Reformation in ...

used to be owned by the

diocese of Münster In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

and was never owned by the

Bishopric of Utrecht The Bishopric of Utrecht ( nl, Sticht Utrecht) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, in the present-day Netherlands. From 1024 to 1528, as one of the prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire, it w ...

of which Drenthe was once part. In October 1615, a new map was made, on which Ter Apel would become part of Groningen. This time Drenthe had objections. In 1630,

stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...

Ernst Casimir Ernest Casimir I (22 December 1573 – 2 June 1632) was a Count of Nassau-Dietz and Stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. Biography He was the 11th child of John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, and Countess Elisabeth of Le ...

determined that the disputed area near Ter Apel would become a ''communal area'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: compascuum). This brought a temporary end to the conflict. In 1756, Groningen began digging a canal from the village of Bareveld to Ter Apel, parallel to the Semslinie. It is called the Stadskanaal (''Cities canal'', not to be confused with the town

) and was used to transport peat. This canal became a very important waterway in the area. This led to tensions once again. On October 14, 1815, king

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who we ...

, argued that Groningen and Drenthe should sign an agreement about the border and the use of the Stadskanaal. On April 5, 1817, a

Royal Order In Belgium, a Royal Decree (RD) or Royal Order () (Dutch), Arrêté Royal ( French), or Königlicher Erlass (German) is a federal governmental decree exercising legislation, or powers the legislature has delegated to the King as secondary legisla ...

concluded that the border would follow the Semslinie between Bareveld and the border between Gasselternijveenschemond and Drouwenermond (near Stadskanaal). From there on another line was drawn, called the ''Koningsraai''. Because of the ''Koningsraai'', Ter Apel became part of Groningen. It is sometimes said that if the Semslinie would be extended to the northwest, it would cross the

Martinitoren The ''Martinitoren'' (; Martini or St. Martin's Tower) is the tallest church steeple in the city of Groningen, Netherlands, and the bell tower of the Martinikerk. The tower is located at the north-eastern corner of the ''Grote Markt'' (Main Ma ...

in the city of

, just as Sems's intention was. In reality the line would miss the Martinitoren by 532 meters.Cultuurhistorisch beheer
Een projectleider aan het woord
/ref>

References

{{coord missing, Netherlands Geography of Drenthe Geography of Groningen (province) Subdivisions of the Netherlands Borders of the Netherlands