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Riis Rijs
Municipality
Riis Gemeentehûs (town hall)
Flag
Riis Location in Hennehouwe
Country	Hennehouwe
Region	Lower Stegeren
County	Grensland
Government
• Body	Municipal council
• Mayor	Marina Hoekstra (NVP)
Area
• Total	84.81 km2 (32.75 sq mi)
• Land	84.35 km2 (32.57 sq mi)
• Water	0.46 km2 (0.18 sq mi)
Elevation	33 m (108 ft)
Population  (2018 census)
• Total	7,641
• Density	90/km2 (230/sq mi)
Postcode	NH31
Area code	047
Website	riis.he

Riis (Hennish: Rijs, also referred to as East-Riis or Oost-Rijs), is a municipality in Hennehouwe, located in the region of Lower Stegeren. The municipality is located on the border between Hennehouwe and Estmere, sharing a complicated borderline with exclaves that make up the majority of the Estmerish town Rees, which themselves contain second-order exclaves of Riis. The municipality had a population of 7,641 at the time of the 2018 census.

In addition to the complicated border, Riis is also famous for hosting the Rock'nRiis festival along with its Estmerish sister town, with the festival main stage traditionally straddling the border of the two countries. Riis is one of just five municipalties in Hennehouwe with Dellish as an official language, and one of a handful which have three co-official languages: Dellish, Hennish and Estmerish. Since 1998, the town has been referred to by its Dellish name in all government documents in Hennish.

Geography

Border with Rees

Estmerish and Hennish territory in Rees and Riis respectively

Riis is known for its complex border with Rees, Estmere.

The history behind the complicated borders of the two towns dates back to a number of land swaps, treaties and peace settlements by nobles and clergymen of both Hennish and Estmerish origin dating back to the 15th century. The most notable of these land swaps was during the late 1480's when the declared allegiances of landowners resulted in an agreed land swap conducted between the Duke of the Perch and nobles from Stegeren. The borders were officially agreed upon at the Treaty of Eternal Amendist Friendship between the new Sotirian Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Estmere in 1646, with a further simplification occurring a century later at the Treaty of Verlois in 1747.

Whilst cross-border activities and freedom of movement within the area remained ambiguous due the split nature of the town, a bilateral agreement was signed in 1940, affirming the right of residents to freely travel between the borders of the towns without restriction. The founding of the Euclean Community in 1948, to which Hennehouwe and Estmere were both party, and the subsequent establishment of the Zilverzee Area in 1983, have virtually eroded the once-complex realities of the border.

The majority of the area of the municipality is located within Hennehouwe proper, with the remainder consisting of twelve exclaves within Estmerish territory: six of which are counter-exclaves located within the largest Estmerish exclave (referred to officially as E1), with the other six being located within Estmere proper. The Hennish exclaves are mostly small pockets of land, including the smallest piece of sovereign territory by area in the world: exclave H9, which contains just one house, has an area of 0.0018 km2 (0.0007 sq mi).

Today, the towns of Riis and Rees are highly integrated both economically and culturally. The towns' borders are marked by pavings in the road and on pedrestrianised streets, marked on either side with 'E' (Estmere) or 'H' (Hennehouwe). The physical border is mostly symbolic, however it is not uncommon for the border to run directly through individual houses and businesses. In these cases, it is generally assumed that the location of the front door of the property determines the country of residence or business. Some businesses that straddle the border have opted to have two front doors - one on the Estmerish side, and one on the Hennish side - in order to take advantage of discrepencies in trading laws where applicable. For instance, the lower legal drinking age of 16 in Estmere (compared with 18 in Hennehouwe) means that off licenses with two separate front doors can sell liquor to Hennish 16- and 17-year-olds, provided it is conducted on the Estmerish side of the premises.

Local government

Riis is a municipality in Lower Stegeren, from which it receives its municipal powers under the regional constitution. The municipal government has responsibility for local utilities, housing, traffic, education, property taxation and limited powers over local policing.

Due to the nature of the town's borders with its Estmerish counterpart, the Riis municipal council works closely with the Rees parish council on a number of projects and issues. Under a long-standing agreement, local law enforcement vehicles of the Hennish Police can pass through the Estmerish town of Rees in order to attend matters within Riis, and vice-versa.

Municipal council

Riis Municipal Council (Dellish: Gemeenteried Riis, Hennish: Gemeenteraad Riis) has thirteen members, elected every four years. The most recent election took place in 2019, with the next elections scheduled for 2023 as part of the wider Hennish local elections.

The current mayor is Marina Hoekstra of the National People's Party (NVP). The current governing majority on the municipal council consists of the NVP and local party LLR.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	National People's Party (NVP)	1,040	26.9	4
	Local List Riis (LLR)	923	23.8	3
	Progressive Democratic Party (VDP)	582	15.0	2
	Socialist Labour Party (SAP)	507	13.1	2
	Riis For All (RFE)	337	8.7	1
	The Left (Links)	258	6.7	1
	People's Party for Sotirian Democracy (VSD)	146	3.8	0
	Liberal Party (LP)	79	2.0	0
Total		3,872	100.0	13
Valid votes		3,872	98.7
Invalid/blank votes		52	1.3
Total votes cast		3,924	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,109	64.2
Source: Gemeentereid Riis

Demographics

Riis had a population of 7,641 at the 2018 census, 11.8% of which are foreign nationals, including Estmerish nationals. The population of Riis has increased 27.8% since 1998.

Dellish is the most spoken language within the municipality, making it one of only three in Hennehouwe where this is the case. As of the 2018 census, 61.8% of the population speaks Dellish as their first language, with Estmerish at 16.4%, Hennish at 15.1%. Riis is the only municipality in Hennehouwe in which Hennish is neither of the two most spoken first languages. The integrated nature of the town itself and with Rees has resulted in a high level of mutual intelligibility between speakers of the three languages in both towns, resulting in frequent code-switching and a mixed jargon referred to colloquially as Riis-speak (Dellish: Riispraat, Hennish: Rijspraat).

As of 2018, 78.9% of the population identified as Sotirian, with 65.0% identifying as Amendism, 9.6% as Solarian Catholic, and 4.3% as other or unspecified Sotirian. 15.7% idenfitied themselves as non-religious or atheist, 3.3% Irfanic, 1.1% Atudaist and 1.0% other or unspecified.

Sister towns

Riis is twinned with one sister town, the Estmerish town of Rees.

• Template:Country data Estmere Rees, Estmere, 1955

Gallery

• 

  Border marking the boundaries between Hennehouwe and Estmere, including through the front door of a house

• 

  Sint-Gregoriuskerk

• 

  Main stage of the Rock'nRiis festival, 2008

• 

  Markstraat in Riis