One is the village and former municipality of Oost, whereas the other is an in a distance of a few hundred metres separately to the southeast situated township called Maarland.

Oost-Maarland is located some 3 km north of Eijsden, the biggest place in the municipality and 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) south of Maastricht, the provincial capital.

From 1 January 2018, the Netherlands and Belgium peacefully swapped territory on the River Meuse just west from Maarland, in an agreement signed in 2016.

He who shoots the very last part of a wooden bird from the high mast it was mounted on, obtains that title for the next two years and has the right to decide who will be 'his' queen during this period.

In the 1980s the hamlet of Maarland was repeatedly in the news with the folkloristic event "Gansslaan" (goose beheading) that was held annually on a feast day.

[6] At this event, blindfolds alternately tried to slap the head of an upside-down dead goose with a saber, which was complicated by the application of a thick iron wire in the animal's neck.

Although this was no longer a living goose, as was originally the case, around 1985 no municipal license was granted any more for this somewhat barbaric popular entertainment, in which the dead blood spurted around.

The appeals procedure of local residents to get the refusal of a license undone was rejected by the highest national administrative judge.

Furthermore, since a number of farms have lost (a considerable part of) their agricultural grounds due to several causes, such as extraction of grit in the river area and industrial as well as housing projects, most of them have been rebuilt thus, that in former business buildings like stables now touristic apartments are rented out.