Top 10 Enclaves and Exclaves
An enclave is an entire country or part of a country completely surrounded by the territory of another country. The only way to access the territory of an enclave is by crossing the territory of the surrounding country because the enclave has no land connection to the rest of the main country's territory.An exclave is "a piece of land which is politically attached to a larger piece but not physically coterminous (having the same borders) with it because of surrounding foreign territory." - Wiki
Many entities are both enclaves and exclaves. However, there are enclaves that are not exclaves and exclaves that are not enclaves.
Examples:
- Three sovereign countries are enclaves but not exclaves: Lesotho, San Marino, and Vatican City.
- Exclaves that are not enclaves include the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and some smaller entities.
Lesotho, officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is an enclaved, landlocked country in southern Africa completely surrounded by South Africa. It is by far the largest of the world's three independent states completely surrounded by the territory of another country, with Vatican City and San Marino being... read more The Kingdom of Lesotho is the world's largest enclave that is entirely surrounded by South Africa. Lesotho gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1966, while South Africa was already independent.
San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, is an enclaved microstate surrounded by Italy, situated on the Italian Peninsula on the northeastern side of the Apennine Mountains. San Marino covers a land area of just over 61 km2 (24 sq mi),... read more It's as beautiful as Italy. The nation has such a clean look. The nation may seem small, but when you cross it, you can see that it isn't that tiny. It took me 1:30 hours to cross the nation. So glad I went there.
The Republic of San Marino is an enclave within Italy.
Vatican City, officially Vatican City State or the State of Vatican City, is a walled enclave within the city of Rome. It is the smallest nation on Earth, and is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. An enclave within the city of Rome, Italy, established in 1929.
Baarle-Hertog is a Flemish municipality in Belgium, much of which consists of a number of small Belgian exclaves in the Netherlands. Imagine how these bits of land look - you can cross four international borders in just four minutes:
"Baarle-Hertog is noted for its complicated borders with Baarle-Nassau, Netherlands. In total, it consists of 24 separate parcels of land. The main division of Baarle-Hertog is Zondereigen (named after its main hamlet), located north of the Belgian town of Merksplas. In addition, there are twenty Belgian exclaves in the Netherlands and three other sections on the Dutch-Belgian border. There are also seven Dutch exclaves within the Belgian exclaves (i.e., counter-exclaves). Six of these Dutch enclaves are located within the largest Belgian enclave, and a seventh is in the second-largest Belgian enclave. An eighth Dutch exclave is located near Ginhoven." - wiki
"Some houses in the town of Baarle-Hertog/Baarle-Nassau are divided between the two countries. At one time, according to Dutch laws, restaurants had to close earlier. For some restaurants on the border, this simply meant that the customers had to move to a table on the Belgian side." - wiki
Naxcivan, also known as Nakhchivan, is a sizable exclave of Azerbaijan in Armenia. To access this exclave from Azerbaijan, you have to cross either Armenia or Iran, both routes being near the dangerous region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
It's a very beautiful Italian municipality entirely surrounded by Switzerland, making it a "true" enclave and exclave of Italy.
How did this happen? In 1798, the canton of Ticino chose to become part of the Swiss Confederation, but this municipality chose to remain part of Lombardy, Italy. This decision was confirmed by a referendum in 1814. Later, Campione d'Italia tried to join Switzerland, but the Swiss refused, not wanting to be drawn into Italian disputes.
So how Italian is Campione d'Italia today? It has a Swiss dialing code, Swiss emergency responders, and uses the Swiss currency, the Swiss Franc.
West Berlin was a West German territory located in the middle of East Germany.
Sokh, also known as So'x, is a large enclave of Uzbekistan in Kyrgyzstan. However, it has a population that is 99% Tajik, with only 1% Kyrgyz, and almost no ethnic Uzbeks.
Hatta is an inland exclave of the emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
A mapping error during the 1783 Treaty of Paris left a chunk of US territory in present-day Canada, then British territory. The map they used misrepresented the lake's location, and the border drawn between the US and what was then British territory created this oddity.
The Newcomers
Ceuta is a Spanish autonomous city in Northern Africa, located in Morocco! Spain erected 6-meter-high fences topped with barbed wire to keep out illegal immigrants from Morocco. At night, these barbed wire fences are lit up and create a beautiful spectacle.
It's a German town entirely surrounded by Switzerland, with a population of about 1,450 inhabitants.