International borders can be very complicated. I showed this in a previous video of mine.
But there are still plenty more complex international borders in the world...
Like last time, I'm going to start by looking at enclaves and exclaves. The first complex
border is between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The first and most obvious irregularity is that Azerbaijan has a large exclave. Although
it's not an enclave because it borders more than one country.
But there's also 3 smaller exclaves of Azerbaijan, all of which are enclaves, as they're completely
surrounded by Armenia. Contrasting this, there's also one exclave of Armenia, enclaved within
Azerbaijan.
However, since the 2 countries were at war back in the early 90's. The enclaves effectively
no longer exist, since they're controlled by the opposite country.
But things get more complicated when we talk about the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. A self-declared
independent country within Azerbaijan with virtually no international recognition.
But how did all this happen?
Well.. both of these countries were part of the former Soviet Union. And Joseph Stalin
really liked messing with international borders, creating enclaves and exclaves... and splitting
countries up. Some have suggested this was to implement a tactic known as 'divide and
conquer', to split power up and not let any one country have too much power.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is based off of original Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
creating during the Soviet Union to be part of Azerbaijan, despite have a population that
was 99% ethnic Armenian.
Tensions were kept under control while both countries were part of the Soviet Union, but
fighting started between the countries in the late 80's, and by the time the Soviet
Union collapsed, they were at all-out war with each other.
Upon independence, Azerbaijan removed the automous government and split the land between
the neighbouring provinces. A decision that was extremely unpopular among the residents,
who wanted to either become an independent nation, or join Armenia.
Today, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic controls most (but not all) the land that used to be
the autonomous oblast, they also control parts of Azerbaijan that were not part of the oblast.
So there's parts of land they claim, but don't control. And parts of land they control, but
didn't originally claim.
Yet more proof of Joseph Stalin messing with international borders are the enclaves and
exclaves of the 3 bordering countries of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. 3 more former
Soviet states.
In total there are: 2 exclaves of Tajikistan in Kyrgyzstan
1 exclave of Tajikistan in Uzbekistan, and... 4 exclaves of Uzbekistan in Kyrgyzstan.
There's one de facto enclave, the village of Barak. Which, legally, is just a Kyrgz
village within Kyrgyzstan, but the surrounding area has been controlled by Uzbekistan since
1999, and dispite only being 1.5 km from the mainland, the 1,000 or so people living there
are unable to leave their village due to road blockades.
The smallest of these enclaves is about 0.8 square kilometres. About the size of 100 football
pitches. The largest of these enclaves, is an exclave of Uzbekistan, enclaved by Kyrgyzstan...
with a population that is 99% from Tajikistan.
Now for even more enclaves, over to Europe. In the first video, I looked at the insanely
complex border between the Netherlands and Belgium in the interlocking municipalities
of Baarle-Nassua and Baarle-Hertog. But Belgium has even more enclaves, with one of its other
neighbours - Germany.
There are 5 exclaves of Germany awkwardly cut off from the mainland by a Belgian train-track
- the Vennbahn, which is no longer in use.
In certain parts, the exclaves are so close, they're only seperated by as little as 10
metres of Belgian land.
The smallest of these exclaves, at just 1.6 hectares, contains just one house with a large
garden.
But as well as these exclaves, Germany also has one more, enclaved within Switzerland.
This small German town of about 1,500 residents falls within the Swiss customs territory,
and although the legal currency is the Euro, the Swiss Franc is much more commonly used.
A very similar situation to Campione d'Italia of Italy, from part one.
So to sum up all the enclaves and exclaves of Europe that I've covered... there are several
exclaves of Belgium within the Netherlans, as well as several exclaves of the Netherlands
within Belgium. But Belgium also has exclaves of Germany within its borders, and in turn,
Germany has another an exclave within Switzerland, while Switzerland also has part of Italy within
its borders and Italy, has two entire countries enclaved within its borders.
And believe it or not, there are still more enclaves and exclaves around the world that
I've not looked at... but moving on...
...to disputed borders. These are the borders between India, Pakistan, and China.
There are border disputes between India and China, and between India and Pakistan. But
no border disputes between China and Pakistan - who have very good international relations.
Most of the disputed land is what used to be the Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu
before the partition of India in 1947.
At this time, British India was divided into 2 independent countries: India and Pakistan.
But much of India was made up of Princely states, not under direct British rule, but
had their own governments.
These governments had a choice of which country to join. Or they could chose to remain independent.
The division was mostly a religious split, with Pakistan being predominantly Muslim,
and India being predominantly Hindu.
2 Princely states chose to remain independent after 1947. Kashmir & Jammu, as well Hyderabad.
Not wanting a large country enclaved within its borders though, India quickly and forcibly
annexed Hyderabad.
Kashmir & Jammu was a little more complicated though. The state had a population that was
about 3 quarters Muslim, but a Hindu Maharaja as its leader. Most of the population wanted
to join Pakistan, but the Maharaja wanted to remain independent.
This decision was very unpopular with Pakistan, and Pakistani tribesmen attacked Kashmir and
Jammu in an attempt to take control of the land.
The Maharaja asked India for military assistance, but India were unwilling to help as it was
not part of India. The Maharaja quickly and reluctantly accepted accession to India, and
the military moved in to defend the land.
A cease-fire was called, but war started up again in 1971 when India helped Bangladesh
in their war for independence.
After just 13 days of war, another cease-fire was called as East Pakistan became the newly
independent country of Bangladesh. And the United Nations established the 'Line of Control',
a line that should not be crossed by either side, creating a de facto international border.
The line however, did not go all the way to the border with China, leaving the remaining
area undefined. The glacier area is claimed by both India and Pakistan.
The 'Line of Control' though, should not be confused with the 'Line of Actual Control',
The cease-fire line and de facto international border between India and China.
India and China fought in a brief one month war in 1962 over disagreements about where
exactly the border between the 2 countries was. Decisive victory for China left them
in control of all the land they claim.
So... India still claims the former state of Kashmir and Jammu in its entirety. Pakistan
controls the area on its side of the Line of Control. Pakistan also claims the former
state in it entirety expect for the parts of land claimed by China.
There was time when this area was claimed by all 3 countries, but Pakistan ceded the
land to China in order to maintain friendly relations. Of course this is still claimed
by India.
Now, in my last video I talked about the only unclaimed land on Earth... but it seemed that
wasn't entirely true, as they is a little bit more unclaimed land...
If we look at the border between Croatia and Serbia. Back when border between the 2 countries
was established, the border was set as the river Danube. However, over the years the
meandering river Danube has changed quite considerably since then and is now very different
from what it used to be.
Croatia claims the border is where it always has been, and that the river's movement does
not change the border. Serbia disagrees, saying that when both countries became independent
from Yugoslavia, the border should have been redrawn to the current position of the river.
Legally, the border is the river's original, and is dicpicted this way on map. This corresponds
with Croatia's claim. However, in terms of actual control, it corresponds with Serbia's
claim, at the river's current position.
This causes an interesting situation where there several parts of land claimed by both
Croatia and Serbia, although controlled by Serbia. But then there's also 4 parts of land
technically claimed by neither side, 3 of which are less than 1 square kilometre.
This border actually cuts through a street, and several houses, but in reality they're
just regular Croatian houses. Because although technically no-one claims the land, it's controlled
and administered by Croatia.
Sticking with the Croatia... to the opposite side of the country, and their border with
Slovenia. This bizzare situation where land ownership pre-dates international borders
has several houses straddeling the border, most of which are in Slovenia.
What makes this even stranger is that although Slovenia and Croatia are both members of the
European Union, only Slovenia is a member of Schengen Area.
Croatia is legally bound to join the Schengen Area at some point in the future, but at present
the border is actually enforced by the police.
But perhaps the most unusual thing about this border is the way it seemingly arbitrarily
zig-zags through the forrest.
Of course, there's also less complex examples of border irregularities... like this mildly
interesting example of the border between Sweden and Finland.
The reason the border is like this, is because Finland built a lighthouse on the west side
of the island before the border had been properly surveyed. When it was, it was revealed that
the lighthouse was actually on the Swedish side of the border. So, the border was changed
in order to put the Finnish lighthouse within Finland. But not wanting to simply give away
their land, it was swapped for an equally sized part of Finland.
And there's more complex international border left, I've not talked about all the enclaves
and exclaves in the world - there's just too many.
Well, that's all for the second part of The Most Complex International Borders in the
World, and be sure to watch part 1 if you havn't already.
Thanks for watching!