Enclave and exclave

In political geography, an enclave is a territory whose geographical boundaries lie entirely within the boundaries of another territory.

An exclave, on the other hand, is a territory legally or politically attached to another territory with which it is not physically contiguous.

These are two distinct concepts, although many entities fit both definitions. In Fig. 1 at right, C is an exclave of B, and is also an enclave within A. If C were independent it would be an enclave but not an exclave. In Fig. 2 at right, C is again an exclave of B, but is not an enclave, because it has boundaries with more than one entity.

Origin and usage

The word enclave entered the English jargon of diplomacy in 1868. It derives from French, which was then the lingua franca of diplomacy, with a sense inherited from Late Latin inclavatus meaning shut in, locked up (with a key, Latin clavis). The word exclave is a logical extension created three decades later.

Although the meanings of both words are close, an exclave may not necessarily be an enclave or vice versa. For example, Kaliningrad, an exclave of Russia, is not an enclave because it is surrounded not by one state, but by two: Lithuania and Poland; it also borders the Baltic Sea. Conversely, Lesotho is an enclave in South Africa, but it is not politically attached to anything else, meaning that it is not an exclave.

In British administrative history, subnational enclaves were usually called detachments or detached parts. In English ecclesiastic history, subnational enclaves were known as peculiars (see also Royal Peculiar).

A country surrounded by another but having access to the sea is not considered to be an enclave, regardless of size. For this reason Portugal is not an enclave of Spain, and Gambia is not an enclave of Senegal.

Usage in other fields

In medicine, an exclave is a detached part of an organ, as of the pancreas, thyroid, or other gland.

Characteristics

created by the 1947 Partition of India]]

Enclaves may be created for a variety of historical, political or geographical reasons. Some areas have been left as enclaves by changes in the course of a river.

Since living in an enclave can be very inconvenient and many agreements have to be found by both countries over mail addresses, power supply or passage rights, enclaves tend to be eliminated and many cases that existed before have now been removed.

Many exclaves today have an independence movement, especially if the exclave is far away from the mainland.

True enclaves

:See List of enclaves and exclaves. This refers to those territories where a country is sovereign, but which cannot be reached without entering one particular other country. One example was West Berlin, before the reunification of Germany, which was de facto a West German exclave within East Germany, and thus an East German enclave (many small West Berlin land areas, such as Steinstücken, were in turn separated from the main one, some by only a few meters). De jure all of Berlin was ruled by the four Allied powers; this meant that West Berlin could not send voting members to the German Parliament, and that its citizens were exempt from conscription; however, this was not accepted by the East German government or the Soviet Union, which treated East Berlin as an integral part of East Germany. Most of the enclaves now existing are to be found in Asia, with a handful in Africa and Europe. While administrative enclaves are found frequently elsewhere, there are no nation-level enclaves in Australia or the Americas.

Enclaved countries

Some enclaves are countries in their own right, completely surrounded by another one, and therefore not exclaves. Three such sovereign countries exist:

The republic of San Marino, an enclave in Italy

Vatican City, an enclave in the city of Rome, Italy

The Kingdom of Lesotho, an enclave in South Africa.

See also List of countries that border only one other country.

Temporary enclaves

The Scottish Court in the Netherlands, at Camp Zeist near Utrecht, was temporarily declared as sovereign territory of the United Kingdom under Scottish law for the duration of the trial of those accused in the Lockerbie bombing, and was therefore an exclave of the United Kingdom, and of Scotland, and an enclave within the Netherlands. It was also so during the appeal of the man convicted. The court was first convened in 1999, and the land returned to the Netherlands in 2002.

Enclaves and exclaves of the European Union

Several members of the European Union have exclaves that are also exclaves of the European Union. These include the Azores and Madeira (islands belonging to Portugal), the Canary Islands (belonging to Spain); Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Reunion Islands (all islands belonging to France); and Guyane (French territory in South America). This was also previously true of Greenland (an exclave of Denmark), but it is no longer part of the European Union. A number of Spanish exclaves exist on the north African coast, including Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera. The small town of Büsingen is a German (and thus an EU) exclave in Switzerland.

Some members of the European Union, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, and Malta are entirely on islands.

Related constructs and terms

"Practical" enclaves and exclaves and inaccessible districts

Some territories, attached to the motherland by a thin slice of land or territorial water, are more easily accessible by traveling through a foreign country. These territories may be called "practical exclaves" or "pene-exclaves" (example: the Northwest Angle between the United States and Canada, or the Spanish village of Os de Civís, which can only be accessed through the independent Andorra as it is virtually isolated from the rest of Spain by mountains.) American Lane (), in Greenwich, Connecticut, can be accessed only from New York State, because it is separated by Interstate 684 from the remainder of Connecticut.

Conversely, a territory that is an exclave but does not function as one (instead functioning as a contiguous part of the main nation) is deemed a "quasi-exclave".

Subnational enclaves and exclaves

Sometimes, administrative divisions of a country, for historical or practical reasons, caused some areas to belong to a division while being attached to another one. [[Image:Kentucky Bend map.png|thumb|Kentucky Bend and surrounding area ]]

Jervis Bay Territory in Australia is a separate territory but is governed in some but not all administrative respects as an exclave of the Australian Capital Territory.

A strip around the southern edge of the Beecroft Peninsula in Australia is an exclave of the Australian Capital Territory. This area is on the northern side of Jervis Bay, opposite the Jervis Bay Territory mentioned above. However, unlike the Jervis Bay Territory, the Beecroft Peninsula exclave forms part of the Australian Capital Territory for all purposes. Within the exclave, the Point Perpendicular lighthouse and its grounds are an exclave of the State of New South Wales.

The Kentucky Bend exists because of a meander of the Mississippi River.

Dadra, enclaved within the state of Gujarat, part of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in India

Liberty Island and a portion of Ellis Island are exclaves of New York City within the boundaries of Jersey City, and therefore of New York State within the boundaries of New Jersey.

The southern part of the Province of Venice, Veneto, can be reached directly from the rest of the province only by boat. By land it can be reached only travelling through the Province of Padua because territorial continuity with the main part of the province exists only through some unconnected islands and islets.

The Eastern Shore of Virginia is the southern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula. It shares a border with Maryland but is only connected to the rest of Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Before 1974, and especially before 1844, there were many exclaves of counties in England and Wales.

The city of Carter Lake, Iowa is separated from the rest of the state of Iowa by the Missouri river which changed course during a flood in 1877, cutting the city off from the rest of the state and leaving an oxbow lake. It is now only accessible through Omaha, Nebraska.

The counties of Scotland before reorganisation in 1889 included dozens of exclaves. This was especially notable in the case of Cromartyshire, which was split into at least nine parts spread across Ross-shire.

The French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in the south-west of the country, includes two enclaves in its eastern part from its neighbouring department of Hautes-Pyrénées.

Still in France, the Vaucluse department in the south-east has a rather large exclave within the Drôme department: the canton of Valréas (historically known as Enclave des Papes).

Second- and third-order enclaves

It is possible for an enclave to be completely surrounded not by the main body of another country, but by an exclave of it. The Dutch municipality of Baarle-Nassau has seven exclaves in two exclaves of the Belgian municipality of Baarle-Hertog. The complex of enclaves at Cooch Behar district includes 24 second-order enclaves and one small third-order enclave (a piece of India within Bangladesh within India within Bangladesh). There is also Nahwa of the United Arab Emirates, surrounded entirely by an exclave of Oman.

Ethnic enclaves

An ethnic enclave is a community of an ethnic group inside an area in which another ethnic group predominates. Ghettos, Little Italys, barrios and Chinatowns are examples. These areas may have a separate language, culture and economic system. Nagorno-Karabakh is arguably an ethnic enclave. It is a predominantly ethnic Armenian area inside Azerbaijan. The Nagorno-Karabakh War which lasted from 1988 to 1994 resulted in the area self-proclaiming its independence, but this has never been recognized by the international community, which tends to describe the current situation as a frozen conflict.

Extraterritoriality

Embassies and military bases are usually exempted from the jurisdiction of the host country, i.e., the laws of the host nation in which an embassy is located do not typically apply to the land of the embassy or base itself. This exemption from the jurisdiction of the host country is defined as extraterritoriality. Areas of extraterritoriality are not true enclaves as they are still part of the host country. In addition to embassies, some other areas have extraterritoriality.

Examples of this include:

Pavillon de Breteuil in France, used by the General Conference on Weights and Measures.

United Nations headquarters in the United States of America, used by the United Nations.

INTERPOL headquarters in Lyon, France, used by INTERPOL

NATO (political) headquarters near Evere in Haren, a part of the City of Brussels, Belgium.

Headquarters Allied Command Operations (NATO) at the area designated as Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), North of Mons, Belgium

Palazzo Malta, the headquarters of Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta in Rome.

Properties of the Holy See.

Moldauhafen, a lot in the harbour of Hamburg leased for a period of 99 years to the Czech Republic

Saimaa Canal: the part in Russia is leased by Finland. Russian law is in principle valid, but in reality Finland maintains the area.

Land ceded to a foreign country

Some areas of land in a country are owned by another country and in some cases it has special privileges, such as being exempt from taxes. These lands are not enclaves and do not have extraterritoriality.

Examples of this include: Napoleon's original grave in Longwood, Saint Helena, ceded to France. Victor Hugo's house in St Peter Port, Guernsey, ceded to the city of Paris. The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Normandy, France, which contains the graves of 9,386 American military dead, most of whom died during the landings and ensuing operations of World War II, ceded to the United States of America. About of land that surrounds the Suvorov memorial near Göschenen in central Switzerland, ceded to Russia. The Vimy Memorial in France, which commemorates the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The French government permanently ceded a land area of about 1 km² to Canada as a war memorial in 1922 in recognition of Canada's military contributions in World War I in general and at Vimy Ridge in particular. Numerous Commonwealth WW I cemeteries in Belgium, of which the territory is ceded to the respective country. The land under the John F. Kennedy memorial at Runnymede, United Kingdom. Land ceded to the United States of America by the John F. Kennedy Memorial Act 1964. Two cemeteries on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the United States of America ceded to the United Kingdom. Both contain the graves of British sailors killed in U-Boat attacks during World War II. of land at Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii, United States of America, the place where James Cook was killed in 1779, is ceded to the United Kingdom. Tihuinza in Peru. Land ceded to Ecuador without sovereignty. A portion of the CERN campus in France along the French-Swiss border, administered by Switzerland.

National railway passing through foreign territory

Changes in borders can make a railway that was previously located solely within a country traverse the new borders. Since railways are much more expensive than roads to rebuild to avoid this problem, the criss-cross arrangement tends to last a long time. With passenger trains this may mean that doors on carriages are locked and guarded to prevent illicit entry and exit while the train is temporarily in another country.

Borders can also be in the "wrong" place, forcing railways into difficult terrain.

Border changes

Examples include:

Salzburg to Innsbruck (Austria) (passes Rosenheim, Germany). A railway line within Austria exists as well, but trains take about 1.5 hours longer than across German territory.

Trains from Neugersdorf, Saxony to Zittau pass Czech territory at Varnsdorf, while Czech trains from Varnsdorf to Chrastava pass through German territory at Zittau, and then a small part of Polish territory near the village of Porajów.

Trains from Görlitz to Zittau, Germany, pass the border river Neisse several times (see Oder-Neisse line); the train station for Ostritz, Germany, lies in Krzewina Zgorzelecka, Poland.

Belgrade - Bar railway crosses into Bosnia and Herzegovina for , between stations Zlatibor and Priboj (both in Serbia). There is one station, Štrpci, but there are no border crossing facilities and trains do not call at the station.

The local trains on the Burgenlandbahn in Austria cross the area of Hungary at Sopron. During the era of the Iron Curtain, the trains had their doors locked as they traversed Hungarian territory.

The line from Ventimiglia to Limone Piemonte, Italy, via Breil-sur-Roya, France.

The Hochrheinbahn (Upper Rhine Railway) from Basel via Waldshut to Schaffhausen is part of the Deutsche Bahn network, and is mostly in Germany, but the two ends are in Switzerland and it is only connected with the rest of the German railway network via Switzerland. At both Basel and Schaffhausen the railway has extraterritorial status, it is possible to travel by train to and from the rest of Germany without going through Swiss customs. See Basel Badischer Bahnhof.

Similarly, during the Cold War, underground lines in West Berlin ran under parts of East Berlin. Ghost stations () were stations on Berlin's U-Bahn and S-Bahn metro networks that were closed during this period of Berlin's division.

The Belgian Vennbahn (now closed) lies on a narrow strip of Belgian territory running through Germany, creating five German exclaves.

The railway between France and Monaco briefly leaves France to enter Monaco before entering France once more. This takes place underground for around 150 metres.

The former Soviet Central Asian Republics have numerous examples.

Semikhody - Chernihiv line of Ukraine passes through Belarus territory. Druzhba - Vorozhba line of Ukraine passes through Russian territory.

Border shifts

Also, borders have occasionally been shifted for the purpose of avoiding this sort of arrangement. The best-known example is the Gadsden Purchase, in which the United States bought land from Mexico on which it was planned to build a southern route for the transcontinental railroad. Owing to the topography of the area, acquisition of the land was the only feasible way to construct such a railroad through the southern New Mexico Territory.

Highway of one state passing through another state's territory

This arrangement is less common as highways are more easily re-aligned as noted above. Examples include: Congo Pedicle road: built to provide access for Zambia's Luapula Province to the Copperbelt through of territory of the DR Congo, requiring a change in driving on the left to driving on the right.

Between 1963 and 2002 the N274 road from Roermond to Heerlen, part of Dutch territory, passed through the German Selfkant, which had been annexed by the Netherlands after the Second World War but returned to Germany in 1963.

Road 402 between Podsabotin and Solkan in Slovenia, built when Slovenia was a state of Yugoslavia, passes through part of Italy. The road is confined by high concrete walls topped by fences; as Slovenia and Italy are now both signatories to the Schengen agreement, the barriers are little more than historical curiosities.

Interstate 684, connecting various points in New York State, passes through Connecticut but cannot be entered or exited there and is maintained entirely by New York State, even though a portion is owned by Connecticut. A portion of New York State Route 17 passes through Pennsylvania but is maintained entirely by New York State.

Border infrastructure

Several bridges cross the rivers Oder and Neisse between Germany and Poland. To avoid needing to coordinate their efforts on a single bridge, the two states assign each bridge to one or the other; thus Poland is responsible for all maintenance on some of the bridges, including the German side, and vice versa.

The Hallein Salt Mine crosses from Austria into Germany. Under an 1829 treaty Austria can dig under the then-Kingdom of Bavaria. In return some salt has to be given to Bavaria, and up to 99 of its citizens can be hired to work in the Austrian mine.

Neighbourly cooperation

The new Tijuana International Airport south of San Diego airport is a cooperative affair between the relevant states of the United States and Mexico. The runway, control tower, emergency services and the like are shared, but passengers and freight are handled at separate facilities north and south of the runway(s).

See also

Flagpole annexation

Landlocked

Panhandle

Precinct

Extraterritorial

Lists:

List of enclaves and exclaves

List of foreign enclaves in China

List of countries that border only one other country

List of named ethnic enclaves in North American cities

List of sets of four countries that border one another

Notes

References

External links

Rolf Palmberg's Enclaves of the world

Jan S. Krogh's Geosite

Rob Robinson's Enclaves Site

exclave.info

'Tangled Territories' 2005 review article on exclaves and enclaves in Europe published in hidden europe magazine

Barry Smith's Baarle Site