Enclaves IV: Europe

Part I: Enclaves and Exclaves | Part II: The Caucasus | Part III: The Fergana Valley

Although it may thusfar seem that only far-flung and troubled regions are home to many enclaves, Europe, in fact, has many. However,surely to your disappointment, there aren’t any border clashes, drug smuggling or international terrorists taking advantage of them. Nevertheless, there are no shortage of them:

Austria: The Austrian municipality of Jungholz is located southeast of the German town of Kempten. Apart from a single point connection to the rest of Austria, Jungholz is completely surrounded by German territory.

Belgium: Baarle is located in the Netherlands, south of the town of Breda. Parts of the town are Belgian [forming the municipality of Baarle-Hertog] and parts are Dutch [forming the municipality of Baarle-Nassau]. Baarle-Hertog comprises 22 different enclaves that are all surrounded by Dutch territory.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnia has one exclave, Sastavci, located in Serbia and Montenegro. Below is a map of a piece of Croatia which includes the city of Dubrovnik, that is cut off from the rest of the country by Bosnia which has a very small stretch of coast. As it has access to open waters, it is not an enclave though however, is an exclave.

Cyprus: The two Cypriot villages of Ormidhia and Xylotimbou are each surrounded by territory that belongs to the British Sovereign Base Area of Dhekelia. A British road divides the Cypriot territory of Dhekelia Power Station into a northern part [that lies completely within the boundaries of the British Sovereign Base Area of Dhekelia] and a southern part [that is surrounded by British land as well as British territorial waters], thus creating a third and a fourth Cypriot exclave

Germany: There are six German exclaves. One of them is the German town of Büsingen in north Switzerland. The five remaining exclaves are Munsterbildchen, Rötgener Wald, Rückschlag, Mützenich and Ruitzhof. These exclaves are created by a Belgian railway track [the Vennbahn] that cuts into German territory around and between the German towns of Rötgen and Monschau south of Aachen.

Italy: The Italian town Campione d’Italia is located on the shore of Lake Lugano in Switzerland. Italy also contains two enclaved countries, San Marino and Holy See. Below is a map of Vatican City, whose walls make up its international boundary.

Netherlands: The town of Baarle is located in the Netherlands, sout of the town of Breda. Parts of the town are Dutch [forming the municipality of Baarle-Nassau] and parts are Belgian. Baarle-Nassau comprises eight different enclaves, six of which are embodied in the central Baarle-Hertog enclave. The seventh enclave is embodied in the Oordeel exclave in Baarle-Hertog, whereas the eighth enclave, Vossenberg, is located in Belgium proper, northwest of Ginhoven just south of the border.

Spain: The Spanish town of Llivia is located in southern France, east of the Principality of Andorra. The towns Ceuta and Melilla on the north coast of Morocco are reachable by international waters but not Spain making them coastal fragments.

Russia: The two village Russian exclave of San’kovo-Medvezh’e is located in Belarus, halfway between the Belorussian city of Dobrus and the Russian city of Novozybkov. Kaliningrad, located between Poland and Lithuania, was formerly Prussian, became a German exclave after WWI and after WWII a Russian exclave. Below is a map of San’kovo-Medvezh’e.

Next up: The rest of the world and final notes, maps and information.