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Weird Borders – Enclaves and Exclaves

Weird Borders with Enclaves and Exclaves

Discover some of the weirdest borders cities and areas around the world have known as enclaves or exclaves.

You might have heard that one country has a city or territory inside another country, or even on another continent, these weird borders are called either enclaves or exclaves.

And enclave is when a terrority of one country is completely surrounded by another country, and an exclave is when a territory is separate from its state and is only partially surrounded by another state.

We’ll give you some examples:

Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Located in southern Spain, Gibraltar is a British overseas territory. Situated at the Mediterranean Sea, it mostly depends on the EU single market for trade, but its future is unsure after the United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union.

Melilla

Melilla

This Spanish city is not very far from mainland Spain, but it happens to be on a different continent. Across the Mediterranean Sea, sitting just at the coast of Morocco lives some 80,000 Spaniards.

Alaska

Alaska

Despite being the largest US state by area, Alaska lies just across the border beyond Canada. It is the most northwest extremity of North America, and shares a maritime border with Russia. It was purchased by the United States from the Russian Empire in 1867 for $7.2 million or $1.8 billion in 2016.

French Guiana

French Guiana

Although it is mostly known as Guiana, French Guiana is not in Europe, nor further down in Africa, but in South America. It borders Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west, and is inhabited by only quarter of a million people.

Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad

You will hear about this Russian territory very soon, for it will be hosting a few FIFA 2018 World Cup matches. But what makes this city special is that it is situated in Germany. Since it had no German population after the fall of East Germany and the USSR, it was claimed by Russia.

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