Enclave and exclave
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C is A's enclave and B's exclave. |
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D is B's exclave, but is not an enclave. |
In
political geography, an
enclave is a piece of land which is totally surrounded by a foreign territory, and an
exclave is one which is politically attached to a larger piece but not actually contiguous with it. Many entities are both enclaves and exclaves, but the two are not synonymous.
(In medicine, an
exclave is a detached part of an organ, as of the pancreas, thyroid, or other gland.)
The word
enclave crept into the
jargon of
diplomacy rather late in
English, in 1868, coming from
French, the
lingua franca of
diplomacy, with a sense inherited from late
Latin inclavatus meaning 'shut in, locked up" (with a key, late 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. For example,
Kaliningrad, an exclave of
Russia, is surrounded not by one state, but by two:
Lithuania and
Poland; it also borders the
Baltic Sea. On the other hand,
Lesotho is an enclave in
South Africa, but it isn't politically attached to anything else.
Enclaves may be created for a variety of
historical,
political or
geographical reasons. Some areas have been left as enclaves simply due to 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.
In
British administrative history, subnational enclaves were usually called
detachments. In
English ecclesiastic history, subnational enclaves were known as
peculiars (see also
Royal Peculiar).
Many exclaves today have an
independence movement, especially if the exclave is far away from the mainland.
This refers to those territories where a country is sovereign, but which cannot be reached without entering another country. The best-known 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.
Most of the enclaves now existing are to be found in Asia, with a handful in other continents. See
List of enclaves and exclaves.
The life in such areas varies greatly from one to another. Whereas in modern times European enclaves are usually legally well defined and their population is often free to move from one country to another, Asian enclaves often result from disagreement over border treaties. This causes their inhabitants to be at worst enclosed inside, at best seriously impaired in their usual life.
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, enclaved within
Italy*
Vatican City, within the city of
Rome, in Italy
* The Kingdom of
Lesotho, embedded inside
South AfricaSee also
List of countries that border only one other country.
See
List of enclaves and exclaves.
Some territories, while not geographically detached from their motherland, are more easily reached by entering a foreign country, because of their location in a hilly area, or because the only road available enters that foreign place before coming back to the mother country. These territories may be called "practical exclaves," "pene-exclaves" or "quasi-exclaves" and can be found along many borders, particularly those that are not heavily defended. They will only be attached to the motherland via an extremely small or thin slice of land.
Sometimes, administrative divisions of a country, due to historical or practical reasons, caused some areas to belong to a division while being attached to another one. For numerous examples, see
List of enclaves and exclaves.
Ethnic enclaves are communities of an ethnic group inside an area where another ethnic group predominates. Jewish ghettos and
shtetls,
barrios and
Chinatowns are examples. These areas may have a separate language, culture and economic system.
Embassies and military bases are usually exempted from the jurisdiction of the host country, i.e., the laws of the host nation the embassy is in 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.
*
NATO (political) headquarters in the
Evere area of
Brussels,
Belgium.
* Headquarters
Allied Command Operations (
NATO) at the area designated as
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), North of
Mons,
Belgium* The headquarters of
Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, in Rome used by the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta.
* Some 13 buildings in the city of
Rome outside of the
Vatican - used by The
Holy See.
* Turkish Cemetery also known as "Türk's Tomb" (Turkish: Türk Mezarı) in
Syria is the grave of
Suleyman Shah (Turkish: Süleyman Şah). He was father of
Ertuğrul, who was in turn, the father of
Osman I, the founder of the
Ottoman Empire. The land is ceded to
Turkey by the Treaty of Ankara signed between her and
France on 20 October 1921. Turkey has the right to have a squad/section of the army and to hoist the Turkish flag.
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
World War II Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Normandy,
France which contains the graves of 9,386 American military dead, most of whom gave their lives during the landings and ensuing operations of World War II, ceded to the
United States of America.
* About 24 m² 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.
* The land under the
John F. Kennedy memorial at
Runnymede, United Kingdom. Land ceded to the
United States of America.
* Two cemeteries on North Carolina's Outer Banks ceded to Great Britain. Both contain the graves of British sailors killed in U-Boat attacks during World War II.
*
List of enclaves and exclaves*
Panhandle*
Flagpole annexation*
Landlocked*
List of countries that border only one other country*
List of named ethnic enclaves in North American cities*
European Enclaves in ChinaChanges in borders can make a railway that was previously located solely within a country criss-cross 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 momentarily in another country.
Examples include:
*
Ireland/
Northern Ireland - defunct
* ex
Soviet Union Central Asia.
*
Salzburg to
Innsbruck (
Austria) (passes
Rosenheim,
Germany)
* 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.
*
Wien to
Innsbruck - the straightest route for a high speed line would pass in tunnel under a "knob" of German Territory.
*
Rolf Palmberg's Enclaves of the world*
Provence Hideaways Enclave des Papes
*
Jan S. Krogh's Geosite*
exclave.info*
'Tangled Territories' 2005 review article on exclaves and enclaves in Europe published in hidden europe magazine
