So it starts with a video about Kaliningrad and how 79% of voters voted to leave Russia. It was a small turnout for the poll, but nonetheless, I believe this is important.
This leads me to look it up on wikipedia where it is called a semi-exclave.
I am a geography nerd, but this surprised me that it wouldn’t be seen simply as an exclave.
Quick definition roundup:
- Enclave: Completely surrounded by one other territory
- Exclave: Physically detached from the rest of its territory
- Semi-enclave: Would be fully contained by another except for a sea border to international waters.
- Pene-exclave: a piece of territory which borders another territory by land, and is connected to the rest of its territory by only water.
- Pene-enclave: The only way in or out except by ship is through one other country.
Then we run into an interesting definition on the Wikipedia page, List of enclaves and exclaves:
Therefore, Vinokurov applies a quantitative principle: the land boundary must be longer than the coastline.
This definition is interesting, and then we can go measure the land boundary of every exclave in the world. But the problem becomes when we measure the length of the coastline. Coastlines are fractals, and the length of any fractal is infinity. If we accept this definition, there cannot be any semi-exclaves in the world. The definition is completely non-nonsensical.
So we must disregard this, and come up with a more reasonable definition:
Semi-enclaves definition still works, a territory that borders only one other territory and international water. There are five obvious contenders at the national level:
- Brunei
- Gambia
- Monaco
- Portugal
- Ireland
Canada used to follow this definition until they drew a land border with Denmark on Hans Island.
I think we should however remove the idea of a semi-exclave. Every country counting as a semi-exclave is an exclave.
I propose a better definition: an exclave is any territory where one cannot draw a continuous line back to the capitol of the territory without leaving that territory. The capital cannot be an exclave. If they are connected via the national EEZ, then the territory in question is not an exclave.
There is such a thing as a practical exclave, such as Point Roberts, Washington, but one can travel between Point Roberts and Bellingham via a boat while staying in American territory, so it is not an exclave.
For this, we can rewrite the list using this more robust definition:
Exclaves which are not enclaves:
- Cabinda, Angola
- Kaliningrad, Russia
- Rio Muni, Equatorial Guinea
- French Guiana, France
Enclaves that are also exclaves: (fully surrounded by the territory of another country, even if part of it is a maritime border, you need to cross the sovereignty of another country before you reach international waters)
- Gibraltar
Semi-enclaves that are also exclaves: (no maritime connection to home country, only one land border with one other territory at the same level)
- Kokkina/Erenkoy, Cyprus/Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
- Oecusse, East Timor
- Musandam, Oman
- Melilla, Spain
- Alaska, USA
Semi-enclaves that are also pene-exclaves: (usually means you can get back to the capital while staying in domestic waters)
- Temburong District, Brunei
- Ras Doumera, Eritrea
- Ceuta, Spain
- Point Roberts, Washington
- St. Regis-Quebec
- Campobello Island, New Brunswick
- Magallanes Region, Chile
- Tornio, Finland
Pene-exclaves which are not enclaves:
- Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Croatia
Pene-enclaves which are also exclaves:
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon, France
These definitions make a lot more sense to me and are a lot more descriptive. Sovereignty of course does not end at the coast, and countries have every right to forbid the transit of specific goods across their maritime territory. For that reason, I believe Gibraltar is an enclave despite bordering the Strait of Gibraltar, given how it is completely surrounded by Spanish territory.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon is an interesting case. It has no land connection to Canada, but there is a ferry. There is no direct flight back to France. While one could take a boat to France and never enter Canadian territory, there is no reason to do so. For all practical purposes, Saint Pierre and Miquelon is an enclave of Canada for travelers, so it deserves its own category. I believe Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is the only place in the world like this, where not only is every convenient way back to the capital city through one other country, but is also a true exclave.
Hope this makes sense.