I don’t know how it works, Aro. I imagine that in the days before the EU and the Schengen Agreement it was even more of a headache. These days, with the free-and-easy borders in Europe, it probably doesn’t present too much of a headache. I still want to go there!
(Incidentally, on a vaguely related note (?) this chap has found a hotel where the French/Swiss border runs right through the room (and, he claims, through the double bed…))
Between 1947 and whenever Bangladesh got its independence, ca. 1970, Pakistan was in two large chunks separated by most of India, with the smaller portion having the majority of the population. Likewise, between 1918 and 1939 Germany had East Prussia, separated from the rest of the country by the Polish Corridor and the Free City of Danzig. The United Arab Republic was a union between Egypt and Syria that lasted over a decade, with all of Israel separating the two parts.
Prior to 1871 Germany was a crazy quilt of enclaves, exclaves, and probably autoclaves. Prussia consisted of two large sections separated by a dozen German states. One of the Hesses was IIRC in two pieces with elements of Bavaria and the other Hesse between them. Hamburg was an independent city which also held a port (Cuxhaven) with only water connection between them; on land parts of other states separated them. I believe this was true for Bremen as well – and both hold the same boundaries as lander of present-day Germany. Before Napoleon, Sweden had numerous possessions across the Baltic Sea from the mainland of the country, and Denmark held the southern tip of what’s today Sweden, across the Kattegat from its mainland and islands. And for the short period 1918-1922 Greece held several enclaves on the Aegean Coast of Turkey.
Oman is mostly on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, but includes the tip of the Muharram Peninsula, with the United Arab Emirates separating that piece from the rest of the country.
You could make a case for Turkey – admittedly the Bosphorus and Dardanelles are not wide, but they and the Sea of Marmara separate the country into a small but populous European section and a large Asian section.
Isn’t Turkey separated by the Bosphorus?
Polycarp mention of Germany reminds me (of course) of the status of Berlin during the Cold War.
–Cliffy
Would Northern Ireland fit in here? True, it’s on an island, but so is its boss.
See conversation between yojimbo and Aro earlier on in the thread!
Well, Malaysia’s Eastern portion may be on an island; however, its peninsular portion is on the Asian landmass. Thus: Peninsular Malaysia and Insular Malaysia as geographic terms.
ANY country with a shoreline will most likely be noncontiguous given the various islands of whatever size that happen to be nearby and within its territory.
Still, the OP excludes such obvious cases (“I don’t mean countries who hold claim to islands…”)
St. Martin, which is of itself an intersting case. St. Martin and St. Maarten are one island but one part is controlled by France and the other by the Netherlands.
Is this the smallest island split between two countries?
I can’t think of any other countries.
There is the German Bundesland (I don’t know what they’re called in English, but it’s something that’s not a province and not a state) of Bremen which is in two seperated parts - the city of Bremen and maybe 50km away Bremerhaven, which is on the ocean.
Until 1967 or so, central El Paso, TX had a lump of Mexican territory (Cordova Island or Chamizal)that was surrounded by United States territory.
http://www.texasfreeway.com/elpaso/historic/road_maps/images/1966_elpaso_enco_highres.jpg
God dammit! Sorry, folks. :smack:
Holy crap, that’s cool. This one is my favorite: “Whose cultural center is it?” 
With respect to Baarle-Nassau, it wouldn’t have been a problem even befor the EU. The Netherlands and Belgium have already had a border union (the Benelux, with Luxemburg as well) since 1944. (see the official site, for those who can read Dutch or French).
The Baarle-Nassau official site mentions that all official organizations are in fact available in duplo (such as police, post office etc.).
I think Turkey is a good one. Nobody can argue with that.
No, tanstaafl, there are other, smaller, islands split between countries: