# Countries that are totally landlocked by ONE other country

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-that-are-totally-landlocked-by-one-other-country/467199>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 9, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-that-are-totally-landlocked-by-one-other-country/467199 "2008-10-09T17:56:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-that-are-totally-landlocked-by-one-other-country/467199/41 "2008-10-12T16:31:52Z")

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There used to be an Orange Free State landlocked in South Africa.

> **[Orange Free State](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Free_State)**
>
> The Orange Free State (Dutch: Oranje Vrijstaat;\[a\] Afrikaans: Oranje-Vrystaat;\[b\]) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province.
> Extending between the Orange and Vaal rivers, its borders were determined...

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-that-are-totally-landlocked-by-one-other-country/467199/42 "2008-10-12T19:21:34Z")

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> [@Enola\_Straight](#):
>
> There used to be an Orange Free State landlocked in South Africa.  
> [Orange Free State - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Free_State)

Nope, doesn’t qualify. During the period it was an independent republic, it bordered the Transvaal, which in turn bordered Mozambique (and also Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, now Zimbabwe and Malawi… but they were British, same as South Africa, at the time).

I think a couple of the “Bantustans” under the old apartheid South Africa government were surrounded by South Africa – but nobody recognized them as independent except South Africa.

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**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-that-are-totally-landlocked-by-one-other-country/467199/43 "2008-10-12T20:13:43Z")

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> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> AFAIK, Ontario has no dry-land border with the U.S., though some of the water bodies that together comprise the border are rivers that are relatively easily bridged. (Going downstream, they are Rainy River, Lake Superior, Sault Ste, Marie, Lake Huron, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, Lake Erie, Niagara River, Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence River.)

I feel the Northwest Angle deserves some mention here, so the bodies of water ought to start with Lake of the Woods. (For those who don’t know, the Northwest Angle is a bit of the US inaccessible by land without crossing the border, but not an island. It’s connected by land to Manitoba, but not Ontario).

> [@](#):
>
> I thought it was technically just a principality, not an actual country?
> 
> Not that I have any freakin’ clue what the difference is…

There’s also the term [Princely State](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princely_state), which was used in British India for non-sovereign regions that had limited autonomy.

edit : Some of the Princely States were also landlocked in this way (e.g. Kashmir).

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**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-that-are-totally-landlocked-by-one-other-country/467199/44 "2008-10-12T22:42:00Z")

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> [@panamajack](#):
>
> There’s also the term [Princely State](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princely_state), which was used in British India for non-sovereign regions that had limited autonomy.
> 
> edit : Some of the Princely States were also landlocked in this way (e.g. Kashmir).

Kashmir actually shares a border with China, so even counting the present territory of Pakistan and India as being one country under the Raj, it wouldn’t be landlocked in the same way that the Vatican or Lesotho are. However, along those lines, had [Hyderabad](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad_State) become independent, it would have been completely surrounded by India.

Edit: Kashmir also has a small border with Afghanistan.

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