This question was inspired by the recent storming of the Spanish embassy in China by North Korean refugees.
The U.S. has embassies in virtually every nation in the world, except for those with whom we do not have diplomatic relations (Iraq, Cuba), and a few small African and island nations that share an embassy with a neighboring country.
Do all countries have this many embassies? I’m sure the big ones do, but I can’t imagine that they all do. Does Uruguay have an embassy in Nepal? Does Tanzania have one in Luxembourg? I highly doubt it.
So, for my follow up question, what determines how many embassies countries have and where they stick them?
No, they don’t most smaller countries only have embassies in other closer countries. They might have a concel (spelled wrong) or an offical representive though.
efrem is correct. Even many medium-sized countries like Australia will often share diplomatic services with other nations. We do this a lot with Canada, especially for consulates in major cities (embassies are only in capital cities, and in most cases Australia and Canada will maintain their own). If you need diplomatic help in a smaller city of a million people or so, and you come from any but the biggest nations, you might find yourself visiting the private home an honorary consul who may be anybody who is a respected person in the community (a doctor or dentist, etc). They will only be able to provide limited assistance.
I know that in some countries, Australia uses the Canadian embassy. That is, in the list of embassies in the back of my passport, there is a separate list of countries (only a couple) where it says that embassy services for Australian citizens will be provided by the Canadians. Not having my passport on me at work, I’m not sure what they are.
Just checking Uruguay’s government websites, I discovered that Uruguay has neither an embassy in Nepal nor an honorary consul.
There is one who covers India, but he has no phone number or address listed. Just an e-mail.
Attention Uruguayans, be careful when you are in Nepal! Of course that goes for anyone as Nepal is not the safest place to visit right now anyway.
A country can have an “embassy” to a country without having a resident ambassador. For instance, Malta has a resident ambassador in Washington who is also the (non-resident) ambassador to Canada.
In a lot of places, a businessman from the home country will also act as the official representative and/or ambassador. You see this all the time, especially in non capital cities.
As TheLoadedDog points out, the Ambassador from a country has his office in the Embassy, which is AFAIK always close to the seat of power for the nation in which it’s established. (I’m amused that it seems the Irish Embassy uses Sympatico as their email provider. At least they probably have DSL. :D)
“I suspect Chad probably doesnt have too many embassies.”
Not too many. I count 22: Algeria, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Benin, Cameroun, RCA, China, Congo (Brazzavile), Congo (Kinshasa), Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Iraq, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, the U.N., Russia, Sudan, U.S.A., Benelux and the E.U.,
Diplomatic relations are affairs of state, so the embassy is generally in the city where the head of state or the executive/administrative branch is based. Thus Pretoria rather than Bloemfontein or Cape Town, and La Paz rather than Sucre.
“What about countries with multiple capitals, like Bolivia or South Africa?”
The embassy is wherever the ambassador is so technically the embassy moves when he does. The embassy office (or building housing the office) is often called “the embassy” but it is really the chancery (or chancellery).
I believe that in South Africa pretty much everyone connected with the embassy remains in Pretoria all year but I wouldn’t be surprised if the ambassador and some of his staff spend some time in Capetown when the South African government moves there.
Many countries have “interests sections” in other embassies (known as “protecting power” embassies) especially in cases where there are no official diplomatic embassies.
For instance, while there is no U.S. Embassy in Havana, there is a sort of embassy for the United States in the Swiss embassy. Likewise I believe Cuba once had a similar arrangement with the Czech(oslovak) embassy in Washington. But lately, I don’t believe that relations between the Czech Republic and Cuba are all that warm, so possibly that arrangement has changed. Also in Iraq, the Polish Embassy in Baghdad sometimes handles what little diplomacy there is between the U.S. and Iraq.
Plus, within the Commonwealth, the countries which have QEII as their head of state do not send embassies to each other, since there is no point in the same head of state sending an ambassador to herself in another country.
Instead, the monarchical Commonwealth countries send a “High Commissioner” to each other, who functions just like an ambassador. So, Canada sends a High Commissioner to Commonwealth countries like the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, for whom Liz is the head of state, and an ambassador to Commonwealth countries like South Africa and India, which have their own presidents.
