# What single place has been part of most different countries? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 17, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065 "2014-01-17T15:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zapp\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ee59a6/32.png) [@Zapp\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zapp_S)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/21 "2014-01-17T22:10:48Z")
Uzhhorod in Ukraine was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1900, after the First World War became part of Czechoslovakia, in 1938 part of Hungary, in 1945 part of the Soviet Union and finally in 1991 part of sovereign Ukraine. EDIT: what a coincidence ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/22 "2014-01-17T22:29:23Z")
From 1841 to 1949 (slightly over a century) Bethlehem was in Egypt, Ottoman Empire, Palestine, Jordan and Israel. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/23 "2014-01-17T22:36:04Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > From 1841 to 1949 (slightly over a century) Bethlehem was in Egypt, Ottoman Empire, Palestine, Jordan and Israel. British Mandate as well, depending on how you slice it? Good one, either way. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/24 "2014-01-17T23:40:59Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > British Mandate as well, depending on how you slice it? Good one, either way. Yeah, the British Mandate of Palestine, between the Ottomans and Jordan. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/25 "2014-01-17T23:46:45Z")
Nice one, Zapp S! Great minds think alike. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/26 "2014-01-17T23:49:19Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Most if not all of Texas was part of the Second Mexican Empire, which was a Mexican country propped up by the Second French Empire and ruled by an Austrian Emperor. So I have no idea what you’d count that for, or if Brownsville was a part (I doubt it?). The First Empire was even less ambiguously the same as Mexican republics. I’m sure the United States (and the residents of the state of Texas) would have been interested to hear about that, since the [Second Mexican Empire wasn’t established until 1864.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Mexican_Empire) Texas declared independence in 1836, and was annexed into the United States in 1845. The whole affair came to a head with the Mexican-American War in 1846. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/27 "2014-01-18T00:53:52Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Not necessarily the most, but… > > A person born in what’s now Brownsville, Texas in 1800 was a subject of the king of Spain. > > In 1821, he was a citizen of the newly independent Mexico. > > In 1836, he was a citizen of the Republic of Texas. > > In 1845, he was a citizen of the USA. > > In 1861, he was a citizen of the Confederate States of America (and then back to the USA a few years later). > > So, he’d have been a citizen of 5 different countries without ever moving. When Texas became independent, it claimed the Rio Grande as its southern boundary, but did not effectively govern south of the Nueces River or west of the Comanche Nation. The Republic of Texas never occupied what is now Laredo, Brownsville , or McAllen (then most residents of the area north of the river lived in Laredo, the town of Roma and several ranches). Laredo was sacked and looted by a Texan force in 1842. This region also became part of a secessionist state called “The Republic of the Rio Grande” in 1840. Texas only assumed control after the U.S. entered the area. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/28 "2014-01-18T00:55:40Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > I’m sure the United States (and the residents of the state of Texas) would have been interested to hear about that, since the [Second Mexican Empire wasn’t established until 1864.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Mexican_Empire) > > Texas declared independence in 1836, and was annexed into the United States in 1845. The whole affair came to a head with the Mexican-American War in 1846. French Imperial troops did participate in the Civil War around Brownsville as Confederate allies. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/29 "2014-01-18T00:58:36Z")
One last note…I believe when states seceded from the union in 1860-1861, they declared their secession from the United States in “Ordinances of Secession,” then formed the Confederate States of America. This means that there were brief periods where southern states functioned as “independent” republics - especially before February 1861. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/30 "2014-01-18T01:31:20Z")
> [@EdwardLost](#): > > What counts as being “part of”? Was Poland part of Germany after the Nazis invaded? > [@Diceman](#): > > It would depend on whether Poland was formally annexed by Germany. I believe the Sudetenlands in Czechoslovakia were annexed by Germany early in WW2. Poland was occupied by Germany during the war but not annexed as a part of Germany (except for the parts of Poland which the Germans regarded as part of Germany). The majority of Poland was controlled by what was called the General Government whose officials were appointed by Germany. For propaganda reasons, the Nazis preferred to avoid even using the term Poland - as far as they were concerned Poland shouldn’t exist and the General Government was sort of an interim solution to run things until the war was over and they could “solve” the Polish problem. Based on what the Nazis said, their long-term plan was to depopulate Poland by a mix of genocide and deportation east and then repopulate the land with “Aryan” settlers. Horrible, yes, but it’s an uncomfortable truth that one of the models the Nazis cited was the way the United States had treated the Native Americans. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/31 "2014-01-18T01:41:40Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > To make it easier, let’s say since 1900. Just a note that it seems like about half the people posting in this thread did not read the OP. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/32 "2014-01-18T02:21:18Z")
A part of the Philippines might have a good claim, especially if you fudge to include the end of Spanish rule in 1898. The Democratic Republic of Congo spent the last century as Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Republic of Congo, Zaire, and DRC. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/33 "2014-01-18T02:56:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I can only go from my grandmother’s stories, which don’t always make sense. For most of her life, my grandmother claimed to be from a small town in Austria (she was around 2 years old when her family came to the U.S.) During the 1980’s, when Poland and Solidarity were in the news, she started being from Poland. We were never sure if she just claimed Poland because it was trendy (my mother’s interpretation), or if the town she was from had actually changed hands at some point. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/34 "2014-01-18T03:05:17Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > I’m sure the United States (and the residents of the state of Texas) would have been interested to hear about that, since the [Second Mexican Empire wasn’t established until 1864.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Mexican_Empire) > > Texas declared independence in 1836, and was annexed into the United States in 1845. The whole affair came to a head with the Mexican-American War in 1846. I will :smack: for the date and the rest, although meant to say, “most if not all of **Mexico**.” ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/35 "2014-01-18T03:26:13Z")
I’m not going to defend this one, because it really depends on your definition of “country,” but I’ll throw out [Carpathian Ruthenia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpathian_Ruthenia#Habsburg_and_Ottoman_dominance) for a post-1900 contender: pre-1918: Austria-Hungary 1918-1919: We’ve got a few… West Ukranian Republic, Democratic Hungarian Republic, Hungarian Soviet Republic, and Romania 1919: Czechoslovakia 1938: Southern portion ceded to Hungary 1939: Remainder becomes part of independent Slovakia and then Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine and then annexed by Hungary. ETA: 1944 - Theoretically back to Czechoslavia, but Soviet occupied 1945: Soviet Union (as part of Ukraine SSR) 1991: Ukraine ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/36 "2014-01-18T03:28:50Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > For most of her life, my grandmother claimed to be from a small town in Austria (she was around 2 years old when her family came to the U.S.) During the 1980’s, when Poland and Solidarity were in the news, she started being from Poland. We were never sure if she just claimed Poland because it was trendy (my mother’s interpretation), or if the town she was from had actually changed hands at some point. I thought my grandmother’s story was pretty solid at one point. Remember that German doctor? She told me that when he went back to Germany she never heard from him again. Then one day she told me a story of how after coming here she received a letter from the doctor begging her for money because his family was starving in Germany during the hyperflation period. So she managed to scrape up some money to send him. She said she never heard back from him again. Then one day she told me the story of when she lived in Israel and met him there just before he passed away. Did she forget? Make it all up? I don’t know. We have evidence she went to school in the Ukraine and declared her nationality as Polish when she came to the US, and that’s all I’ll ever be able to confirm. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/37 "2014-01-18T04:10:35Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I’m going to take an educated guess that it’s somewhere in the vicinity of what is currently Poland. This area has been shredded so many times that it’s had to talk about individual areas without a Ph.D. but the Province of Posen is a good start. Part of Poland until 1815. Grand Duchy of Posen from 1815 to 1848. Part of Prussia until German unification in 1871. Split off by the Treaty of Versailles to Poland in 1919. Annexed by Germany in 1938. Back to Poland in 1945. Some nearby areas went to the USSR, though. The city of Koenigsburg has a similar history. Part of Prussia. Annexed by Russia in 1758. Lost to Poland but absorbed into East Prussia in 1772. Unified into Germany in 1871. Split off into the Free State of Prussia in 1919. Brought back into Germany by Nazis. Overrun by USSR and name changed to Kaliningrad in 1946. I think Danzig, today’s Gdańsk, takes the cake, though. ``` 997–1227: Kingdom of Poland 1227–1294: Duchy of Pomerelia 1294–1308: Kingdom of Poland 1308–1454: Teutonic Order 1454–1466: Thirteen Years' War 1466–1569: Kingdom of Poland 1569–1793: Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1793–1807: Kingdom of Prussia 1807–1814: Free City of Danzig 1815–1871: Prussia 1871–1918: German Empire 1918–1920: Weimar Germany 1920–1939: Free City of Danzig 1939–1945: Nazi Germany 1945–1952: Republic of Poland 1952–1989: People's Republic of Poland 1989–present: Republic of Poland ``` ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/38 "2014-01-18T04:21:03Z")
What about the residence of the Pope? It’s just a wild shot. But I seem to remember the names of the countries around that place has changed several times. Is there someone who has a definite answer? I’d really like to know whether this is an open-ended question. Is it something that you were just wondering about? Or do you know of a specific answer to this question? ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/39 "2014-01-18T11:46:02Z")
> [@BrightNShiny](#): > > I’m not going to defend this one, because it really depends on your definition of “country,” but I’ll throw out [Carpathian Ruthenia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpathian_Ruthenia#Habsburg_and_Ottoman_dominance) for a post-1900 contender: > > pre-1918: Austria-Hungary > 1918-1919: We’ve got a few… West Ukranian Republic, Democratic Hungarian Republic, Hungarian Soviet Republic, and Romania > 1919: Czechoslovakia > 1938: Southern portion ceded to Hungary > 1939: Remainder becomes part of independent Slovakia and then Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine and then annexed by Hungary. > ETA: 1944 - Theoretically back to Czechoslavia, but Soviet occupied > 1945: Soviet Union (as part of Ukraine SSR) > 1991: Ukraine The following is rather feeble, compared to a town in the right part of Carpathian Ruthenia (and yes, I’d reckon the World War II “ducking-and-diving” in respect of CR, quite legitimate for the purposes of the thread) ; but – as no-one seems yet to have specifically mentioned it – Český Těšín, Czech Republic. This town, just on the Czech side of the border with Poland, was a bone of contention between Czechoslovakia and Poland between the World Wars: Poland took advantage of Czecho.’s being in sore straits at the time of the 1938 Munich agreement, to annexe the town by force. So ČT has been in: Austro-Hungarian Empire 1900 – 1919 Czechoslovakia 1919 – 1938 Poland 1938 – 1939 Nazi Greater Germany 1939 – 1945 Czechoslovakia again 1945 – 1992 Czech Republic 1993 onward The town has thus been under five different flags (metaphorically – I know the Czech Republic’s flag is the same as that of Czechoslovakia before the split) over roughly three-quarters of a century. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065/40 "2014-01-18T12:35:14Z")
Another good one (for us in this thread – likely, less good for the long-suffering inhabitants) is Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. Between the second, and the last, decades of the 20th century – much chopping-and-changing between “owners”: a total of six of same, some of them more than once. (Czarist) Russian Empire 1900 – 1918 Lithuania 1918 – 1920 Poland 1920 – 1939 (Both Lithuania and Poland wanted Vilnius: in the chaos of the times – wars going on after end of WWI as such – Poland seized the city by force of arms.) Lithuania 1939 – 1940 (Consequent on the USSR’s occupying in the first weeks of WWII, what was then the east of Poland: they returned Vilnius and surrounding area to Lithuania, then…) USSR 1940 – 1941 (…in summer 1940, USSR annexed Lithuania and the other two Baltic States.) German Reichskommisariat Ostland 1941 – 1944 USSR again 1944 – 1991 Lithuania once more 1991 onward [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-place-has-been-part-of-most-different-countries/679065.md?page=3)