# Which countries have discontinuous territory? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966 "2009-06-07T01:15:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Satellite\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Satellite\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satellite_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/21 "2009-06-07T07:26:52Z")
I suppose [Saint Pierre and Miquelon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon) don’t count, as there’s only water separating it from France. almost 3000 miles of water, mind you… 😃 S^G ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/22 "2009-06-07T08:08:18Z")
After World War One, Germany was separated from East Prussia by land given to Poland. Would that count? ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/23 "2009-06-07T08:48:18Z")
> [@SweetLucy](#): > > Off the top of my head- Spain has a small enclave on the coast of Morocco; South Africa has Walvis Bay, surrounded by Namibia. Spain also has [LLívia](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.444235,1.980286&spn=0.26247,0.617981&z=11), an enclave within France. As already pointed out, Walvis Bay has been ceded to Namibia, but Angola has [Cabinda](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=-5.293357,12.436523&spn=2.833038,4.943848&z=8), an enclave between Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Maybe it doesn’t count since both Cabinda and Angola proper are on the Atlantic coast.) There’s a whole lot of enclaves like these ones around the world. I don’t think we’ve mentioned [Campione d’Italia](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.96714,8.988533&spn=0.123612,0.30899&z=12) (Italy within Switzerland) and [Büsingen](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=47.685961,8.707695&spn=0.119722,0.30899&z=12) (Germany within Switzerland) yet. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/24 "2009-06-07T11:01:49Z")
There’s also [Jungholz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungholz) in Austria. > [@wikipedia](#): > > Jungholz forms an exclave of Austria that is connected to the rest of Austria by a single point, which is the summit of the mountain Sorgschrofen (1636 m). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/25 "2009-06-07T11:33:49Z")
BTW, Spain actually has two exclaves on the coast of Morocco: [Melillia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melilla) and [Ceuta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceuta) ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/26 "2009-06-07T14:14:04Z")
Brunei Darussalam is made of two non continuous regions on the same contiguous land mass. Brunei is entirely contained on the island of Borneo (which is itself divided between East Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei). Brunei is entirely surrounded by the Malay state of Sarawak, but Brunei is divided into two separate parts, the district of Temburong is separated from the rest of Brunei. To get between the two you either have to go via the sea, or drive through Sarawak and get several pages of you passport used up in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/27 "2009-06-07T14:22:36Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Besides Alaska and the Northwest Angle, the US also has [Point Roberts, Washington](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington). You can get to Point Roberts and the Northwest Angle without leaving the home state, merely by traveling by water or air. So those don’t really qualify. [Kentucky Bend](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kentucky_Bend_map.png) is interesting in that one cannot reach that particular bit of Kentucky without going through another state. Now that’s a true enclave, IMHO. Here’s a website with an (incomplete) list of enclaves: [http://www.vasa.abo.fi/users/rpalmber/enclaves.htm](http://www.vasa.abo.fi/users/rpalmber/enclaves.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/28 "2009-06-07T14:51:21Z")
Azerbaijan has a sizable exclave on the far side of neighboring Armenia, called Nagorno Karabakh. Liberty Island, surrounded by New Jersey territorial water in NY Harbor, is an exclave of New York. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/29 "2009-06-07T15:03:56Z")
Liberty Island is not an exclave, since it is an island. Exclaves have to have a land border with some other territory. The OP is talking about a subset of exclaves - those reachable _over land_ from the parent territory (so French Guiana, for example, doesn’t count). Point Roberts is such an exclave, since you must pass through Canada if travelling over land from it to anywhere in the U.S., so I would have thought that it does count. That the intervening water is in Washington is irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/30 "2009-06-07T15:38:24Z")
> [@twhitt](#): > > This is exactly the situation I was thinking of. I made the body-of-water exclusion because any island anywhere which is not an independant country would otherwise fit. That’s clearly not an interesting case. Alaska counts, Hawaii doesn’t, and Michigan counts unless I can walk from one portion to the other without stepping foot outside of Michigan along the way. I don’t think that’s the case, maybe I’m mistaken. I love the Baarle example, that’s some fantastic history. > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > You can get to Point Roberts and the Northwest Angle without leaving the home state, merely by traveling by water or air. So those don’t really qualify. **Qadgop** , allow me to introduce you to _modus ponens_ (or as we teach our Geometry students, the “Law of Detachment”) If _p_, then _q_. _p_. Therefore, _q_. Washington qualifies. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/31 "2009-06-07T16:12:51Z")
There’s that little bit of Virginia at the southern tip of the Delmarva Penninsula. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/32 "2009-06-07T16:30:58Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > **Qadgop** , allow me to introduce you to _modus ponens_ (or as we teach our Geometry students, the “Law of Detachment”) > > If _p_, then _q_. > > _p_. > > Therefore, _q_. > Washington qualifies. 😉 Meh, only by lowering the bar. Aesthetically, this view pleases me not. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/33 "2009-06-07T16:35:39Z")
The territory of [Timor-Leste](http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/east_timor_rel_2002.jpg) (East Timor) is discontinuous on the island of Timor. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/34 "2009-06-07T17:34:53Z")
There is a town on the belgian-luxembourg-french (delete one) border which contains enclave after enclave, although I can’t find it on google. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/35 "2009-06-07T18:02:07Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > Spain also has [LLívia](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.444235,1.980286&spn=0.26247,0.617981&z=11), an enclave within France. > [@dtilque](#): > > BTW, Spain actually has two exclaves on the coast of Morocco: [Melillia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melilla) and [Ceuta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceuta) As “smaller administrative units” were mentioned: Ceuta and Melilla aren’t part of any province or autonomous region, they’re autonomous cities. But Llívia is a part of Lérida Province (autonomous region of Cataluña/Catalunya/Catalonia); Petilla de Aragón (which is part of the province and region of Navarra/Nafarroa/Navarre) is surrounded by Zaragoza/Saragossa (and its territory is split into several pieces), and El Condado de Treviño (which includes several villages) is an enclave of Burgos (and of the Castilla-León region) completely surrounded by Álava/Araba (Euskadi region). And the slashes? Just to have fun with languages… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/36 "2009-06-07T18:27:07Z")
Isn’t there a section of the Swiss-German border (or is it Swiss-Italian border) that is so tortuous that there are many mutual enclaves? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/37 "2009-06-07T18:30:48Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > There is a town on the belgian-luxembourg-french (delete one) border which contains enclave after enclave, although I can’t find it on google. > **[Baarle-Hertog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog)** > > Baarle-Hertog (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Dutch pronunciation: \[ˌbaːrlə ˈɦɛrtɔx\]; French: Baerle-Duc, pronounced \[baʁl(ə)dyk\]) is a Flemish municipality of Belgium, much of which consists of a number of small Belgian exclaves fully surrounded by the Netherlands. > Parts of Baarle-Hertog are surrounded by the Dutch province of Nor... actually a starting point > **[Enclave and exclave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclave)** > > An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters.: 60  Enclave is sometimes used improperly to denote a territory that is only partly surrounded by another state. Enclaves that are not part of a larger territory are not exclaves, for example Lesotho (enclaved by South Africa), San Marino and Vatican City (both encla An excla... ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/38 "2009-06-07T19:55:47Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Meh, only by lowering the bar. Aesthetically, this view pleases me not. 😉 Well, it **was** the OP’s question, after all. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/39 "2009-06-07T20:25:08Z")
Don’t think anyone’s mentioned embassies at the moment… wouldn’t they count? In which case there’d be f:Dkloads. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966/40 "2009-06-07T20:51:11Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > Don’t think anyone’s mentioned embassies at the moment… wouldn’t they count? In which case there’d be f:Dkloads. No, they wouldn’t. Although embassies have some aspects of extraterritoriality, such as immunity (to some extent) from the host country’s laws, they are not actually considered foreign territory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-discontinuous-territory/498966.md?page=3)