10 enclaves of Europe

Gibraltar
There are many who mistakenly use the word enclave as a synonym for place or place. Actually, this term refers to the territory (district, municipality, province, autonomous community, country…) that belongs to a territorial jurisdiction completely surrounded by the territory of another or other jurisdictions. One of the best known cases is that of West Berlin which, until 1990, was within Democratic Germany but belonged to West Germany.

Special mention should be made of some sovereign countries that are completely surrounded by another. In Europe we can find San Marino, which is located in Italy, and the Vatican City, which is surrounded by the city of Rome, Italy. Beyond these places, in the old continent it is possible to find many other enclaves. We talk about some of the best known below!

Llivia

Llivia
In the first place, we want to talk about Llivia, a town belonging to the province of Girona despite being entirely surrounded by the French territory of the department of Eastern Pyrenees as a result of the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659, when Spain yielded to rancid 33 peoples.

Ceuta and melilla

Ceuta
We must also talk about Ceuta and Melilla, two autonomous cities of Spain that are located in North Africa. In this sense, it is important to bear in mind that in Morocco they want both cities to be part of the Alawite kingdom.

Gibraltar

Gibraltar1
Gibraltar could not be missing from this list, a British territory located on a small peninsula at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, bordering Spain. As you well know, our country claims its sovereignty and, in fact, this enclave has been the subject of dispute in Spanish-British relations since the beginning of the 18th century.

Campione d’Italia

Campione-Italy
One of the best-known enclaves in Europe is Campione d’Italia, an Italian municipality in the province of Como (Lombardy region), which is in the territory of the Swiss Confederation. Of course, in this case the integration of the inhabitants with Switzerland is quite broad and, in fact, they use the Swiss franc.

Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad
Between Polynya and Lithuania is Kaliningrad, a territory inhabited by a million people that belongs to Russia. It is important to note that it is an important naval base for the Russians, as it is the only one of their ports on the Baltic Sea whose waters do not freeze during the winter.

Najichevan

Najichevan
Another curious enclave is the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan, a territory belonging to Azerbaijan that is separated from the rest of the country by Armenia and Iran. In addition, it borders Turkey.

Jungholz

Jungholz
We also want to talk about Jungholz, a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol, which can only be accessed through Germany. In fact, it is only connected to Austria at one point: the summit of the Sorgschrofen mountain. Thus, the lack of connection led this territory to be included in the German customs area until Austria joined the European Union.

Büsingen am Hochrhein

Busingen-am-Hochrhein
Another enclave that we want to highlight is Büsingen am Hochrhein, a small German town that is completely surrounded by the territory of the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen. This territory uses the services of both countries for their needs telephone, mail and public transport. Its official currency is the euro, but the truth is that its inhabitants usually use the Swiss franc.

Baarle-Hertog

Baarle-Hertog
We also found an enclave in the Netherlands. This is Baarle-Hertog, a municipality belonging to the Belgian province of Antwerp that has complicated borders with Baarle-Nassau. In fact, some houses are divided between the two countries.

Erenköy

Kokkina
Finally, we want to talk about Erenköy, a village formerly known as Kokkina that is located on Cypriot territory. After different conflicts , the town has remained a Turkish-Cypriot military camp since 1976.