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| Bangladesh |
| Say goodbye to the weirdest border dispute in the world |
| 2015-08-10 |
| [WASHINGTONPOST] Just after midnight Saturday, one of the most perplexing border disputes in the world officially ended. India and Bangladesh began the exchange of over 160 enclaves -- small areas of illusory sovereignty completely surrounded on all sides by another country -- and in so doing ended a dispute that has lasted almost 70 years. This act will have a major effect on the lives of more than 50,000 people who resided in these enclaves in Cooch Behar. Where they had been surrounded by a country they didn't have citizenship in for decades, now they will finally gain access to things like schools, electricity and health care. For curious cartographers and others obsessed with geopolitical oddities, however, it's an end of an era. The exchange between India and Bangladesh means that the world will not only lose one of its most unique borders, but it will also lose the only third-order enclave in the world -- an enclave surrounded by an enclave surrounded by an enclave surrounded by another state. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 For curious cartographers and others obsessed with geopolitical oddities, however, it's an end of an era. Ah, poor babies, come check out America's gerrymandered districts for solace. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-08-10 13:28 |
| #3 Could have been a whole lot worse. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2015-08-10 10:47 |
| #2 Wikipedia sez - During the British Raj, the town of Cooch Behar was the seat of the princely state of Koch Bihar, ruled by the Koch dynasty. Didn't know the Koch's reached that far, didja? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2015-08-10 07:27 |
| #1 Where they had been surrounded by a country they didn't have citizenship in for decades Modeling the plight of the American Indians, or trading Pakistan swampland? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2015-08-10 00:58 |