Every arrangement below is settled, uncontested and functioning perfectly well. What makes them remarkable is that the logic producing them was abandoned centuries ago and the lines were never tidied up. Here are fifteen.
1. Baarle, on the Dutch and Belgian Border
A town containing dozens of separate enclaves of one country inside the other, several of which contain counter-enclaves of the first country inside them.
The border is marked in the pavement with crosses and runs through houses, shops and at least one front door. Baarle is the border arrangement that requires a diagram rather than a description.
Like our content? Follow us for more.
2. Llivia, Spain
A Spanish town entirely surrounded by France, several kilometres from the rest of Spain, and connected by a road.
It exists because a treaty transferred a list of villages and Llivia was legally a town rather than a village. Llivia is the border oddity created by a definition in a document.
3. Campione d Italia
An Italian exclave sitting on a lakeshore inside Switzerland, separated from Italy by mountains and water.
It uses Swiss infrastructure for most practical purposes while remaining Italian. Campione is the border oddity where the surrounding country supplies the services.
4. Busingen am Hochrhein
A German municipality entirely surrounded by Swiss territory, with a customs arrangement that has developed over a long period to make daily life workable.
Two postcodes and two telephone systems have historically applied. Busingen is the border oddity that runs on parallel arrangements for everything.
5. Point Roberts, Washington State
A piece of United States territory on the tip of a peninsula, reachable by land only by driving through Canada, because a border was drawn along a parallel without checking the coastline.
It has a school for younger children and older students travel. Point Roberts is the border oddity produced by a straight line meeting an inconvenient headland.
6. The Northwest Angle, Minnesota
A small area of the United States lying north of the main border line, the result of a treaty drawn from a map that misrepresented the geography.
It is separated from the rest of the state by a large lake. The Northwest Angle is the border oddity caused by an inaccurate chart.
7. Kentucky Bend and the River Borders
Where a border follows a river and the river subsequently changes course, the border stays where the water used to be, stranding land on the wrong side.
Several such pockets exist along major rivers. River borders are the frontiers that were defined by something that moved afterwards.
8. The Towns With a Border Through the Buildings
A number of settlements straddle frontiers so precisely that individual buildings contain the line, with markings on floors and different rules applying at either end of a room.
These arrangements are managed by long-standing local agreement. Buildings on the line are the border oddity where a doorway is an international crossing.
9. The Former Cooch Behar Enclaves
Historically the most complex enclave arrangement anywhere existed on the India-Bangladesh border, including a piece of land inside a piece of land inside a piece of land.
It was resolved by mutual territorial exchange in 2015 and no longer exists in that form. The Cooch Behar enclaves are the border complexity that was finally untangled by agreement.
10. The Vennbahn Corridor
A former railway line was assigned to one country, so the land it runs on forms a narrow strip that cuts small pieces of the neighbouring country off entirely.
The trains stopped long ago and the border still follows the trackbed. The Vennbahn is the border drawn along a railway that no longer runs.
11. The Spanish Cities on the North African Coast
Two Spanish cities sit on the African mainland, with land borders that are consequently borders between continents rather than merely between countries.
They have been Spanish for a very long period and function as ordinary Spanish municipalities. These are the border arrangements where crossing a street changes continent.
12. The Strait With a Day Between the Sides
Two small islands in a narrow strait lie on opposite sides of the international date line, so the calendar date differs between them despite the short distance.
They are close enough to see clearly in good weather. The date line islands are the border oddity where the difference is measured in days rather than metres.
14. The Airport With Two Countries in It
A small number of airports sit across frontiers, with terminals, runways or access roads falling in different countries and arrangements to manage it.
Passengers frequently have no idea. The cross-border airport is the arrangement where the runway solved a problem the map created.
15. The Golf Courses and Fields Split by a Line
Agricultural land and a small number of sporting facilities are divided by international borders, with farmers working ground in two countries and markers along the fairway.
Local arrangements make this unremarkable to the people involved. Split fields are the border oddity that is somebody ordinary working day.
Lines Nobody Ever Tidied Up
Every arrangement here is the surviving trace of a decision made for reasons that stopped applying long ago – a treaty definition, a misdrawn chart, a river that moved, or a railway that closed.
Practical notes: several of these are ordinary places where people live and work, and the border is unremarkable to them even where it is remarkable to a visitor. Entry requirements vary by nationality and change, so check official sources for your own passport before assuming that stepping across a marked line in a pavement is the same as stepping across a frontier elsewhere.
Like our content? Follow us for more.
