XXe siècle | ARTE

Das 20. Jahrhundert | ARTE

20th Century | ARTE

El siglo XX | ARTE

XX wiek | ARTE

XX° secolo | ARTE

A small island in the Rio de la Plata is shared by Argentina and Uruguay. But why does this binational island have two different names?

Martin Garcia & Timoteo Dominguez - One Island - Two Countries

Crazy Borders

A thin strip of Belgian territory in the German countryside which marks out five German enclaves? How did the Vennbahn, actually a cycle lane, come into being?

The Vennbahn: German or Belgian?

How did a Belgian cycle lane come to exist within Germany?

Why did French President Jacques Chirac chase Israeli police from a church in Jerusalem? Strangely for a secular nation, France owns property in the Holy Lands which the country ealously guards.

France's Holy Lands

Why did French President Jacques Chirac chase Israeli police from a church in Jerusalem? 

Sleep in one country and have lunch in the neighbouring country? This is possible at the Hotel Arbez on the Franco-Swiss border - a self-proclaimed micronation with its own coat of arms.

Hotel Arbez: A Chocolate Frontier

Welcome to the Hotel Arbez, it’s a lovely place straddling the Franco-Swiss border.

On a map, the village of Nahwa looks like a fried egg: An Emirati enclave in the Omani territory of Mahda, itself landlocked in the United Arab Emirates. The reason for this? The choice of local people decades ago at a time when water was more precious than oil.

Nahwa and Madha: An Enclave within an Enclave

An Emirati village surrounded by an Omani enclave was mapped out at time when water was more valuable than oil.

An enclave of one country in an enclave of another country, itself within an enclave… This oddity was located on the border between India and Bangladesh in the mad patchwork of enclaves in Cooch Behar. This is a case for Crazy Borders!

Enclave Chaos in Cooch Bechar

An enclave of one country in an enclave of another country, itself within an enclave…

Why does a Russian region in the far east have Yiddish as an official language? The region of Birobidzhan was the Soviet Union’s plan for a Jewish homeland within the socialist world.

Birobidzhan: A Jewish State in the USSR

Why does a Russian region in the far east have Yiddish as an official language? 

The village and West Berlin exclave of Steinstücken was less than a kilometre from West Berlin, surrounding by the GDR. During the height of the Cold War, they had real problems…

Steinstücken: A West Berlin Exclave in East Germany

During the height of the Cold War, a German village with just one fridge had problems... 

A territory whose inhabitants were stateless? That's what happenede in the territory of Moresnet, co-managed by Germany and Belgium. A tax haven with a major zinc mine, which was also a den of smugglers…

Neutral Moresnet

A tax haven with a major zinc mine, which was also a den of smugglers…

Why are two Royal Marines standing guard on this tiny rock covered in bird droppings? Around Rockall, the continental shelf is disputed by British, Irish, Danish and Icelandic governments. Unless Greenpeace get in on the act... This is a clear case for Crazy Borders!

Rockall: A North Atlantic Dispute

Why are two Royal Marines standing guard on this tiny rock in the North Atlantic covered in bird droppings? 

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