The enclavs they were completely surrounded by the territory of another state. Today there are only three in the world: San Marino and Vatican city, both in Italy, and Lesotho, inside South Africa. Are so few because all the lands emerged of our planet, obviously with the exception ofAntarcticahave been divided into the approximately 200 States which cover every square meter of each continent. The “lands of nobody” are extremely rare and carving out a space in this huge geopolitical puzzle is certainly not easy.
1. Vatican city: the smallest state on the planet
The best known sovereign enclave, which we all certainly already know well, is Vatican city. On the western bank of the Tiber, right in Heart of Romein fact there is the city-state officially known by the name of State of the Vatican cityconsidered the smaller state in the world. Predictably, the sovereign enclaves, being within another country, never have considerable extensions, but Vatican city certainly has a record dimensions: its surface is in fact to 0.44 km² while its population is equal to just under 900 inhabitants. This makes the Vatican city the smallest state in the world both by extension and by number of inhabitants.
The country is one monarchy absolute with the Pope head, the highest religious authority of the Church Catholicand while boasting total autonomy from multiple aspects, as its own state system, its own bank and media and independent services, remains strongly interconnected to the Italian reality for practical and historical-geographical issues. For example, adopts the euro although they are not officially part of the EU and shares many services with our country, including i transport.
The state of the Vatican city officially arises in 1929 with the signature of the Pacts Laterangian Benito Mussolini is between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy. These agreements ended the so -called “question Roman“, A long dispute between the Church and the Italian State, which began in 1870 when Rome was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy with the consequent end of the temporal power of the summary popes.
2. San Marino: the oldest republic still existing
We remain on Italian soil to talk about the second enclave: San Marinoofficially the “Serenissima Republic of San Marino“.
This sovereign state, which arises at the turn of the border Between Marche and Emilia-Romagnaalso extends over a rather reduced surface, equal to 61.24 km²and includes a population of about 34,000 inhabitants. The real record is however another: San Marino is in fact considered the most ancient Republic in the world still existing.
It would have been founded, in fact, in 301 AD. from a Christian stonemaker named Marineoriginally from the island of Arbe (in the current Croatia). Marino sought refuge on Mountain Titan to escape the persecutions of the Roman Empire. Right here he founded one Small independent religious communitywhich, over time, gave rise to a free state. Despite the obvious disproportion, in terms of influence and size, with the great powers that have alternated in the peninsula, San Marino has always maintained its own independence thanks to historical neutrality and careful foreign policies.
Today, San Marino is one Parliamentary Republic Diarchicathat is, has two heads of statethe two captains regents who remain in office for six months. The country has its own constitution (one of the oldest still existing) and, as in the case of the Vatican city, has signed several bilateral agreements with both Italy and the EU.
3. Lesoteho: the “highest” state of the world
Let’s change context, not to say their own continent, and move to Africa for the Lesothoa country entirely surrounded by Republic of South Africa. Its territory is mountain and develops completely between the 1,400 And 3,500 meters of altitude on the sea levelwith over 80% of the territory above 1,800. For this it is considered as The only state in the world to find itself entirely above 1000 meters. Unlike the first two cases analyzed, the size of this state are decidedly more relevant: Lesotho has an extension of 30,355 km² and includes a population of about 2 million inhabitants.
The history of the country has its roots in the mists of time, but the birth of a real independent state is only in the years Sixty of the last century, when the Basutalanda British colony, managed to obtain independence from the United Kingdom giving himself the name of Kingdom of Lesoteho (which in Bantu languages means “land of the people who speak Sotoho“). The path to stability was however long and bloody and the first peaceful democratic elections were held only in the early 2000s, even if a certain degree of instability still persists today.
The country is today one monarchy parliamentary With an economy, based on agriculture, breeding, extractive activity, manufacturing and tourism industry, which is hard to take off and is characterized, in fact, as one of the less developed countries on the planet. For this reason, his identity remains strongly intertwined with that of the nearby South Africa.
