By David Whitley
There may be the odd puzzling boundary line on the Australian map – hello Jervis Bay Territory! – but that's nothing on some of the bizarro borders elsewhere on the planet…
Belgium – Netherlands
The Belgian exclave of Baarle-Hartog is split into 24 different parcels of land, all of which are surrounded by the Netherlands, and some of which are inside the Dutch town of Baarle-Nassau. This also leads to parts of Baarle-Nassau technically being Dutch exclaves within the Belgian exclave, and if you try to make sense of it all, you're just going to give yourself a headache. The ridiculous splodge of pointless borders is down to centuries of land trading between local lords and dukes. Nowadays, you can sit on a café terrace with the border running past your chair, see houses straddling the two countries and watch Dutchmen flock to the Belgian side to buy fireworks. The laws, it seems, are more lax in Belgium.
India – Bangladesh
Similar to Baarle-Hartog/ Baarle-Nassau, the border between India's Cooch Behar district and Bangladesh is an unholy mess of exclaves. So there are 92 separate bits of Bangladesh inside Indian territory, and 106 bits of India inside Bangladeshi territory. There was a brief victory for common sense in August 2015, when the 1.7 acre patch of land called Dahala Khagrabari was ceded to Bangladesh. Before then, it was Indian territory, surrounded by Bangladeshi territory, which in turn was surrounded by Indian territory that was surrounded by mainland Bangladesh. And breathe…
France – Netherlands
Yes, there is a border between these seemingly separated European nations – it just happens to be in the Caribbean. The tiddly island of Sint Maarten/ St Martin is largely famous for the beach that jumbo jets fly over perilously low on the way into Princess Juliana International Airport. The southern half – Sint Maarten – is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, while northern St Martin is regarded as an integral part of France. The oddities of the divide ensure that Captain Oliver's Hotel (captainolivershotel.com) in Oyster Pond technically straddles the border – you can sleep on the Dutch side, but the restaurant's on the French side.
Finland - Sweden
Märket barely deserves describing as an island – it's a 3.3 hectare patch of rock in the Baltic Sea. Yet Finland and Sweden have managed to divide it between themselves. Even more ludicrously, in 1985, they had to alter the border into a weird zigzag. This was due to the lighthouse, which the Finns and the Russians built in the 19th century on the highest point. This turned out to be on Swedish land, so the Finns ceded an equally large chunk of their patch to make everyone happy.
Egypt – Sudan
Two separate maps drawn up by British colonial administrators have led to a dispute between Egypt and Sudan over the Hala'ib Triangle. It's in the south-east of Egypt (which has de facto control) or north-east of Sudan, depending on your perspective. The truly weird thing about this border dispute, however, is what lies just to the south-west of it – a barren, nigh on useless 2,060 square kilometre patch of land called Bir Tawil. For either Sudan or Egypt to claim it would mean ceding the far more resource-rich Hala'ib Triangle – it'd be admitting that the other side's chosen map was the valid one – so neither does. It's the only unclaimed piece of land on earth.
USA – Canada
The lakes sandwiched between the US and Canada throw up a series of eccentric borders. From Detroit, for example, you can head directly south into Canada. But the strangest patch is Minnesota's Northwest Angle, an American exclave sitting awkwardly at the edge of Manitoba, and cut off from the rest of Minnesota by the Lake of the Woods. In winter, when the lake ices over, it's possible to drive there without crossing the border. Anyone crossing the border is expected to contact Customs by phone just before doing so.
The border runs to the most north-westerly point of the lake, then jags south before running south along the 49th Parallel. The long, boring story about how the map got drawn like that, unsurprisingly, involves cartographical bodges by British colonialists…
UAE – Oman
There are plenty of little idiosyncrasies along the Hajar Mountains between the UAE and Oman, while Oman's Musandam Peninsula is completely cut off from the rest of the country. But the most absurd bit is the exclave of Madha, which is entirely surrounded by the Emirates. Yet inside Madha, like the hole in a doughnut, in the village of Nawha – which is part of the Sharjah Emirate. This mess dates back to the 1940s, when everything was tribal in these parts and map boundaries didn't really matter all that much. Each village was asked which tribe they'd prefer to align with, and Madha decided to throw its lot in with the Sultan of Oman.
USA - Russia
Just 3.8km separate Little Diomede – inhabited by around 130 doughty Alaskans – and Big Diomede – home only to Russian military men who have drawn the short straw posting. But within that 3.8km is the international border, and the International Date Line. So there's a 21 hour time difference, and the citizens of Little Diomede can look across to tomorrow. The Bering Strait surrounds the islands, and although the gap between them ices over in winter, trying to get across by foot is an excellent way to get shot at.
See also: The strange, empty corners of Australia's state borders
See also: The world's smallest countries and why you should visit them
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