Enclave

An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of another state. It may be a territorial part of a country that lies within another jurisdiction, or a sovereign state whose borders are completely enclosed by another country. The defining feature is political isolation from the enclosing state’s land area.

Enclaves are closely related to exclaves, but the terms describe different aspects. An exclave is any portion of a state that is geographically separated from the main part of that state. When such a separated part is surrounded by another state, it functions as both an exclave and an enclave. If the enclosed land is itself a sovereign state, it is called a sovereign enclave.

Notable examples include Lesotho, a sovereign country entirely surrounded by South Africa, and the Italian enclaves of San Marino and Vatican City, which are independent states embedded within Italy. In non-sovereign contexts, enclaves can occur as subnational regions; Baarle-Hertog is a Belgian enclave within the Netherlands, famous for its complex pattern of legal borders and nested enclaves. Germany’s exclave of Büsingen am Hochrhein lies entirely within Switzerland, illustrating how an enclave can also be an exclave of a larger state.

Enclaves have practical and legal implications for governance, border management, and daily life. They affect movement rights, citizenship rules, taxation, and the provision of public services. Enclave statuses are typically maintained through treaties, agreements, and special border arrangements to manage access, trade, and sovereignty, and they can be sensitive to border disputes or political changes.