We all know by now that international borders can be complicated sometimes, just check out
the previous 3 videos in this series if you haven’t already.
I really thought I had covered all the borders that I wanted to, and there wouldn’t be
any more episodes… but I was wrong.
Turns out there are always more complex borders out there, you just have to look for them!
Let’s first start with somewhere you might not expect to find any border anomalies: Lake
Malawi.
The border between Malawi and Mozambique is split down the middle of the lake… except
for these two islands here.
Back in the 1880s British missionaries established a mission base on Likoma Island.
This grew over time, eventually evolving into its own diocese with its own bishop.
In fact, even to this day, the island’s biggest attraction is St. Peter’s Cathedral,
built in 1903.
Along with the smaller island, Chizumulu Island, where the missionaries also operated, they
were treated as part of the British protectorate of Nyasaland, as it was known at the time.
The exact border with the Portuguese was defined in 1954, and it was agreed that the islands
should be British, due to the presence of the missionaries on the islands.
These borders were kept the same when both Malawi and Mozambique gained their independence.
So today, these islands, despite being very much on the Mozambican side of the lake, belong
to Malawi.
While this might be a bit of a strange border, at least both sides agree on where the border
actually is.
The same can’t be said for the northern part of the lake.
Maps will generally just not show any border here, or maybe have two dotted lines like
this.
That’s because there’s an ongoing dispute between Malawi and Tanzania.
See, while you might think that, by default, things are just split down the middle, and
that is true to a certain extent; article 15 of the UN Convention on the Law of the
Sea states that “Where the coasts of two States are opposite or adjacent to each other,
neither of the two States is entitled… to extend its territorial sea beyond the median
line”.
However, I skipped over an important part of that sentence: “failing agreement between
them to the contrary”.
Now, there is no agreement between Malawi and Tanzania, hence why it’s a dispute.
But that doesn’t mean no agreement has ever been made…
Once again, we need to go back to colonial times, when this was the border between British
and German possessions.
In a treaty from 1890, it was described precisely where the border was between their two spheres
of influence, and it followed the eastern coastline, which is in line with Malawi’s
claim.
You might think it’s ridiculous that a treaty from 130 years ago between two European colonial
empires could possibly still be valid between 2 independent African nations today.
And maybe it is.
But, legally speaking, it holds a lot of weight.
One of the founding principles of the African Union is that countries respect the borders
existing on achievement of their independence.
But hold on, though.
Tanzania didn’t achieve independence from Germany.
After their defeat in WWI, Germany lost all of its colonies, and guess who got German
East Africa?
Great Britain!
So now both sides of the lake were British, therefore there’s no more border, and the
1890 treaty is void… right?
Well, not necessarily.
There’s a principle in international law called uti possidetis juris, which translates
to something like “as you possess under the law”, and basically means that internal,
administrative borders within the same Power, should become international borders upon independence.
There’s even precedent from the International Court of Justice when a border dispute arose
between Burkina Faso and Mali, both of which had been part of French West Africa.
But things get further complicated by the fact that the British were inconsistent throughout
their colonial rule.
There exist maps from the British colonial office showing the border going through the
middle of the lake.
There’s also inconsistency from Tanzania, too.
The Prime Minister in 1962, Rashidi Kawawa, said “no part of Lake Nyasa lay within the
borders of Tanzania”.
And yet, despite this, in 1967, the Tanzanian president wrote a letter to the Malawian representatives,
stating that he rejected the shoreline boundary, thus starting this dispute between the two
sides.
Now, at this point, you might be thinking…
this is all a bit much, it’s an imaginary line in the middle of a lake.
The lake has been used by both countries for decades; for fishing, transport, and trade.
So even though there has been a longstanding disagreement, it was never something that
either side considered especially important or urgent.
That is… until it was.
Malawi gave permission for a British company to search for oil deposits in Lake Malawi,
suddenly pushing the dispute to the forefront, and significantly upping the tensions between
the two countries.
Oil was indeed found in the lake, but political and also environmental concerns have stalled
the process of actually extracting any of it for now.
Malawi stated their intention to take the case to Court, criticising Tanzania of stalling
the mediation process.
That was in 2017, though, and I’ve not found any follow-up since.
Malawi very well may have a good case if it goes to court.
But Tanzania has, in the past, threatened to take military action if necessary.
Tanzania is the more powerful country, with a larger military and economy.
If diplomatic ties break down due to this border dispute, Malawi would likely be the
country that would hurt the most.
Whether it’s something they choose to fight or not, only time will tell.
Okay, let’s move on to two countries that took a very different approach to the water
boundary between them.
This time, it’s a river.
Typically when a river marks the border between two countries, a standard middle point is
used; usually defined by the so-called “thalweg”.
For the rivers between Luxembourg and Germany, though, things are a bit different.
The border is not some middle point of the river… the river is the border.
The whole river.
The river is considered to be part of both countries simultaneously.
This actually dates way back to the Congress of Vienna when Europe basically had to redraw
its borders after Napoleon's defeat.
Luxembourg sort of became an independent country; it was in a personal union with the Netherlands
and it was also upgraded from a duchy to Grand Duchy… but anyway, the treaty stated that
“the rivers themselves, in so far as they form the frontier, shall belong in common
to the two powers bordering on them”.
This was reaffirmed in 1986 in a treaty between the two countries.
It even clarified that any islands within the river are also under joint sovereignty.
This goes equally for the twenty-one road bridges and the seven pedestrian bridges that
cross the river.
This border marker here shows the transition from one country into both countries.
A territory with two countries sharing sovereignty is called a “condominium”, and there is
actually another one in Europe, but it’s a bit different.
In the Bidosa River between France and Spain, there's an island that is part of both countries…
just, not at the same time.
It’s called Pheasant Island, and it switches between the two countries every 6 months.
From February through July, the island is Spanish, and from August through January,
it’s French.
This island was chosen as a neutral location for the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees
in 1659 which put an end to the Franco-Spanish War.
However, the island itself wasn’t actually mentioned in the treaty.
It wasn’t until 1856 that it was agreed that the two countries would share the island…
but even then there was no clear mechanism put in place.
It was actually the two sides’ navies that came up with the switching every 6 months
solution, which has been occurring ever since.
The island is completely uninhabited, and access to the island is actually forbidden.
There’s not really much to see on it, anyway; the island switching country is rather unceremonious.
Seems to be just a letter that’s sent from one side to the other.
Or possibly even just an email these days!
Now let’s look at somewhere which is NOT part of two countries, but practically speaking,
it sort of is.
With a population of just 300, this is the Austrian skiing village of Jungholz.
It is entirely surrounded by Germany, but technically is not an exclave.
It’s connected to the rest of Austria, but the borders meet at a quadripoint.
Border marker 110 at the peak of this 1,600m tall mountain, marks the very spot where these
4 borders meet.
Before Austria joined the EU in 1995, the village was part of the German customs area.
And before 2002 when both countries adopted the Euro, the village used the Deutschmark
as its currency instead of the Austrian Shilling.
Addresses in the village have two separate post codes, one for each country.
Babies born to people living in the village are usually born in Germany, because the nearest
Austrian hospital is too far away.
And because there’s no secondary school in the village, most of the older school children
go to school in Bavaria.
Given that Jungholz is a popular ski destination, the village gets a lot of tourists, especially
from the nearby major city of Munich.
Many that travel there aren’t even aware of the border anomaly, and don’t even realise
they ever left the country.
Most people who work there are German, and most people who live in the village, regardless
of nationality, speak with a German dialect.
Alright, let’s head across the Atlantic now, and once again look at two countries
that can’t seem to agree on anything!
In 2010, there was a story that was making the rounds about how Nicaragua “accidentally”
invaded Costa Rica due to an error on Google Maps.
If we look beyond the headlines, though, and dig a little deeper, there’s a lot more
to this story.
In reality, Google Maps played quite a minor role in what has actually been an ongoing
border dispute dating back over 150 years!
It all started back with the Cañas–Jerez Treaty of 1858 when the border between the
newly independent countries was agreed.
The border over this coastal area was set as the right bank of the San Juan river.
This put all of the river on Nicaragua’s side, but the agreement also allowed Costa
Rica to use the river for commerce.
However, it didn’t take long until there was an issue.
As we’ve seen from a previous episode, having a river as a border isn’t always ideal because:
rivers change course.
To solve the dispute, the two sides sought the help of US President Grover Cleveland,
who agreed to be an arbitrator.
He sent a friend of his, Edward Alexander--who actually fought in the Battle of Gettysburg
as a Confederate colonel.
That’s not relevant here, I just thought it was interesting.
Anyway, Cleveland sent him down to Central America in 1897 to carry out a thorough investigation
of the region, and give his opinion on the border dispute.
This is what he came up with:
Here we can see Nicaragua’s claim, in which the river meets the coast much earlier than
this part of the river here which flows up north.
Costa Rica claimed the border went over here…I’m sure how they came up with this straight line
section, but nevermind.
The border that Alexander drew was a compromise between the two; the border follows the right
bank of the river up north, and then loops around, and follows the edge of this lagoon
here.
Both sides agreed to respect Alexander’s opinion on the border’s location.
The dispute was then dormant for over 100 years, until 2010 and the previously mentioned
headlines about a Google Maps error.
Unsurprisingly, the geography of this marshy, coastal area has changed quite a bit over
the last century.
If we compare Alexander’s drawing with a satellite image from today, we can see how
things look a bit different.
In the drawing, the border is one continuous line up the river, which flows into the lagoon,
and loops around it to meet the coast… but if we try to do that on the satellite image…
we can’t.
The coastline has receded somewhat over the years, and the river is now completely cut
off from the lagoon.
Or, is it?
See, the Nicaraguan soldiers that were there weren’t just carrying out some random mission
or training exercise.
They were there specifically to dredge the river and clear trees.
The purpose of this was to connect the river to the lagoon.
Nicaragua claimed that this was the original river’s path from 1858.
And in Alexander’s border opinion, he says “until it reaches the river proper by the
first channel met”.
We can faintly see on satellite images that, at least at some point, there was a branch
of the river here.
For whatever reason, Google Maps had marked this very part of the river that Nicaragua
was dredging as the border.
Costa Rica accused Nicaragua of violating its sovereignty, calling the operation an
“invasion”.
The Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, claimed that the San Juan river had dried up and moved
so much over the years that Costa Rica has been encroaching on their terrain for centuries.
He then cited Google Maps as proof that the river dredging was within their own territory.
Costa Rica made a complaint to Google saying that the border was an error.
Google agreed the map was wrong, and changed the border.
A representative of the company stated that while “Google Maps are of very high quality…
blah blah blah, by no means should they be used as a reference to decide military action
between two countries."
Yeah, that’s probably a good idea…
Costa Rica made a formal complaint with the International Court of Justice with regards
to Nicaragu’s activities in the border region.
The decision took several years, but eventually the Court ruled in favour of Costa Rica, stating
that the disputed area belonged to them.
This wasn’t the end of the dispute, though, because in 2017, the Nicaraguans put up a
small military outpost on the beach next to the lagoon, right here:
It was claimed that, because the whole coastal area was a wetland, there’s a continuous
stretch of water from the river to the lagoon, thus making the whole coastal area Nicaraguan
territory.
The Court disagreed, and again sided with Costa Rica.
It was reaffirmed that Nicaragua owns the lagoon, and also this narrow sandbar.
But oddly, it was stated that they were not entitled to the traditional 12 nautical miles
of territorial waters.
And so, this is the border as things stand today; with Nicaragua having a small exclave
surrounded by Costa Rican land and water.
So after all those years and several treaties and arbitrations on the border, surely this
dispute will be put to rest once and for all… right?
Well, no, of course not.
The geography is going to change again.
It’s not a question of if, but when.
The Court failed to put into place any kind of provisions for what to do in the event
of any future changes to the coast or river.
Probably best to let future judges deal with that one, I suppose…
Now, given that the previous episode of this series was over 6 years ago, it’s hard to
say if I’ll end up making another episode or not.
But feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments below if there are any more complex
borders you think are worth covering, and who knows, maybe I’ll get around to making
a 5th episode…
some day.
But if you’re looking for some more interesting videos to watch in the meantime, I would highly
recommend you check out the Nebula Original series: The Logistics of X, by Wendover.
It’s a really fascinating series looking at the logistics of things like Search & Rescue,
Commercial Fishing, and Arms Manufacturing.
The fishing episode is probably my favourite; the video shows the whole process from how
the fish are caught, and follows it all the way until it reaches our plates, looking at
economics of the industry, various laws that need to be followed, and complications along
the way.
There’s a lot packed into this one video, and the other episodes are just as dense with
information, along with great editing and animations.
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And as always, thank you so much for watching.
Merry Christmas, and all the best for 2024.
I’ll see you next time.