One country controls the belief system of a billion people.
A second country contains an impenetrable fortress high atop a mountain.
A third country stood up to the apartheid system and paid dearly for it. What do all three have
in common? They are the only three countries in the world that are completely surrounded by
another country. And when this happens, things can go really well, or really bad.
Only one of these countries gained their independence without any bloodshed from
the country that surrounds them. The Vatican, also called the State
of the Vatican City or Vatican City State, is the world’s smallest country. It is not only
completely surrounded by Italy, but is actually fully encompassed within the city of Rome.
But how did the Vatican City State gain autonomy? And how
does it stay autonomous when it is surrounded on all sides by Italy?
The country itself is completely surrounded by walls from the medieval and Renaissance eras.
That is except for on its southeast border where St. Peter’s Square separates the
Vatican City State from Rome. And although the country is completely surrounded by a wall,
it wouldn’t do much to protect the Vatican City State from an invasion.
It was in 1929 that the Vatican City State gained its independence and sovereignty from the rest of
Italy. It was actually a collaboration between Pope Pius XI and a man who had recently gained
power over Italy: Benito Mussolini. The Lateran Treaty was signed, and gave the
Pope absolute rule over the Vatican City State which was now an independent country from Italy.
The Pope was now in complete control of all happenings within his country’s walls.
The Pope is the executive, legislative, and judicial branches within the Vatican City State.
He works with other bishops, and together this governing body is called The Holy See.
However, the Pope, with the help of God of course, has absolute power in the end.
But even with God on the Vatican City State’s side, there are obvious problems with being the
smallest nation in the world and surrounded on all sides by another country. Luckily,
the Vatican and Italy have had a relatively peaceful relationship
with one another ever since the Vatican became its own nation.
Even though the Vatican City State is home to just over 800 people, the influence of the country
extends across the world. But since the Vatican is surrounded by Italy, it would be difficult
to reach all those Catholics unless a special relationship existed between the two countries,
which it does. Italy and the Vatican have come to an understanding, and citizens of
each country are free to cross back and forth between the borders of the two nations unimpeded.
This makes the Vatican City State somewhat unique, since the other two countries on our list didn’t
always have the best of relationships with the country that surrounds them.
And although the Vatican City State is the smallest nation in the world,
it has its own telephone system, post office, banking system, and small army.
Granted, the “army” of the Vatican City State is the Swiss Guard, whose main responsibility
since 1506 is not to protect the Vatican so much as it is to protect the Pope himself.
It is important to keep in mind that all three of the countries we are going to
talk about could easily be invaded by the country that surrounds them.
So, what keeps the Vatican City State from being consumed by Italy?
Well, many people in Italy are Catholic, so there would be a major outcry from the general public
if anything ever happened to the Vatican City State. Also, it was made an UNESCO World Heritage
site in 1984, which wouldn’t really help if it were invaded, but may act as a slight deterrent.
The nation does not have much to export to fund itself other than religion.
Its main source of income is from voluntary contributions from the one billion Roman Catholics
living around the world. The Vatican City State also makes money through
investments as well as through the sale of stamps, coins, and religious texts.
The Vatican City State may not be the most powerful nation in the world,
and it certainly would not be able to defend itself from an invasion by Italy,
but the Vatican is certainly influential due to its religious importance.
This is one of the main factors that allows it to maintain its autonomy from Italy.
Interestingly, the second nation we are going to talk about is also surrounded by Italy.
The Republic of San Marino is located in the northeastern part of Italy.
San Marino is bigger than the Vatican, so it is not encompassed in a single city,
but it is landlocked on all sides by Italian provinces.
Also, the country of San Marino has had a slightly more violent history than the Vatican City State,
especially when it comes to their relationship with their all encompassing neighbor Italy.
The Republic of San Marino goes all the way back to the 4th century when
a group of Christians settled the lands to escape persecution.
One thing that makes San Marino different from the Vatican is its location and landscape.
San Marino is fairly isolated, and has several mountain fortresses that made it highly defensible
throughout history. In the 12th century, many Italian factions tried to conquer San Marino,
but were thwarted by the landscape of the country. This continued on and off until a foreign force
swept through the region. Napoleon Bonaparte conquered all of Italy, yet when he came to
San Marino, he respected the independence of the nation, and even offered to extend its territory.
No other country was quite so lucky, including what would become the Vatican City State.
And even after the Napoleonic Wars, San Marino was still recognized as an
independent nation within the borders of Italy and kept its sovereignty.
When World War II broke out, San Marino remained neutral and independent from
the Fascist powers that persisted in Italy. However, it was not lucky enough to escape
bombing runs and occupation by both Nazi and Allied forces at various points during the war.
In the end, San Marino maintained its independence. But how does the
country function with a single foreign nation surrounding it on all sides?
San Marino tends to have a good relationship with its neighbor. In fact, the two countries
are not all that different. Italian is the official language of San Marino, and Italy
provides all of the country’s electricity. They are also very close trading partners, which makes
sense since in order to get goods out of San Marino, they need to pass through Italy first.
San Marino’s main economic resources are tourism, commerce, crafts, and agriculture. This is
slightly different from the Vatican City State, as San Marino actually has the land and population to
produce goods. Yet, one of the craziest things is that a constant source of revenue for San Marino
is finely painted postage stamps. As this was also the case for the Vatican City State, it
would seem that stamps are a lucrative export for countries that are completely surrounded by Italy.
Unlike the Vatican City State, San Marino can grow some of its own crops such as wheat, grapes,
and barley. There is also a fair amount of dairy and livestock farms in the country,
which means they are not completely reliant on imports for food.
This is an important distinction to make. A country that is completely surrounded by
another doesn’t have a whole lot of options when it comes to trading partners. Even if they want to
trade with other nations, it is almost always necessary to include the surrounding country.
This means that since San Marino has the ability to grow some of its own food,
it takes a slight economic burden off the country as importing food can be very expensive.
San Marino also seems to keep its citizens happy, which is important for a nation surrounded by
another. In these special circumstances, as we will see with our final country,
it is easy to get into and out of nations that are completely surrounded by another.
San Marino offers a number of social programs to their citizens including free education,
medical assistance, and social security. The government also keeps unemployment numbers down
by providing employment opportunities for anyone who can not find work in the private sector. By
keeping citizens happy, San Marino has maintained a population that is proud and independent.
Unfortunately, our third country had a much tougher history with the neighbor
that surrounds them than the other two. And the reason why will shock you.
The only other country in the world that is completely surrounded by another nation is
Lesotho. A main difference here is that Lesotho is not surrounded by Italy, but by South Africa.
It was the 1800’s. Britain had colonized South Africa over a century earlier,
but there were still certain regions that were incredibly difficult to access.
What would become the country of Lesotho was one of them. The nation is surrounded
by mountains on all sides and the terrain is particularly rugged. In the 1800’s several
chieftains fought for control over these lands. The British were concerned about
the instability in the region, and how it would affect their affairs in the country.
Britain took control of the area and put a puppet government in charge, but after World War II,
a sense of nationalism swept through the region. The people who live in what would become Lesotho
fought for independence from the Crown, and the country became self-governing by 1965.
Normally a smaller country that is contained within a larger one wouldn’t want to ruffle too
many feathers. This is because the surrounding country could make life miserable for them.
However, in the 1970’s, the Lesotho government began speaking out against the apartide system
in South Africa. They even started accepting refugees from the country. This was a
bold statement to the world that Lesotho was condemning the racist practices of its neighbor.
In return, South Africa gave support to a radical group called the Lesotho Liberation Army.
This group, with funding from South Africa, attacked people in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho.
This put enormous strain on the relationship between the two governments, which was exasperated
even more when South Africa demanded that Lesotho send the refugees back to them.
This is a clear example of a nation that completely surrounds another creating an
unwinnable conflict. Lesotho couldn’t stand up to South Africa by themselves.
Lesotho citizens and goods couldn’t get out of the country without passing through their
neighbor. Lesotho went further and further into economic decline. And then during the 1990’s,
the international community removed restrictions against South Africa.
This meant that the benefits which Lesotho enjoyed over the past several years
from having less restrictions than the country that surrounded them, were now completely gone.
Out of the three countries in this video, Lesotho had the toughest time with their
neighbor interfering with their affairs. Resources within Lesotho were running low, the soils were
being depleted, droughts ravished their crops, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic decimated the workforce.
The main source of revenue for the country is now through tourism. Although there is a diamond
mining industry that brings in some capital. The interference and instability in the country
during its early years led to many problems, and eventually led to the Lesotho government
and citizens being almost completely reliant on deals with South Africa. In the 1990’s and early
2000’s, around a quarter of all Lesotho’s working men were employed in South Africa.
In fact, Lesotho can no longer sustain itself without the customs unions,
communication networks, and water exports it shares with South Africa.
It is estimated that right now the unemployment rate in the country could be as high as 75%.
Out of the three countries in the world today that are landlocked by just one county,
Lesotho is a clear example of what can happen when a neighbor does not play nice.
Now watch “The Only Countries That Have Never Lost A War.” Or check
out “Which Countries Are Still Truly Communist?”