In this lesson, I’m going to tell you which countries are doubly landlocked - let’s
get started!
Hey, how’s it going? I’m Alister from Al’s Action English.
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This lesson will help: your listening; your pronunciation of different countries in the
world and your geographical skills and knowledge.
Now, before we can identify which countries are doubly landlocked we need to know what
a landlocked country is.
Landlocked countries are sovereign states completely surrounded by the land of other
countries.
They have no ocean coastline.
For example, Switzerland and Ethiopia.
For a country to be doubly landlocked:
First it must be landlocked
and second all of its borders must be landlocked too
These countries are special because they require the crossing of at least two national borders
to reach any coastline.
There are 44 landlocked countries which have full UN recognition - we’re going to look
at a few of them now.
3 of the 44 are landlocked just by a single country - we call these enclaved countries.
To help your pronunciation, repeat after me.
Lesotho (surrounded by South Africa)
San Marino (surrounded by Italy)
Vatican City (part of Rome and therefore also surrounded by Italy)
7 are landlocked by two countries which share a border - we call these semi-enclaved countries.
Again repeat after me.
Andorra (between France and Spain, which border each other)
Mongolia (between China and Russia)
Bhutan (between China and India)
Nepal (also between China and India)
Moldova (between Ukraine and Romania)
Liechtenstein (between Austria and Switzerland)
Swaziland (between South Africa and Mozambique)
The continents of North America and Australia have no landlocked countries while South America
has only two - again repeat after me.
Paraguay (bordered by Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil)
Bolivia (bordered by Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Chile and Argentina)
Let me know your country’s borders - type in the comments below.
Interestingly, there are 12 landlocked countries which border no other landlocked countries.
Therefore, they cannot be doubly landlocked.
We’ve mentioned these 9 already:
San Marino Vatican City
Andorra
Lesotho Swaziland
Mongolia
Nepal Bhutan
Moldova
And three new ones - repeat after me
Belarus (bordered by Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine and Russia)
Luxembourg (bordered by France, Germany and Belgium)
Laos (bordered by China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand)
There are three countries which are close to being doubly landlocked - they all border
3 landlocked countries and only one non-landlocked country! Repeat after me.
Kyrgyzstan
This country borders Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, all of which are landlocked,
However, it borders China, which is not landlocked.
Turkmenistan
This borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, all of again which are landlocked. However,
it borders Iran, which is not landlocked.
Tajikistan
This borders Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, all of which are landlocked. However, it again
borders China, which is not landlocked.
These three countries should give you a clue to one of the countries in the world which
is doubly landlocked country.
Do you know what it is?
I suggest pausing the video at this stage if you want more time to think about the correct
answer.
By the way, this is the 4th video in my English Listening Playlist - I’ll put a link to
the playlist right up here and also in the description below - check it out after you’ve
watched this video.
Despite there being 44 landlocked countries in the world, only two of them are doubly
landlocked.
The (much) larger of the two is located in Central Asia and is the only ‘Stan’ country
that does not border either Iran or China - these 2 countries are landlocked.
Uzbekistan
Did you get it?
Uzbekistan borders Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan - all
5 of which are landlocked.
The second is a micro state located In Europe.
Liechtenstein
Did you get it?
Liechtenstein borders Switzerland and Austria - both of which are landlocked.
So, there you have it.
Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan are the only doubly landlocked countries in our whole world!
Go on, impress your friends with this knowledge!
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For more native English vocabulary, I made a video about 50 words that Brits and Americans
say differently - I suggest watching it right now.
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Thanks a lot for watching, let’s chat in the comments and I’ll see you in the next
video.