Zoran Nikolić Strange Geography
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Zoran nikolić STRANGE GEOGRAPHY 2 Zoran Nikolić WHY THIS BOOK? STRANGE GEOGRAPHY Even when I was a little boy, one simple look at a map was enough to grab my attention and stir up my curi- osity. I was wondering what are these colorful surfaces and lines, what it means that we are living “here”, and what the boundaries are at all. After a couple of years I learned some basic geography, and geographical map for me became even more extraordi- nary invention, like an aircraft which allows me to easily and quickly pop over from India to Argentina, from there to Australia and immediately after to Greenland. Gradually I discovered more and more interesting details on my maps 2015. near Obrenovac, in Konatice and Todor Viktoria www.zorica.info) Aigner, Zorica (Autor: and atlases, including some “new” countries and unusual bor- lithosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere, while social geogra- ders. Although my later education pulled me away to econom- phy studies the population, the economy, settlements. ics and computer science, it is clear now that geography will However, while studing natural or social aspects of our Blue forever stay my favorite science. planet, geography can encounter some strange phenomena. And what is geography? It may be unusual and illogical borders; it can be huge or ex- Geography is a complex science, which studies the natu- tremely small natural phenomena; or phenomena that occur ral and social phenomena on Earth. Its name comes from the at only a few locations in the world; or attempts to create mi- Greek words γεω (“geo”, meaning “Earth”) and γραφία (“gra- cro-states. Some of these oddities and peculiarities will be the fia”, meaning “description”). subject of this book. Certainly, it would really be imposible to The complexity of the geography is reflected in the fact cover in one book all these phenomena on Earth - so here will that it is the bridge between the natural and social sciences. be presented only some of them, hopefully the most interest- Roughly speaking, physical geography studies the overall nature ing or unusual. of the Earth and parts of its geographical layer - atmosphere, Strange Geography 3 CAMPIONE D’ITALIA ITALY–SWITZERLAND In the far south of Switzerland is Lake Lugano, with the operators, so that calls from the rest of Italy to Campione are same-name town on the northwestern shore of the lake. Two- treated as international. Regarding postal numbers, it is allowed thirds of the lake and its shores belong to Switzerland, and one- to use either Italian or Swiss numbers. Residents of Campione third to Italy. A significant part of this Italian third is “besieged” have the right to use the services of Swiss hospitals, as if they by the territory of Switzerland. were the residents of Switzerland itself. The part in question is the Italian town of Campione d’Italia, Historically, one of the most important moments for located on the eastern shore of Lake Lugano, southeast of the Campione came at the end of the eighteenth century, when city of Lugano. Area of about 1.6 square kilometers is a home the Canton of Ticino decided to join the Swiss Confederation. for over 2,000 people. City is less than one kilometer far from The residents of Campione then decided to stay within the the rest of Italy, but high mountains prevent easy access to the Lombardy, i.e. later Italy. In the mid 1930s, by the decision of home country. Therefore Campione residents have to travel the then Italian Duce Benito Mussolini, the name of the city got nearly 15 km to reach the nearest available Italian territory. suffix d’Italia, in order to further express its allegiance to Italy. Thanks to tourism and a large casino (specific status of During World War II, Campione has largely been separated Campione allows free gambling business without payment of from the rest of Italy and functioned almost as a Swiss canton. VAT), this town is very rich. Well preserved nature around the As a result, this small town, unlike the rest of Italy, was not oc- beautiful glacial lake also contributes to strong tourism. cupied during the war by the Germans, nor by the Allies after Casino is the largest single employer in this whole enclave. It the war. was founded in 1917 as a place for collecting information from Some 200 km northeast of Campione there is another foreign diplomats during the First World War. Today, this largest Italian town tied to the Swiss system - Livigno (Italian: Livigno, European casino provides sufficient income for Campione with- Lombard: Livign, German: Luwin). Although not an enclave, it out the need for the introduction of the tax. The owner is the has complicated traffic connections with the rest of Italy, so it Italian Government, while the municipality controls the opera- has had the status of “duty-free” zone for a long time. tion of the Casino. Although Campione is a sovereign Italian territory, many services in the city are closely related to Switzerland. First of all, the official currency is the Swiss franc, although the euro is usually accepted. Switzerland is responsible for customs for- malities, and cars use plates of Alpine Confederation. A similar situation is with phones: almost all phones go through Swiss 4 Zoran Nikolić Lugano Lake Lugano I���� Campione (I����) S���������� Entrance to Italian exclave Campione d’Italia. (Source: Wikimedia Commons / Autor: Not_home) The Casinò di Campione is one of the Europe’s largest. (Source: Wikimedia Commons / Autor: AdmComSRL) Strange Geography 5 BAARLE THE NEDERLANDS–BELGIUM Baarle is a small town in the south of the Netherlands, near up to little more than 5 ha. In addition to enclaves in the city, its border with Belgium. In fact, the boundary runs south of the the Belgian Baarle-Hertog also includes several small enclaves city, but also through the town itself! around the city. The town consists of two parts: the Dutch Baarle-Nassau The borders of these enclaves are fully open, but anybody and the Belgian Baarle-Hertog. Belgian part consists of more crossing them should be aware of the things that are permit- than 20 enclaves in the territory of the Dutch city, while in- ted in one country, but forbidden in another. For example, in side these Belgian enclaves there are approximately ten Dutch the Belgian Baarle there are a number of fireworks shops, but counter-enclaves. This means that the border intersects some free sale of fireworks in the Netherlands is prohibited. This fact of the streets several times, while some houses are partly in is widely used by the Dutch in the eve of their holidays, when Belgium and partly in the Netherlands. large number of them cross the border to buy fireworks for The complexity of the border is the result of a large num- holidays celebrations. Another interesting phenomenon was ber of divisions, contracts and exchanges of territories, many relatively common in previous years: because closing time for of which have their roots back in the Middle Ages. All these restaurants in the Netherlands was earlier than in Belgium, divisions are largely confirmed by the mid-nineteenth centu- when that time comes in one of the many restaurants right on ry Treaty of Maastricht. The border wasn’t fully defined until the border, guests would simply transfer to the Belgian half and 1995, when the border of a smallest Belgian enclave was finally established (uninhabited agricultural piece of land, an area of about 2,600 m²). In order to make this situation a little clearer (primarily be- cause of the large number of tourists), boundaries are often marked on the streets themselves. Also, because Dutch and Belgian house numbering are independent, alongside number there is sometimes a Dutch or Belgian flag. In cases where the boundary cuts through a house, its “citizenship” is determined on the basis on whose territory is the front door. Throughout history and numerous changes of tax rates in the Netherlands and Belgium, relocating the front door was not unusual. Belgian enclaves range from 0.2 hectares to about 153 hect- ares, while the Dutch enclaves have the size from about 0.28 ha 6 Zoran Nikolić 4°55' 4°56' 4°57' T�� N���������� 51°27' Baarle-Nassau Baarle-Hertog (B������) 51°26' 500 m Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors continue with their socializing there. Also, it is interesting that during the First World War, during which the Netherlands was neutral and Belgium was occupied by Germany, Baarle-Hertog was the only free part of Belgium. Photo on the left: Complicated border between the Netherlands and Belgium in Baarle is often clearly marked on the streets and sidewalks. (Source: Wikimedia Commons / Autor: Jérôme) Photo on the top right: On the floor of the liquer store in Baarle the borderline in national colors of Belgium and the Netherlands is clearly visible. (Source: Flickr.com / Autor: Diego González) Photo on the bottom right: Borderline in Baarle even cuts through some buildings. This one has both Duch and Belgian house number. (Source: Flickr.com / Autor: Carsten Schacher) Strange Geography 7 TOMB OF SULEYMAN SHAH SYRIA–TURKEY Most of the world’s enclaves are populated, but there are 35 kilometers from the Turkish-Syrian border! (Who knows why some that are used only for production, mostly agricultural. they didn’t decide to move enclave to the border, so that it can However, there are also some enclaves that have only historical be “unified” with the rest of Turkey?) Anyway, until the begin- significance and no other reason for their existence. This is the ing of 2015 and the escalation of the conflict in Syria, the tomb case with the Turkish enclave in Syria – the tomb of Suleyman was located on a small peninsula on the coast of lake Assad.