The Atlas of Unusual Borders: Discover intriguing boundaries, territories and geographical curiosities
By (Author) Zoran Nikolic
HarperCollins Publishers
Collins
13th December 2019
3rd October 2019
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
World / regional atlases or maps
320.120222
Paperback
256
Width 148mm, Height 210mm, Spine 25mm
620g
A beautifully presented gift for anyone with an intrigue for geographical curiosities.
This beautifully designed book presents unusual borders, enclaves and exclaves, divided or non-existent cities and islands.
Numerous conflicts have left countries divided and often shattered. Remnants of countries can by design or accident be left behind as a legal anomaly in this complex world.
Most people believe that a countrys borders are clearly defined: just lines that separate countries. Everything on one side of the line belongs to one country and everything on the other side belongs to another country. This might be the case most of the time, but there are unusual exceptions to this unwritten rule.
Examples include:
Campione dItalia where Italian residents have to travel 15km through Switzerland to reach the nearest available Italian territory
Tomb of Suleyman Shah which is a tiny Turkish enclave within Syria which was moved closer to Turkey when Lake Assad was created but still stayed in Syria
Pheasant Island which for half a year belongs to the Spanish city of Irun, and the remaining half, to its French twin-town, Hendaye
Canadian Stanstead and American Beebe Plain where the boundary line runs along the centre of the main street, so that the houses on one side of the street are in Canada and on the other in the United States
These and many more instances are captured in this fascinating book full of strange geographical intrigue.
International Cartographic conference 2021 overall winner of the atlas category and shortlisted for the 2020 Edward Stanford Travel Writing.
offering something new through its focus on borders and all their idiosyncrasies Geographical
Born in an area of constant political change in what was once Yugoslavia and is now Serbia. Zoran Nikolic saw the impact political change had on peoples daily lives. This interest in geography extended outside Eastern Europe and became a lifetime fascination with borders and political geography.