Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - European Exclaves

Starting point is 00:00:00 We've all looked at a map and seen all the different countries represented by different colors. A country has some sort of border, and everything inside that border is what makes up the country. However, there are some exceptions. There are exclaves, which are bits of a country that are separated from the mainland mass, and enclaves, which are parts of a country that are totally surrounded by another country. Why in the world would such odd arrangements exist? Well, the reasons are often rather odd. Learn more about the exclaves of Europe and the odd circumstances that created them on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Starting point is 00:00:50 Did you ever hear about the selfie that solved a murder or the jury that used a Ouija board to speak to a victim? If that made you pause, you need to listen to Morning Cup of Murder. I'm Karina B. Minas Durfer, and every single day on Morning Cup of Murder, I tell one chilling true crime story tied to that exact day in history. With over 2,500 episodes to binge, you'll never run out of dark stories to start your morning with. Go listen to Morning Cup of Murder wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay safe. Often in this podcast, I'll cover great historical events or important places. This is not such an episode.

Starting point is 00:01:32 The places I'm going to be covering in this episode are rather small, and in the big scheme of things, rather inconsequential. However, they are really interesting. I'm going to be covering the backstories of three different exclaves of three different countries. I've previously covered the topic of exclaves and enclaves more broadly in a previous episode, but in this episode, I want to focus on their origins. All three of them are small, none of them have a population of more than about 1,700 people, and while totally surrounded by another country, they're not that far from their country's mainland. These three are not the only exclaves in Europe.

Starting point is 00:02:10 There are others which are notable in their own way. I'm just going to be covering these three simply because they have very interesting stories and because I happen to have been to all three of them. I'll start with the community of Busingam-Amhorheim. It's a German community that is completely surrounded by Switzerland and is part of the state of Bottom, Vurttemberg. The town is a population of about 1,500 people in an area of 7.62 square kilometers or 2.94 square miles.

Starting point is 00:02:40 It's separated from Germany by a strip of land that is 680 meters or 2,230 feet wide at its narrowest point. The big question, and the question for every one of the enclaves that I'll be covering, is how did this come to be? Why isn't it part of Switzerland? Or why didn't Germany take or negotiate a small parcel of land to connect it to the rest of the country? The village of Bussingen was originally part of the land holdings of the bishopric of Constance in the Middle Ages. By the 17th century, it had passed into the hands of the Austrian hapsburgs, who controlled much of the region during the Peace of Westphalia. Despite its Habsburg ties, Busingan was geographically cut off from other Austrian or German ruled lands and sat right in the middle of territory dominated by Swiss cantons. The town's defining event came in 1693.

Starting point is 00:03:32 The village lord, Johann Conrad von Stadion, a Catholic, was kidnapped by his Protestant relatives and taken to the neighboring Swiss. city of Schauffhausen. After a long imprisonment and negotiations, he was released, but this incident hardened the divisions. The Catholic Habsburg authorities kept the village, while the Protestant Swiss surrounding it had little interest in incorporating it. From that moment, Bussingen's odd isolation became entrenched. In 1805, under the Treaty of Pressburg, the Habsburg ceded much of their German territory to other German states. Bussingen was transferred to Vurttburg, and in 1810 it passed to the Grand Duchy of Baden. Bodden's territories later became part of the German Empire in 1871. Despite being surrounded

Starting point is 00:04:19 entirely by Switzerland, the village was never formally transferred because the Swiss and the Bodnese authorities could not agree on a territorial exchange. In the 20th century, especially after World War I and again after World War II, there were discussions of annexing Busengen to rationalize the border. The people of Bussingen themselves held a referendum in 1918, in which 96% of them voted to join Switzerland. However, Germany demanded too much compensation for the land, and Switzerland refused. And as a result, the enclave status remained. Because the village is so entwined with Switzerland geographically, practical compromises have been made. Bussingen is politically German, but economically and socially integrated with

Starting point is 00:05:07 Switzerland. It uses the Swiss franc as its main currency, although the Euro is also legal, and it's part of the Swiss customs and postal system. Telephone lines, water, and infrastructure are linked with Switzerland rather than Germany. However, legally and administratively, it remains under German sovereignty. In short, Bussingen is an exclave because of an accident of history. A 17th century political dispute, the piecemeal redistribution of Habsburg lands in the 19th century, failed attempts to swap territory in the 20th century. Neither Switzerland nor Germany have wanted to reopen the matter since local arrangements now work smoothly. As a result, the village remains a curiosity.

Starting point is 00:05:50 A bit of Germany inside of Switzerland. The next enclave I want to cover is the Spanish community of Yivya. Yivya is part of Catalonia and is completely surrounded by France. It has a population of about 1,200 people and as an area of 12.9 square kilometers, or five square miles. It separated from the rest of Spain by only 1.6 kilometers or one mile. Yivya was once an important settlement in the Sardania region of the Pyrenees. In fact, during the Vissagothic era, it served as the capital of Sardania, which gave it a higher legal status than the surrounding villages. An important point. By the Middle Ages, Yivya was firmly within the crown of

Starting point is 00:06:31 Aragon, which later became part of Spain. In the 17th century, Spain and France fought each other in the Franco-Spanish War, which was a part of the 30-year-s war. The war between Spain and France ended with the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, in which Spain ceded several territories north of the Pyrenees to France, including much of the region of Roussian and northern Sardania. As an aside, one of the oddities of the Treaty of the Pyrenees was the control of an island called Feasant Island in a river near the Atlantic side of the border. The two countries couldn't agree on who would get control of the island, so they came to a novel solution. Rather than splitting the island in two, they actually swap sovereignty over the island every six months. And this

Starting point is 00:07:17 arrangement still exists today. Under the Treaty of the Pyrenees, Spain was forced to cede the northern part of Catalonia to France. And the treaty stipulated that Spain would give up the villages of Sardinia to France. The operative word being villages. Yivya had a special status that saved it from this transfer. Unlike the surrounding settlements, Yivya was not classified as a mere village, or villa in Catalan, but rather as a town, or Siutat. It held the legal status of a city because it had been the historic capital of Sardania and the seat of a regional government. Since the treaty specifically mentioned only villages, Yivya was technically excluded from the territorial transfer. We don't know the real reason behind what happened, but this wasn't necessarily an oversight.

Starting point is 00:08:12 It may have been a deliberate diplomatic maneuver by Spanish negotiators who were aware of Yivya's special status. The distinction between a village, a town, or city carried real legal weight in medieval and early modern Europe, often determining administrative privileges, taxation rights, and political representation. As a result, when France took control of the surrounding territory in northern Sardania, Yivya remained Spanish. For centuries, Yivia was relatively isolated and relations between France and Spain over access were sometimes tense. In the Treaty of Bayonne in 1866, the two countries agreed to build a special neutral road connecting Yovia to Spain. France cannot place customs checkpoints on this road ensuring that the town maintains open access to the rest of Spain. Unlike Bussingen, it isn't

Starting point is 00:09:04 necessary for Yivia to use as many French institutions because both countries are now in the European Union. The final exclave I want to cover is Campione d'Italia, an Italian community surrounded by Switzerland. Campione d'italia has the largest of the three populations I'm covering in this episode, with a population of a bit under 1800 people. It's located on the banks of Lake Lagano and has an area of 2.68 square kilometers or 1.03 square miles. At its closest point, it is only one kilometer or point six miles away from the Italian border. Campione's unique status began in the 8th century with a crucial religious donation. In the year 777, a Lombard nobleman by the name of Toto de Campione gave the area around Campione to the monastery of Saint

Starting point is 00:09:54 Ambrosio in Milan. And the word Campione just means champion in Italian. This might seem like a simple religious gift, but it established something legally significant. Campione became ecclesiastical territory under Milanese control, even though it was geographically separated from Milan by mountains and other territories. This religious connection wasn't just symbolic. Medieval monasteries were powerful economic and political entities. The monastery of Saint-Ambrosia was particularly influential because it was connected to Milan, which was becoming one of Northern Italy's most important commercial centers. So when Campione became a monastic territory, it gained access to Milanese trade networks, laws, and protection. As centuries past, the Swiss Confederation

Starting point is 00:10:45 gradually expanded around Lake Lugano. The Swiss gained control of surrounding territories through a combination of military conquest, political alliances, and strategic marriages between ruling families. However, they never conquered or even bothered to claim Campione itself. So why didn't Switzerland claim it? Several factors actually work together. First, Campione was small and not strategically vital enough to justify the diplomatic complications of seizing territory belonging to powerful Milanese interests. Second, the town sat on a peninsula jutting into the lake, making it somewhat isolated and defensible. And third, and perhaps most importantly, there were often larger political considerations at play. Swiss canton sometimes had alliances or trade relationships with Milan

Starting point is 00:11:36 that made respecting Campione's special status diplomatically wise. After Napoleon's fall, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 restored Lombardy, including Capione, to Austrian rule. Switzerland hoped to annex the little community for territorial coherence. but Austria rejected this, insisting Campione stay within Lombardy. When Italy unified in the 1860s, the new Italian state inherited all the territories that had historically been part of various Italian kingdoms, duchies, and other political entities. This included Campione because of its ancient connection to Milan and the Lombard region. Meanwhile, at the same time, Switzerland was consolidating into its modern federal form.

Starting point is 00:12:22 The Swiss could have claimed that. Campione based on geographic logic, as it's completely surrounded by Swiss territory, but by this point, centuries of precedent had established Campione's Italian character. Mussolini added the Detalia part to the name Campione in 1933 to emphasize its Italian identity. Yet, in practice, because it was surrounded by Switzerland, Campaoni relied heavily on Swiss services. Swiss francs became the daily currency. Swiss telephone networks and postal systems were used, and even the casino, founded in 1917, to generate income, largely catered to Swiss clients. When European borders were being redrawn after World War II, there were opportunities to rationalize these kind of enclaves.

Starting point is 00:13:07 However, both the Italian and Swiss governments, along with Campione's residents, preferred to maintain the historical arrangement. The town's special status was formally confirmed in various modern treaties. I'm actually taken the time to visit all three of these exclaves, one of the first of these exclaves, when I happened to be in the region. In all three cases, I had to go out of my way to visit because there was no real reason to visit other than to say that you were there. In every case, other than a sign on the side of the road, you'd be hard-pressed to tell when exactly you entered because there really isn't that much difference between the exclaves and their surroundings. The important takeaway from these three places isn't that they're important or strategic,

Starting point is 00:13:49 because they really aren't. It's that seemingly random decisions made centuries ago still affect the borders and geopolitical landscape of Europe today. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. That's where everything happens that's outside the podcast. And links to those are available in the show notes. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you two can have it read in the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - European Exclaves

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