The Tiran and Sanafir Edition

One Response to The Tiran and Sanafir Edition

1. Tom Tulenko says:

   November 5, 2017 at 1:20 am

   Felix,

   A belated Numbers Round: My numbers are 111 and 51:

   Regarding the Egypt-Saudi Arabia transfer, you observed “The one thing that doesn’t really happen in the world these days is countries just giving islands to other countries. … I can’t remember the last time I saw two countries just sort of come sign a treaty and say, yep, it used to be mine and now it’s yours.”

   A much more elaborate morsel-swap occurred in 2015. But not islands: inhabited enclaves, by India and Bangladesh. Arose in 18th century Cooch Behar, became a problem in 1947, wrestled with from 1958 through 1974 to 2011, implemented 2015:

   “In the exchange of enclaves, India will transfer 111 enclaves with a total area of 17,160.63 acres to Bangladesh, while Bangladesh would transfer 51 enclaves with an area of 7,110.02 acres to India. While on paper, the exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh may seem like a loss of Indian land to Bangladesh, the actual scenario is quite different as the enclaves are located deep inside the territory of both countries and there has been no physical access to them from either country. In reality, the exchange of enclaves denotes only a notional exchange of land as the protocol converts a de facto reality into a de jure situation.”

   There are lots of bizarre maps of this on the internet.

   A good analysis, including the people-swap aspects:

   https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/india-and-bangladesh-swap-territory-citizens-landmark-enclave-exchange

   For extra amusement, google The Tin Bigha Corridor.

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