There are only three fully soveringn countries Completely Surrounded by Another Country in the world.
These countries are politically independent but geographically located within another nation’s borders.
1. San Marino – Entirely surrounded by Italy.
The Republic of San Marino was established in 301 CE, making it the world’s oldest-surviving constitutional republic.
This microstate sits on the northeastern side of the Apennine Mountains in northern-central Italy, encompassed by the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche.
Home to 33,000 permanent residents and covering an area of just 24 square miles, San Marino is also one of the smallest countries on the planet.
The official language of this enclave is Italian.
2. Lesotho – Entirely surrounded by South Africa.
Lesotho, officially known as the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a mountainous country that’s entirely encircled by South Africa.
Occupying an area of 11,720 square miles, this high-altitude territory was inhabited by a tribe of hunter-gatherers called the Khoisan beginning during the Neolithic Period.
By around 500 CE, Bantu-speaking people arrived after a mass migration from West Africa and were later followed by Sotho-Tswana peoples.
King Moshoeshoe I, the country’s first monarch, united the land that was then known as Basutoland under one rule in 1822. Just over two decades later, Moshoeshoe agreed to a treaty that made Basutoland a British protectorate.
3. Vatican City – Entirely surrounded by Italy (Rome).
Located 140 miles south of San Marino is Vatican City.
Officially called Vatican City State, this walled nation is entirely surrounded by the city of Rome. It is the Headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and the home of the Pope, who serves as both the Bishop of Rome and leader of the Catholic Church.
Occupying only 0.17 square miles, the Vatican is also the world’s smallest independent state.
For over a millennium, up until 1870, the Pope held sovereignty over the vast Papal States. They were made up of territories in central Italy and included the modern-day regions of Lazio, Umbria, Marche, and parts of Emilia-Romagna.
This changed during the movement for Italian unification, when Rome came under the rule of Piedmont-led forces. The popes refused to accept the new political reality and retreated to live in the Apostolic Palace, the official papal residence.
The situation was eventually resolved in 1929, when Benito Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty on behalf of the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy. It established the Vatican City as a city-state and gave special status to Catholicism in Italy.
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