One ambassador's speech, and 200 miles of ocean for every coast
A 1967 UN speech about seabed minerals began the process behind the 1982 Law of the Sea treaty, which gave coastal states a 200-mile economic zone.
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Russia's Kaliningrad exclave relies on transit through Lithuania
Some goods for Kaliningrad cross EU land under sealed transit rules. In 2022 Lithuania banned transit of sanctioned steel and iron-ore goods, angering Moscow.
US Four Corners marker is at most 1,800 feet off, not 2.5 miles
A surveyor fixed the Four Corners point in 1875 on the law's line from Washington, not Greenwich. That explains why a claimed 2.5-mile error never existed.
Offa's Dyke still shadows the border between England and Wales
A Mercian king raised an 80-mile bank and ditch after Welsh raids. The border still crosses it, and a 2022 survey found only 8.7% in good condition.
Spain's 1697 cession to France began Hispaniola's split
Spain ceded western Hispaniola to France in 1697, and it became Haiti. The Dominican Republic later broke away from Haiti, not Spain, in 1844.
Chile fought a war and gained a third of its territory
The Spanish colony met fierce Mapuche resistance in the south. Victory over Peru and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific then grew its territory by a third.
Ethiopia's constitution builds each state around an ethnic group
Ethiopia's 1995 constitution built its states on ethnicity, and lets any group that qualifies form its own. It has not stopped border violence.