The Countries Iceberg - Part VII
First published: Friday September 6th, 2024
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By Nickelz and FreeStater.
Welcome back, once again, to the Countries Iceberg!
In today's blog we will cover tiers 13 and 14. For previous installments, see FreeStater's blog.
We've reached such obscure territory that even we had to do a lot of research to know about these entries. So you'll embark on this knowledge journey with us. How exciting!
Also, before we begin, this is a note from Nickelz. Thank you guys so much for your support for our April Fools Blog, The Countries Iceberg - Part VI.5. It was our most successful installment in terms of comments and likes since the very first installment! It was originally meant to just be an April Fools thing, but we may do more of those parody blogs in the future thanks to your support.
One more note, this one from FreeStater: the iceberg has been updated since our last edition. We'll be going back and covering those extra entries after the main series is finished.
Tier 13 - Public Body of Bonaire
Bonaire
(bun-NAIR)
Bonaire is a Caribbean island and a special municipality / public body of the Netherlands. What this means is that it, along with Saba and Sint Eustatius,
Bonaire is an island in the Caribbean and a public body of the Netherlands. It is part of the ABC Islands (which should really be the ACB Islands) alongside Aruba and Curaçao. A popular scuba diving destination, Bonaire was part of the constituent country of the Netherlands Antilles until it was dissolved in 2010.
Capital: Kralendijk
Saba
(sah-bah)
Saba is an island in the Caribbean and the smallest public body of the Netherlands. it is mostly made up of Mount Scenery, an active volcano which comprises the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has an area of only 5 square miles, and with a population of 1,911, it is the least populous territory in the Americas.
Capital: The Bottom
Saint Barthélemy
(saynt-baar-teh-luh-mee)
Saint Barthélemy is a Caribbean overseas collectivity of France. It is the only Caribbean island that was a Swedish colony for a significant amount of time. It seceded from Guadeloupe in 2003. It is one of four territories that make up the French West Indies.
Capital: Gustavia
Saint Martin
(saint-maar-tn)
Saint Martin is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean, taking up the northern and larger portion of the island of Saint Martin. It is an outermost region of the European Union and is part of the Eurozone. This is the only place where France and Netherlands have a land border.
Capital: Marigot
Sint Eustatius
(sint-yoo-stay-shus)
Sint Eustatius is an island in the Caribbean and a public body of the Netherlands.
Capital: Oranjestad
Sint Maarten
(sint-maar-tn)
Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea. It comprises the smaller portion of the divided island of Saint Martin, and comprises the only land border that France and the Netherlands share. It was part of the constituent country of the Netherlands Antilles until it was dissolved in 2010.
Capital: Philipsburg
Akrotiri and Dhekelia
(ah-crow-tee-ree-and-de-kay-lee-uh)
Akrotiri and Dhekelia is a British Overseas Territory on the shared island of Cyprus. It mostly includes British military bases. These areas were retained by the United Kingdom under the treaty of independence for Cyprus in 1960. It is essentially one big security camera operated by the United Kingdom to monitor activity in the Middle East.
Wallis and Futuna
(waa-luhs-uhnd-foo-too-nuh)
Wallis and Futuna is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific. Before 2003 it had the status of a French overseas territory. It is made up of three volcanic islands and some small islets. It is comprised of two island groups located about 160 mi away from each other. Prior to 1959, Wallis and Futuna was subordinate to New Caledonia.
Capital: Mata Utu
Midway Atoll
(mid-way-ah-toll)
Midway Atoll is an atoll in the northern Pacific Ocean as part of the US Minor Outlying Islands. It is roughly the same distance from both Asia and North America. It is the only island in the Hawaiian archipelago that is not administered as part of Hawaii. Visiting Midway Atoll is only possible for business reasons, and only about 50 government workers live there.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
(sowth-jor-juh-and-thuh-sowth-sand-wich-eye-luhnds)
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. A very small non-permanent population resides on South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited. There are no flights or ferries to the territory, but it is an increasingly popular cruise destination. Argentina claims sovereignty over these islands and held a military base there until 1982.
United States Minor Outlying Islands
The United States Minor Outlying Islands consist of eight insular areas in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean, all of which will be covered in this iceberg. They include Baker Island, Howland Island, Wake Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll, and Kingman Reef in the Pacific, and then Navassa Island in the Caribbean.
National Resistance Front of Afghanistan
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan is a military alliance consisting of anti-Taliban fighters that remain loyal to the defunct Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. It exercised de facto control over the Panjshir Valley, but the Taliban eventually took control of the region. They continue to carry out hit and run attacks to this day but have no formal control over any territory.
Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic
The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic was the government of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. It has been in exile since 1919 and exists as an advocacy group promoting support for Belarusian political independence among the Belarusian diaspora.
Alderney
(AAL-dr-nee)
Alderney is the northernmost Channel Island that has a permanent population. It is legally part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It is separated from France by the Alderney Race, which is a very dangerous strait with a very strong current running through it.
Sark
(sark)
Sark is a part of the Channel Islands and also a fief of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Sark is the first island in the world to restrict artificial light pollution, and perhaps most interestingly, Sark is one of the last remaining locations in the world where the use of a car is banned on the roads, and only tractors, bicycles, and horse-drawn carriages are allowed on Sercquiais roads.
United Nations Buffer Zone In Cyprus
The United Nations Buffer Zone In Cyprus is a fragmented demilitarized zone that splits Cyprus into roughly two halves. It stretches 112 miles and cuts through the capital city of Nicosia, making Nicosia the last divided capital in Europe. Some areas of the buffer zone are uninhabited and therefore are ripe with biodiversity.
Svalbard and Jan Mayen
(svaal-baard-and-jahn-mah-yen)
Svalbard and Jan Mayen are respectively an archipelago and a remote volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean. They are under the jurisdiction of Norway. Because of its location, it appears on maps a lot larger than it actually is. The combined area of the two territories is only slightly larger than the country of Sri Lanka.
Adjara
(ə-djɑ-rə)
Adjara is an administrative region of Georgia on the coast of the Black Sea. It is an autonomous region as guaranteed by the Treaty of Kars. It also holds Georgia's second largest city, Batumi.
Capital: Batumi
Western Togoland
(wess-turn-toe-goe-land)
Western Togoland is a self-proclaimed nation that is internationally recognized as part of Ghana. Separatists in Western Togoland declared independence from the Republic of Ghana in September 2020. It has a higher population than the actual nation of Togo.
Capital: Ho (haha)
Gulf of Fonseca
(gulf-of-fahn-say-kah)
The Gulf of Fonseca is located in Central America and borders El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. It is slightly smaller than the disputed region of Northern Cyprus. In 1917, a treaty was signed that granted a portion of this gulf to the United States for a naval base. El Salvador argued that this violated its shared ownership of the gulf, and the Central American Court of Justice ruled in favor of El Salvador, but the United States ignored the ruling.
Lake Constance
(layk-con-stens)
Lake Constance is a conglomeration of three bodies of water on the Rhine in the northern Alps. The lake is where Germany, Switzerland, and Austria meet. The locations of the country borders within the lake are disputed.
Moselle
(moh-ZEL)
The Moselle is a river that flows through France and Luxembourg into western Germany. It is a tributary of the Rhine. Its basin is slightly larger than the country of Equatorial Guinea.
Nakhchivan
(naak-chuh-van)
Nakhchivan is a landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan that is separated from Azerbaijan by Armenia. About a century ago, it had a very mixed Armenian-Azerbaijani population, but due to the genocide the region is almost completely made up of Azerbaijanis save for a few Russians.
Jervis Bay Territory
(jur-vis-bay-tehr-i-toh-ree)
Jervis Bay Territory is an internal territory of Australia. It was created in order to give the Australian Capital Territory sea access. It is a separate Commonwealth territory and yet is generally perceived as part of the ACT and is represented in the senate as part of the ACT.
South Sudan (SPLM-IO)
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition is a mainly South Sudanese rebel group and political party. The party and militia are led by the current Vice President of South Sudan.
Barotseland
(baa-rot-seh-luhnd)
Barotseland is a region covering parts of Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is home to a group consisting of 46 tribes. It was a British protectorate within the protectorate of Northern Rhodesia. It became part of Zambia when it gained independence.
Lachin Corridor
(lah-chin-cor-ri-dohr)
The Lachin Corridor was a mountain road in Azerbaijan that linked Armenia with the formerly disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). It was the only road between the two territories. During 2022 and 2023 Azerbaijan maintained a blockade of this corridor, which was heavily criticized by various nations and human rights groups because it violated a ceasefire. In September 2023, Azerbaijan took full control of Artsakh after a counteroffensive.
Dadivank
(dah-di-vaank)
Dadivank is a monastery of the Armenian Apostolic Church located in the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan, built between the 800s and 1200s. It was one of the main monastic complexes of medieval Armenia, though Azerbaijan denies any Armenian culture or heritage tied to the monastery and falsely refers to it as Caucasian Albanian instead.
Tier 14 - Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Islands
Pitcairn Islands
(pit-cairn-ai-luhnds)
The Pitcairn Islands is a British overseas territory in the Pacific Ocean (the only one of its kind). It is composed of four volcanic islands: Henderson, Ducie, Oeno, and Pitcairn. While Henderson is bigger than the other three combined, only Pitcairn is inhabited. Even then, only 42 (!) people live there, and it is often cited as the least populated country or territory in the world.
Capital: Adamstown
Clipperton Island
(clih-purr-tən-ai-luhnd)
Clipperton Island is an uninhabited coral atoll in the Pacific, France's only territory in the North Pacific. In the 1890's and 1900s Mexico staked a claim in Clipperton Island and established a small military colony there. However, during the Mexican Revolution, Clipperton could not remain in contact with the mainland, and a lighthouse keeper named Victoriano Álvarez established himself as a brutal king of the island for a while. The island was abandoned in 1917 and then abandoned again in 1945 by the US after fears of Japanese attack lessened.
Wake Island
(wayk-eye-land)
Wake Island is administered as an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States of America. Marshall Islands also claims Wake Island. Access is restricted for civilians and there are no permanent inhabitants.
Johnston Atoll
(jonn-stən-ah-toll)
Johnston Atoll is an unincorporated territory of the United States under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force. It is closed for civilians, and only government management can enter with a letter of authorization. It is managed as a wildlife refuge. Historically, Johnston Atoll has served many purposes, including a secret missile base, a storage for chemical warfare, a nuclear test site, and an airbase. Although only being slightly larger than Monaco in land area, its Exclusive Economic Zone is slightly larger than Paraguay.
Kingman Reef
(king-mən-reef)
Kingman Reef is an uninhabited atoll that is largely submerged underwater. It has become a marine protected area under the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. There are hundreds of species of coral and fish on and around the island.
Palmyra Atoll
(pal-mai-ruh-ah-toll)
Palmyra Atoll is an incorporated but unorganized territory of the United States (it is the only one). The atoll is at the approximate center of the Pacific Ocean. It has no permanent population. Palmyra Atoll is part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, the largest marine protected area in the world.
Howland Island
(how-luhnd-eye-luhnd)
Howland Island is part of the US Minor Outlying Islands, located in the central Pacific Ocean. Uninhabited, Howland Island is most notable for being the island that Amelia Earhart was supposed to land on. The atoll has zero economic activity, and the entire island as well as the surrounding 34,000 acres is covered by a nature reserve.
Baker Island
(bay-kurr-eye-luhnd)
Baker Island is an uninhabited atoll halfway between Hawaii and Australia. It is an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States.
Jarvis Island
(jaar-viss-ah-toll)
Jarvis Island is an uninhabited coral island in the South Pacific. It is an unorganized and unincorporated territory of the United States. For statistical purposes, it is grouped as part of the US Minor Outlying Islands. It is now managed as a nature reserve, although it was claimed by America in the 1800s to mine for guano, and then attacked in World War II.
Navassa Island
(nuh-vaa-suh-ai-luhnd)
Navassa Island is a small uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea. It is the only US Minor Outlying Island not to be located in the Pacific. It is part of an ongoing territorial dispute between the United States and Haiti. Haiti's 1801 constitution claimed control over many nearby islands, which did not explicitly include Navassa Island, but the Haitian government (at least while there was one) maintained that it does. The US has claimed it since 1857, although Haiti has maintained a claim to it since 1697 due to the Treaty of Ryswick (which does not specifically include Navassa Island).
Marie Byrd Land
(mah-ree-burrd-land)
Marie Byrd Land is a plot of unclaimed land in Antarctica. It is the largest unclaimed territory in the world, a little smaller than the country of Iran. Even by Antarctic standards the region is incredibly remote and inhospitable, thus, it has not been claimed by any sovereign state. It hosts the micronation of Westarctica.
Bir Tawil
(beer-tah-weel)
Bir Tawil is an area of land along the border of Egypt and Sudan. It is uninhabited and neither Egypt nor Sudan claims it. It is sometimes referred to as the Bir Tawil triangle, although it is clearly a quadrilateral. Its unclaimed status results from a discrepancy between the straight political boundary between Egypt and Sudan established in 1899. It is variously described as the only unclaimed territory that can actually be inhabited.
Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia
The Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia is an administration established by the Georgian government as the legal and only government of Abkhazia, although Abkhazia has been de facto independent of Georgia since the early 1990s with limited recognition. The current head of government is in exile due to Russian occupation.
Provisional Administration of South Ossetia
The Provisional Administration of South Ossetia is an administration established by the Georgian government as the legal and only government of South Ossetia, although South Ossetia has been de facto independent of Georgia since the early 1990s with limited recognition.
Northwest Territorial Imperative
(north-west-tehr-it-tohr-ee-all-im-pair-ah-tiv)
The Northwest Territorial Imperative was a white separatist idea and a proposed Aryan ethnostate. It was formulated in the 1970s and 1980s by white supremacists. Members of white nationalist/supremacist organizations were encouraged to move to this northwestern region with the intention to turn this area into a white ethnostate. It overlaps with Cascadia and has a similar flag to Cascadia, but they do not have ties to each other.
Capital: Unknown
Left Bank of the Dniester (Transnistria)
(left-bank-of-the-nee-stuhr)
The Left Bank of the Dniester is a formal administrative unit of Moldova established by the government to demarcate the territory controlled by the unrecognized republic of Transnistria.
Torres Strait Islands
(tohr-ress-strayt-ai-luhnds)
Torres Strait Islands are a group of islands in the Torres Strait, which separates Cape York in Australia from New Guinea. The Islands are inhabited by the indigenous Torres Strait Islanders, and administered mostly by Australia. Torres Strait Islanders, for statistical purposes, are counted as Aboriginal Australians, although Torres Strait Islanders are Melanesian and are not ethnically similar to Aborigines.
Capital: Thursday Island
Sudan Revolutionary Front
(soo-dahn-reh-vo-loo-shən-air-ree-frunt)
The Sudan Revolutionary Front is an alliance of Sudanese separatist groups that was created to oppose the former president, Omar al-Bashir. They signed a ceasefire with Sudanese officials in 2020 in exchange for some seats in the government.
Safe Demilitarized Border Zone (Sudan)
The Safe Demilitarized Border Zone is a 10 km area on both sides of the Sudan-South Sudan border that was agreed upon in September 2012 but has yet to be implemented. This is due to many factors, such as the fact that the border of Sudan and South Sudan is not agreed upon by both nations and remains disputed.
Center S
(cen-tuhr-ess)
Center S was a secret joint Russian-Syrian spy post in southwestern Syria near the Golan Heights. It was overrun by the Free Syrian Army in 2014. It was recaptured by the Syrian Army in 2018.
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
(is-laa-mick-moov-mint-of-ooz-beck-is-taan)
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was an Islamist militant group formed in 1998 by an Islamic ideologue and a former Soviet paratrooper, both of which were ethnically Uzbek. The original goal of the IMU was to overthrow President Islam Karimov and establish an Islamic state under Sharia law. However, it later reestablished itself as an ally of al-Qaeda and fabricated closer ties with the Taliban. Its leaders pledged allegiance to ISIL and therefore dissolved itself in 2015.
Heligoland
(heh-luh-gow-luhnd)
Heligoland is a small archipelago in the North Sea. It is part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, historically belonging to Denmark before being transferred to the United Kingdom and then being administered from 1945 to 1952 as a war prize of World War II. The local population, ethnically Frisian, speak Halunder, a Frisian language.
South Atlantic Islands
(south-at-lan-tick-eye-luhnds)
The islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean consist of many islands and archipelagos, such as Ascension Island, Saint Helena, and Tristan de Cunha (United Kingdom), Trindade and Martim Vaz, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, Fernando de Noronha and Rocas Atoll (Brazil), Isla de Lobos (Uruguay), and Isla Bermejo (Argentina).
Sudan (SARC)
The Sudanese Awakening Revolutionary Council is an armed militia in Darfur led by a Sudanese tribal chief. It maintains control over three towns in Darfur.
Buganda
(buh-gan-duh)
Buganda is a Bantu kingdom within the borders of Uganda. It is the largest traditional kingdom in East Africa, and includes Uganda's capital, Kampala. The kingdom was abolished under Uganda's first prime minister in 1962 and was restored in 1993.
Capital: Mengo
Federación de Juntas Vecinales de El Alto
(feh-deh-rah-see-OHN-deh-HOON-tahs-veh-seen-AH-lehs-deh-EL-AHL-toh)
FEJUVE is a federation of about 600 neighborhood councils that provides jobs and public services to citizens of El Alto, Bolivia. It is based on the organization methods of the Aymara and was created in 1979 by consolidating neighborhood councils that had existed since the national revolution.
Also hang on, wdym Nicosia is a EUROPEAN capital?! Cyprus is in Asia!!
Great blog guys!
also cyprus is africa