Historical Small Territories
The wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars caused the European map to be redrawn several times. A number of short-lived client republics were created, and the fall of the Holy Roman Empire gave sovereignty to each of its many surviving component states. The situation was not stabilized until after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Following World War I and World War II a number of territories gained temporary status as international zones, protectorates or occupied territories. A few of them are mentioned here:
- Couto Mixto, 10th Century-1864 (now divided between Spain and Portugal)
- Seborga, 10th Century-1729 (subsumed into Italy)
- Senarica, 14th century-end of 18th (subsumed into Italy) (smallest independent state to hold that distinction for so long)
- Gersau, 14th Century-1798 (now part of Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland)
- Republic of Ragusa, 14th Century-1808 (now Dubrovnik, Croatia)
- Cospaia, 1440–1826 (subsumed into Italy)
- Republic of Goust, 1648? – 1827? (now France)
- Free City of Kraków, 1815–1846 (now Kraków, Poland)
- Neutral Moresnet, 1816–1919 (now Kelmis, Belgium)
- Kingdom of Tavolara, 1836-1962 (subsumed into Italy)
- Principality of the Pontinha (1903 - ? – not recognized now, The Principality (Fort of Saint José) is located off the coast of the port of Funchal, capital of the Madeira Islands, an autonomous region of Portugal.
- Free City of Danzig, 1920–1939 (now Gdańsk, Poland)
- Free State of Fiume, 1920–1924 (now Rijeka, Croatia)
- Saar, 1920–35 and 1945–1956 (now Saarland, Germany)
- Free Territory of Trieste, 1947–1954 (now divided between Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia)
Read more about this topic: European Microstates
Famous quotes containing the words historical, small and/or territories:
“The proverbial notion of historical distance consists in our having lost ninety-five of every hundred original facts, so the remaining ones can be arranged however one likes.”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)
“Man staggers through life yapped at by his reason, pulled and shoved by his appetites, whispered to by fears, beckoned by hopes. Small wonder that what he craves most is self-forgetting.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“Imperialism is capitalism at that stage of development at which the dominance of monopolies and finance capitalism is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed.”
—Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924)