The Geography of Land-Locked States: Presidential Address
Author(s): W. Gordon East
Source: Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers), No. 28 (1960), pp. 1-22
Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British
Geographers)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/621111
Accessed: 16-07-2015 09:09 UTC
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THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES*
Address
Presidential
W. GORDONEAST,M.A.
BirkbeckCollege,University
of Geography,
ofLondon)
(Professor
I INTRODUCE my topicwitha quotationfromthatstrangeyetengagingnovel
called TristramShandyby Laurence Sternwhichwas firstpublishedin the
1760s. CorporalTrimis in conversation
withUncle Toby:
The King ofBohemia,an' pleaseyourhonour,repliedthecorporal,was
as thus- That takinggreatpleasureand delightin navigaunfortunate,
tionand all sortof sea affairs... and theirhappening
thewhole
throughout
of
to
be
no
town
whatever
...
How
theduce
kingdom Bohemia,
sea-port
should there- Trim? cried my uncle Toby; for Bohemiabeing totally
inland,it could have happenedno otherwise... It might,said Trim,if it
had pleased God ...
Uncle Toby was right:exceptperhapsfora shorttimewhenthe Czechs emthekingdomofBohemia
bracedtheHussiteheresyand expandedtheirterritory,
neverhad a coast. Indeed,for so long has it been normalfor independent
who in any
thatShakespeare,
Statesto havea seaboardthatit is notsurprising
in dramaticsettings
thanin geographical
case was moreinterested
facts,should
have placed Scene III of Act V of The Winter'sTale in 'Bohemia. A desert
is scarcely
Countrynear theSea'. Nearnessis indeedrelative,and geography
an exactscience,so thatShakespearewas perhapsnotwrong.You mayrememis probber,too, thedelightful
storyof Queen Victoriawhich,unfortunately,
ablyuntrue.She is said to have ordereda man o' war to be sentto Bolivia'to
demonstrateher shocked displeasureoff the Bolivian coast', because the
had fallenfoulof the BolivianPresidentand
BritishMinisterPlenipotentiary
had beenrunoutofthecapitalLa Paz, nakedand seateduponan ass.1 Bolivia,
unlikeBohemia,oncehad a coast,butit had no coastthen:norhas it now.
or sovereignStatesof theworld,whichnumberover
Of theindependent
ninety,fourteenlack coastlandson eithersea or ocean.2 By and large,independentStates(and dependentonestoo) enjoywindowsto thesea, ifnotto the
breadthsof 'territorial
ocean,and include,too,undertheirjurisdictions
varying
sea': these are facts so obvious that theytend to escape the attentionof
whichtheydeserve. Sincethebeginnings
of maritimenavigation
geographers
for
in prehistoric
the
with
their
times, seas,
opportunities exploitation,trade
and travel,and forexploration,
conquestand colonizationat longrange,have
*
East's absenceabroad,thisPresidential
Addressbreakstradition
Owingto Professor
bynot
havingbeenreadto theInstitute
duringitsAnnualConference.
1
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2
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES
attraction.So normaland so desiredis thisdirect
clearlyexerteda compelling
accessto theseas and oceansthatsomeat leastoftheindependent
States,which
now findthemselves
withoutcoastsof theirown,feelthemselves
deprivedand
in some degreeinhibited.Their consciousnessof this gave themcommon
theymet at
groundwhen,early in 1958, on the initiativeof Switzerland,"
Geneva to discuss theirspecial problemin advance of the United Nations
to theselegal discussions
on thelaw of thesea. I shallturnbriefly
conference
later,butmustfirstindicatewhichare theland-lockedStatesand how theyare
Sb~b _Y"
??.
0?
i
o~o
.o
c?
I
:1
I
.
os
;2/
7
r
States.
land-locked
and distribution
ofindependent
FIGURE1-The location,extent
Press.)
oftheClarendon
Department
oftheCartographical
bycourtesy
(Projection
In thecourseofthisaddressI hopeto discoverto what
locatedand distributed.
extenttheymayclaimto have a distinctive
whytheyhave cometo
geography,
for
from
this
arise
them
lack coasts,whatproblems
and,lastly,what
deficiency
exist.
remedies
My address,as you will have guessed,fallswithinthefieldof 'political
geography'whichDr. Carl O. Sauer, the least orthodoxof Americangeolongago calledthe'waywardchildof thegeographical
family'.'We
graphers,
makeclear
should
that
I
me
it
reminds
neednotbe putoffbythisstricture,
yet
a fewtechnicaltermswhichI shalluse and also thescope ofmyinquiry.Note
or
firstthatI shalllimitmydiscussionto Stateswhichare whollyindependent
thus
I
shall
own
affairs.
of
their
control
have
full
which
to
those
i.e.
sovereign,
exclude a large numberof States which are in varyingdegreespolitically
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3
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES
dependent:suchare,forexample,thememberstatesof federalStateslike the
U.S.A. and theU.S.S.R. and manycolonies,protectedstatesand TrustTerritories. It is geographically
convenient
to distinguish
betweentheterms'seas',
which are all to some extentland-locked,and 'oceans' whichtheyjoin.
as
Further,I shall not includeindependentStateswhichfiguredhistorically
land-lockedbut do so no longer,althoughsuch cases inviteattentionforthe
overcomethisformer
limitation.Two
veryreasonthattheyhave successfully
suchStatesare Ethiopiaand Poland. Ethiopiahadno territory
ofitsownon the
",
r,
S
.
V.Q?
?~1
/
..
.
MIE
"?
.'"k
FIGURE
2-The land-locked
StatesofEurope.
independent
Red Sea until1952whenEritrea,formerly
withitas a selfItalian,wasfederated
at
certain
unit.
of
its
had
Poland,
too,
periods
governing
history, accessto the
BalticonlythroughotherStates. The case ofTibetmaybe recalled:after1912
ofChina,buthas nowbeenabsorbedby
itwas a land-lockedStateindependent
theChinesePeople's Republicand organizedas theTibetAutonomousRegion.
With these explanationsand reservations,
considerFigures 1 and 2 which
relateto theland-lockedsovereignStatestoday.
TheLand-lockedStatesand theirGeographical
Characteristics
shows
the
extent
and
distribution
of thepresent
merely location,
Figure1
land-lockedStates. They are mainlybut not exclusively
fourteen
in the Old
of Europe and Asia, but also in SouthAmerica. In
World: in the continents
Africatheself-governing
Federationof Rhodesiaand Nyasaland,ifit achieves
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4
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES
independentstatus,will be added to the list. Eightof thefourteenStateslie
in Europe,fiveof themmakingup a compactgroupin CentralEurope,while,
of the rest,one is in WesternEurope and two are in Italy (Fig. 2). Four of
the Central European group--all except Liechenstein
--have territories
withintheDanube Basin. Onlythreeofthefourteen
States- Bolivia,Paraguay
and Laos - are locatedwhollyor partiallywithinthe Tropics. In the States
TABLEI
Theland-locked
states
sovereign
NameofState
Political
status
In Europe
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
People's Republic
HUNGARY
People's Republic
AUSTRIA
Republic
SWITZERLAND Federal Republic
LUXEMBOURG Grand Duchy
LIECHTENSTEIN Principality
SAN MARINO
Republic
VATICANCITY Papal
In Asia
AFGHANISTAN
NEPAL
MONGOLIA
LAOS
TOTALS
1918
1949
1919
1648
1839
1866
1631
1929
49,354
36,000
32,000
15,944
1,000
62
38
0.17
13.5
9.9
7.0
5.2
0.32
0.015
0.014
0.001
260
280
220
325
320
240
370
590
43.2
62.1
21.1
10.8
30.1
-
-
Kingdom
Kingdom
People's Republic
Kingdom
1747
1769
1945
1954
250,000
54,000
600,000
91,400
12.0t
8.9
1.01
1.7?
48
165
3
18
3.9
22.0
0.05
4.0
Republic
Republic
1825
1811
416,000
150,500
3.3
1.7
8
11
2.8
1.3
1,696,298
64.55
In SouthAmerica
BOLIVIA
PARAGUAY
Densityof Landuse
Date of
Area Population*
populationarableand
orchard
independence
(sq. miles) (millions) (per
sq. mile) (percent)
aretakenfromtheUnited
NationsDemographic
1958(1958).
Yearbook,
*Population
figures
forAfghanistan
8 and 15millions.
tEstimates
rangebetween
lThis is thelowerU.N. estimate
forMongolia.A maximum
estimate
is 2.1.
forLaos isprobably
of2.5millions
low. Anestimate
hasbeengivenby
?ThisU.N. estimate
a Timescorrespondent.
whichlie farthest
fromthe sea - Paraguayand the MongolianPeople's Rethe
public
capitalcitiesstandless than800 milesaway fromit as the crow
flies.
Table I assemblessomebasic factsabout theland-lockedStates. Threeof
- interesting,
themare 'miniature'
or 'micro'-States
ifodd,historical
survivals:
ofLiechtenstein,
thePrincipality
setin theAlps and bytheupperRhineon the
borderof Switzerlandand Austria;the Republicof San Marino,a political
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THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
STATES
5
as 1957,a Communistoutlierin theWest;
inlierin Italywhichwas, as recently
and the Vatican City,only 109 acres in extent,all thatremainsof the Papal
acrossthe Italianpeninsulafromthe Tyrrhenian
Stateswhichonce stretched
two- San Marinoand theVatican
Sea to theAdriatic.Of thesemicro-States,
are
'international
lie entirely
enclaves',5i.e. theirterritories
technically
City
withinthatof anotherState (Italy). The fourteenland-lockedStatesassume
bothin respectof territory
smallimportance
and of populationnumbers:they
of
cent
the
3.4
inhabited
earth
but
occupy per
supportonly2.3 per centof its
as
a
have
lessthantheworldaverage
While,
therefore,
whole,
they
population.
of population,theyrevealindividually
a widerangefromtheverylow densities
ofMongolia,Bolivia,Paraguayand Laos to therelatively
highdensities
(220-370
per squaremile) of theEuropeanStates. The densityof 165 per squaremile
fortheHimalayanStateof Nepal mayappearsurprisingly
high,while thatfor
thePapal State,equivalentto nearly600 per squaremile,compareswiththose
ofJapanand Formosa.
This table mightwell suggestthat the land-lockedStates are a motley
assemblagewithperhapsnothingin commonexcepttheiranomalousdetachmentfromthesea. Butthispremature
conclusionmustbe testedbyconsidering
the various geographicalfeatureswhichtheyreveal. Clearly
comparatively
theydiffer
sharplyin area as in populationnumbers.Do theytendto relateto
Do theyrelateto regionsofminimalaccessispecificphysicalenvironments?
? Did theyspringup at anyparticular
?
bility
periodofhistory
On the simplestbasis we recognizethat some of the land-lockedStates
and Austriahave
occupy mountainousregions: Switzerland,Liechtenstein
in theAlps,Czechoslovakiain theTatra,Boliviain theAndes,while
territories
Mongolia and Nepal intrudeinto the loftymountainsystemof
Afghanistan,
Asia.
In
contrast,Hungary,Luxembourg,Paraguay and Laos have
High
lands,whilemorethanhalfof Boliviais lowland,tropicalat
largelylow-lying
that. The physicalenvironments
of theland-lockedStates,therefore,
showno
common
while
the
if
same
is
true
of
the
uses
the
land are
denominator,
simple
considered.The proportionsof Stateterritory
whichare cultivated(Table I)
showa widerange,frombelow 1 per centin Mongoliato 62 per centin Hunlow in some of the countrieswhichcontain
gary. The figureis strikingly
considerablelowlands- notablyParaguay,Bolivia and Laos - yet high or
fairlyhighin some of themoremountainousStates,notablyCzechoslovakia,
Switzerlandand Nepal.
Do thegeographical
positionsoftheland-lockedStatesshowa highdegree
ofinaccessibility?
to physical
Inaccessibility
may,ofcourse,be due essentially
factors- of extent,altitude,relief,climateand vegetationcover- but it may
also reflect
a low degreeof social controlof theenvironment.
Figure3 shows
broadlywhataccess to railwayssome of theseStatespossess. Here again the
positionshowscontrasts:betweenthe considerablerailwayprovisionenjoyed
by the EuropeanStates,themoderatefacilitiesavailableto Bolivia,Paraguay
and Laos, the very slender provision for the vast Mongolian territoryand for
B
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6
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
STATES
Nepal, and thecompleteabsenceof railwaysin Afghanistan.We are awareof
greatcontrastshere in the social impactwhichhas been made on physical
environment
and thusin thestagesof development
whichhave been reached:
thisis notablyso inSwitzerland
wekeep
as comparedwithAfghanistan,
although
in mindthegreatdifference
in territorial
scale of thesetwocountries.
The largestof the land-lockedStates- Mongolia, Bolivia, Afghanistan
and Paraguay- faceformidable
in respectof internaltransport.It
difficulties
is trueto sayofall ofthemthatitis easierto reacha neighbouring
Statethanto
reach some partsof theirown territory.
These difficulties
springfromtheir
fromclimate,and (in South America)from
greatsize,fromtheirlandforms,
vegetationalobstacles;theyspring,too, fromthelow densitiesof population
-%Jr.
.;
?
i 7
6C
.0_
SCALE IN MILES
1OOO
__ _l _
2000
States
FIGURE3-The areas of thefourAsianland-locked
whichlie morethan100 milesfroma railway.The areas
are enclosedbythesolidline.
lack thecapitalwithwhichto undertake
whichmeanthatthesecountries
public
workson an adequateand necessarily
costlyscale. It is in thesecountriesthat
as distinctfromtotal national
nationalterritory',
the conceptof 'effective
and
Large
partsofBoliviaand Paraguay,
revealingly
applies.
fittingly
territory,
inaccessibleand beyondthecontrolofthegovernments
forexample,lie virtually
of theseStates: PrestonE. Jameshas mappedsuch areas in SouthAmerica.6
Figure4 suggestshow the Andean ranges,the Altiplano,and the interior,
tocirculation.
difficulties
lowlandsofBoliviapresentstaggering
tropical,forested
Look nextat thecolumnin thetablewhichliststhedateswhenthelandstatehood.Does thisshow,forexample,
locked Statesacquiredindependent
thattheseStatesare survivalsof Statesorganizedlong ago whentradeand
commercelayin thehandsofa few
travelweremorelocal and whenmaritime
and Hungaryare historicStates
in
Austria
countries?
seaboard
Only part.
whichhaveassumedin thepastmanyterritorial
shapesand includedsea-coasts.
Switzerlandand San Marino can claim over threecenturiesof independent
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7
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES
statehood,while Afghanistanand Nepal, too, are relativelyold-established
States. The rest,however,in theirpresentformsat least,are productsof the
nineteenthand twentiethcenturies. Bolivia and Paraguay were colonial
territories
of Spain; Luxembourg
onlyin 1839; Czechoacquiredindependence
in
and
Austria
and
their
reduced
slovakia,
forms,are 'successor'
Hungary
Statesof theAustro-Hungarian
which
Empire
collapsedin 1918. The Mongolian People's Republic,Moscow's satellite,formerly
part of China's 'outer
of
are creationsof
and Laos, formerly
French
territories',
Indo-China,
part
SLAND
E
U
3000to
6OOO
ft.
6000 to
ft.
0o to 18poooft.
0.
12,OOo
,,
LAND OVER 1800
ft.-.
NATIONAL CONTROL
IL E S
\...
.
"0'""
I
PA
*
G
SIN~;~P~##ILI\
"B/~%/~r~
SIN%~~r
nationalcontrol(afterPrestonE. James).
FIGURE
4--Boliviaand Paraguay:areasoutsideeffective
recentyears. The land-lockedStatesdiffer
in theirpoliticalstatus:some are
kingdoms,othersrepublics,Sovietor Westernin kind,whileone is a grand
and the Papal State is unique. All but fiveof
duchy,anothera principality,
themare membersoftheUnitedNationsOrganization.The exceptions
include
thethreemicro-States,
whichclearlylack themeansof honouringtheresponsibilitiesof membership:Liechtenstein
was refusedadmissionon thisground.
whichprefersto remainoutside,thebetteractivelyto pursueits
Switzerland,
neutralrole in international
has not soughtmembership.Lastly,the
affairs,
MongolianPeople's Republichas tried,butso farhas failedto secureentry.
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8
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES
The 'StateIdea' of theLand-lockedStates
My analysisthusfarhas provedverynegative:land-lockedStatesappear
have
to
nothingin commonsave theiraloofnessfromthe sea. Yet one geomightappear,in somemeasure,commonto all ofthem
graphicalcharacteristic
otherthanthethreemicro-States.Theymightall appearto be 'buffer
States'.
This assertionneedsjustification.
State'meritsattention
The conceptofthe'buffer
bypoliticalgeographers
morethanI can giveit here. In thepresentcontext'buffer'
relates
by analogy
to familiarapparatusat railwaystationsor on motorcars,and has thesenseof
of 'buffer
State'givenin theConciseO.E.D. is
'shockabsorber'.The definition
between
two large ones diminishing
small
State
the
'A
hardlysatisfactory:
'weak'or 'relatively
chanceofhostilities.'For 'small'we shouldsubstitute
weak'.
State'in modernhistoryis
Indeedperhapsthemostclassicalcase of a 'buffer
weak and no less certainly
theOttoman(Turkish)Empirewhichwas certainly
in
idea
the
buffer
State
of
the
was clearlyexpressed
The
crux
implicit
large.
more than two hundredyearsago by Montesquieuin his Espritdes lois.' I
quotehis shortparagraphin translation:
Whenone has as a neighboura Statethatis decadent,one mustbe very
carefulnotto hastenitsruin,because,in thisrespect,one is in thehappiest
conditionthatone could be in, therebeingnothingso convenientfora
princethanto be nearanotherwhoreceivesforhimtheblowsand outrages
offortune.And it is rarethat,by conqueringsucha State,he increasesas
muchin realpoweras he losesin relativepower.
weak
In short,the bufferState,whetheror not it is decadent,is a militarily
Statebuta usefulshieldto thestrongStateswhichliearoundit. Letus consider
therelevanceof thisconceptto theelevenlargerland-lockedStates. This will
involvea passingglanceat theirdiverseoriginsand case histories.
You may thinkthatit is almostinevitablethat some States shouldlie
whollyinland,giventhe natureof the continentsand theirrelationto the
case of a continent
circularin
oceans. Considerthetheoretical
encompassing
as
area and surrounded
byocean (Fig. 5). The severalnationsofthecontinent,
make sure to includea
theyorganizeand consolidatetheirState territories,
stretchof coast becauseof itsmanifoldand manifest
utility."But notethat,if
ofboundaries
thereis no inlandState,a curiousand embarrassing
convergence
occursat thecentreof thecontinent.The existenceof one land-lockedState,
has an obviousconveniwithitslandslyingaroundthecentreofthecontinent,
for
for
and
The simple
defence
States
enceto all theseaboard
administration.9
historicalcase of thisis foundin ancientGreece whereStates,City States,
appearedearly. In thePeloponnesus,whichis almostan island,you willfind
(Fig. 5) Arcadia,'land of bears' and of woods, of shepherdsand huntsmen,
which was established withina ring of mountains in highland countrywhere
many rivershad theirsources: and it was whollycut offfromthe sea. This was
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9
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES
a countryof small accountin its culturaland economiclife:10 well ratedfor
wellknownforitsexportof asses and merbutnotforintelligence,
hospitality
cenaries,and providingsitesfor manybattles. Arcadia, too, was clearlya
backwardStateand a weakone,thoughitwas notsmallrelatively.Clearlyalso
itwas usefulto themarginalseaboardStatesas a shockabsorberor buffer.
The land-lockedState,then,appearedearlyin Europe and you maywell
about its occurrence.You may also
thinkthatthereis a certaininevitability
thana seaboardState,butif
thinkthatit wouldtendto havemoreneighbours
is
are
The
so
range actuallyfromone to sevenneighyou think,you
wrong.
fourof theland-lockedStates. Two
two
are
found
while
around
bours,
only
have onlyone neighbour,San Marino and the Vatican Citywhich,we have
2
5 LAND-
ARCADIA
LOCKED
STATE
.....
4
CITY STATES
IN
PELOPONNESOS
O MILES
S.0
c. 500 B.C.
3
1to
5
numbered
are
The largercircle representsa
continentsurrounded
bysea:
stateswithcoasts
State.
case ofa land-locked
FIGURE5-The locationofArcadiac. 500B.c. and a theoretical
noted,are 'international
enclaves';and the countrywhichenjoys,or suffers,
is Austria,withseven. Butto continuemy
themaximumnumberofneighbours
in nearlyall respects,
mainargument:can we concludethat,althoughtheydiffer
theelevenlargerland-lockedStatesoftodayshareone othercommoncharacterthis
States? In considering
istic,namelythattheyare,in varyingdegrees,buffer
we may inquirealso about what certainAmericanpoliticalgeohypothesis,
graphershave called the 'State idea' to see whetherthis concepthelps our
investigation.
The 'State idea' goes back to Ratzel. It has been revivedby R. Hartshome,"and PrestonE. Jameshas applieditto SouthAmericanStates. It is best
of a particularState,or as thepecudefinedas theraisond'etreorjustification
or
thatdistinguish
itfromotherStates.
for
which
it
stands
liarpurpose purposes
Suchpurposeor purposesare presented
to thepeopleoftheStateand acknowledgedby them. This concept,it is claimed,shouldengagetheinterestof the
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10
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
STATES
as an essentialtargetofanalysisand thought.The concept
politicalgeographer
is notnecessarily
at all easy
applicableto all existingStatesnoris it necessarily
to applyin particularcases. Althoughwe maybe willingto formulate
on the
is
what
the
us
or
of
'State
idea'
let
the
Israel
Soviet
we
of,
Union,
spot
say,
might
wellpause beforespeakingconfidently
abouttheStateidea ofeithertheUnited
Statesor theUnitedKingdom. My analysisof thecases beforeus can be only
provisionaland myanswerstentative.
The case of Switzerlandis familiar. Three small mountaincantons,
inhabited
byGermanpeasantsand so placedas to controlthenorthern
approach
to the St. Gotthardand Furka passes of theAlps,won independence
of their
feudaloverlordsin the laterMiddle Ages. To thiscore area othercantons
attachedthemselves
by stagesand foundincreasedstrength
throughpolitical
ofgovernment.
associationand democratic
institutions
TheyformedtheSwiss
Confederation
whichwas formally
Statein 1648,
recognizedas an independent
thusbreakingits formerlinkwiththeHoly Roman Empire. In 1815 Switzeras an independent
ofthree
landre-emerged
State,enlargedbytheincorporation
cantonsin the west- Geneva,Vaud and Neuchatel.Moreover,its perpetual
and territorial
werethensolemnlyguaranteedby theGreat
neutrality
integrity
Powers.12
Whatcan be deducedfromthesebald facts,together
withthosewe knowof
its
the Swiss physicalenvironment,
including geographicalpositionathwart
routeswhichconnectthreerelatively
powerfulStates- France,Germanyand
Switzerland
was
strategically
Italy? Clearly
placed, as JuliusCaesar first
showed. We may note what Machiavelliwrotein 1513: 'The Swiss are well
was smalland weak
armedand enjoygreatfreedom.'But clearlySwitzerland
as comparedwithits greatneighbours.The GreatPowersin 1815 definitely
as well as thoseof all Europe,werebest
recognizedthattheirown interests,
in futureconflicts,
servedby theexclusionof a smallStatefromparticipation
is a buffer
State and a neutralState as
as has indeedhappened. Switzerland
well: theseconsiderations
mainlycharacterizeits State idea. Indeed,in the
of
and of theirmountains,the Swiss,farmoreentertheir
neutrality
security
haveexploitedtheirresourceswithmarkedsuccess,
than
the
Arcadians,
prising
whichwe call
basingtheireconomyon theirwellpopulatedarea (or oecumene)
theSwissPlateau,theGermanscall the'SwissMittelland',and theFrenchcall
'Les CollinesSuisses'. Nor has thelack of a sea-coastcurtailedSwitzerland's
and
as we shall see. The advantagesto the neighbours,
commercialactivity,
in evidence,
are so continually
indeedto therestoftheworld,ofSwissneutrality
alikein peace and in war,as to needno elaborationhere.13
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg,whose small area withinthe Rhine
massifis surrounded
by Germany,Franceand Belgium,has a long historyas
Roman
of
Empireand laterof the GermanConfederation.In
part theHoly
1815it was attachedto thekingdomof theNetherlands.Formallyrecognized
as an independentState in 1839, it retained dynasticlinks with Holland until
1890 and long remainedpart of the German customs union, the Zollverein. In
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THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
STATES
11
1867theGreatPowerscollectively
In 1922
guaranteeditsperpetualneutrality.
it established
an economicunionwithBelgiumand in 1948joinedwithBelgium
and theNetherlands
in theso-calledBeneluxCustomsUnion. In its constitutionof 1948it renouncedits 'perpetualneutrality'
whichhad been violatedin
bothWorldWars,and becamea memberoftheNorthAtlanticTreatyOrganizationand, in 1950,of theEuropeanCoal and SteelCommunity.More recently
it becamepart of the CommonMarket. In the lightof thesefactsnote the
essentialpoliticalcharacterof Luxembourg.It is a smalland militarily
weak
State,withan old fortress
cityas capital,situatedon theborderoftwopowerful
States, France and Germany,and also alongside Belgium. It was clearly
anotherinstanceof the bufferState as conceivedby Montesquieuwhichthe
GreatPowersfoundadvantageousto preserveand to neutralize.
Austria,aftertheFirstWorldWar and thecollapseof themulti-national
Austro-Hungarian
Empire,emergedas a small Alpine and Danubian State,
nationallyhomogeneous,but a mererump. The wheelof historyhad turned
and the new Republic of Austriawas territorially
not unlike the original
Ostmarkor frontier
buffer
whichtheEmperorOttocreatedagainsttheMagyars
(Hungarians)in thetenthcentury.Austriawas cutofffromTrieste,theseaport
whichit had builtforits own use in theeighteenth
century.Afterits political
with
under
Hitler
and
the
integration
Germany
militaryoccupationwhich
followedthe Second World War, it recoveredfullindependenceand neutral
statusby theAustrianStateTreatyof 1955. Note Austria'sstrategic
position
betweenthehead oftheAdriaticSea and themiddleDanubianbasin,and note,
too, its position,withothersmall States,betweenthe SovietUnion and the
West. As withSwitzerland
and Luxembourg,
so withAustria,theGreatPowers
foundcommoninterestand advantagein accordingneutralstatusand it fits
intoour generalschemeas a land-lockedStatewhichis a buffer.
Hungary,we have noted,is also a successorand residualState of the
Austro-Hungarian
Empire, withinwhich,as the Hungarian Kingdom, it
retaineditsownparliamentary
nationalidentity
and a considerable
institutions,
whichincludeda windowon theAdriaticSea, notablyat Fiume. At
territory
its inceptionas an independent
and Catholickingdomas earlyas A.D. 1001
extenthas changedcontinually
Hungarywas an inlandStatebut itsterritorial
history.The Hungarywhichemergedin 1919,and thattoo which
throughout
reappearedafterthe SecondWorldWar, was greatlyreducedin area, wholly
inlandyetnationallymorehomogeneous,
forthemainlynon-Magyarareas of
the old kingdomhad been lopped off. Hungaryis clearlyan historic'nation
State' rootedto its homelandintowhichtheMagyarsfirstpenetrated
as long
ago as the ninthcentury.It is no less a Danubian Statelying,like Austria,
astridethenavigableDanube whichgivesaccessto theBlackSea. As a People's
of otherCommunist
Republicso-called,it is ringedaroundby theterritories
States- Czechoslovakia,the U.S.S.R., Rumaniaand Yugoslavia- exceptto
the westwhereit adjoins neutralAustria. Thus, whileHungarydiffers
from
Switzerlandand Austria in being committedto one of the two opposed political
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12
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
STATES
camps of Europe,it is clearlyone of a numberof Stateswhichcollectively
insulatethe U.S.S.R. fromthe West. In the inter-war
years,it was similarly
to
a
of
oriented
the
which
as
one
of
tier
was conceivedas
States,
West,
regarded
a buffer
betweenGermanyand theU.S.S.R."1 Its Stateidea would appearto
itsdistinctive
residein itslongnationalhistory,
language,and itsadherenceto
the Roman Catholic Church. A Communistgeographer,however,would
doubtlessfinda newerand compellingState idea in its organizationas a
People's Republic.
thetheoretical
I turnnextto Czechoslovakiawhichbestillustrates
case, to
whichI referred
earlier,in that,withinthetrulypeninsularEurope at least,it
occupiesa middleposition,in so faras an area so shapedcan be said to havea
middle. Most of whathas been said alreadyof Austriaand of Hungaryhere
Austroapplies. Czechoslovakiawas createdin 1918fromlandsof theformer
HungarianEmpireand maybe regardedas themodernequivalentof the old
Bohemiankingdom. Its interiorpositionis reflectedin the numberof its
- thetwo Germanies,Poland,Austria,Hungaryand theU.S.S.R.
neighbours
This is a composite'nationState'of Czechsand Slovakswithitsownlanguage
and its core area in thePolabe withintheupper Elbe (Labe) basin. Czechoslovakialooks seawardsin threedirections:down theElbe to theNorthSea,
downtheOder to theBaltic,and downtheDanube to theBlack Sea fromits
riverport of Bratislava. The Moravian Gate gives easy access to Poland.
Finallynotethatthe CzechoslovakPeople's Republicfallsintoline withthat
zone betweenthe U.S.S.R. and
of the Hungariansas part of a broad buffer
theWest. The remarkable
strategical
positionofBohemia,withitsroutefocus
here. WhileCzechoslovakiais one of the
at Prague,needsonlybe mentioned
it is relatively
weakas comparedwith
of theU.S.S.R.'s satellites,
twostrongest
theGermanFederalRepublicand theU.S.S.R.
itsprincipalneighbours,
I turnnowto Asia wheretheMongolianPeople'sRepublic,whosenominal
was recognizedby both the ChinesePeople's Republicand the
independence
U.S.S.R. in 1950,occupiesan enormousarea of desertplateauxand of mountains. More than85 percentofthiscountrystandsabove 3000feet,and doubt
whichrangefrom0.9 to
aboutitspopulationnumbersis expressedbyestimates
of separation'presentedby
Here on a largescale is a 'frontier
2.1 millions.15
nature,occupiedbynomadicand otherpastoralpeopleswhoare clearlymaking
some advance towardssettledlife,whichincludesminingand some railway
provision. Note its strikinggeographicalpositionathwartthe shortestrail
routefromMoscow to Peking,via Irkutsk.The U.S.S.R. soughtto createin
OuterMongoliaa spaciousshieldagainsttheJapanesewho,in the 1930s,were
InnerMongolia. As
establishedin Manchuriaand Jeholand werecontrolling
made
thingsnow stand,theMongolianPeople'sRepublicis a Russiansatellite,
as
old
China.
So
lasts
between
the
the
from
detached
long amity
up ofterritory
two Soviet giants, Mongolia becomes a bridge, rather than a buffer;yet it
retainspotentiallythis property.18
Afghanistan,set withinits loftymountains and high plateaux, especially
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THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
STATES
13
fromthe timeof railwaybuildingin India and in Russian CentralAsia (i.e.
around the mid-nineteenth
placed and weak
century)was a conveniently
of access,
Moslem State, occupyingterritory
littleintegratedand difficult
betweentheEmpireoftheTsarsand thatofBritainin India. Thisconvenience
was broadlyrecognizedby both sides as is attestedby the manyagreements
made betweenRussia and Britainand by the efforts
whichweredirectedto
and even to demarcating
the boundariesof Afghanistan.17Under
delimiting
Frontierof India
presentconditions,whenthe defenceof the old North-west
falls primarilyon Pakistan(like Afghanistan
a Moslem State),the value of
as an obstacleto the U.S.S.R.'s expansionto the Arabian Sea,
Afghanistan
and thusto theIndianOcean, clearlyremains.The interest
of theU.S.A. and
of the U.S.S.R. in Afghanistan
is strongand evidentand thatof thelatteris
1 Here is anotherland-lockedbufferState: but
there.
becomingentrenched
whatis its State-idea?
Thereremainin Asia forreviewtheland-lockedStatesof Laos and Nepal.
Laos, theboundariesofwhichabut China,Vietnam,Siam and Cambodia,was
fromthe1880spartofFrenchIndo-China.AftertheSecondWorldWar itwas
madean AssociatedStateoftheFrenchUnion,butwiththecollapseofFrench
itwas setup as an independent
and
military
powerunderCommunist
pressure,
it
neutralized
State
the
of
Geneva
Conference
1954.
virtually
by
Clearly is a
weakStatewitha powerful
Communist
its
and
neighbour
position
geographical
is recognizedby theeightSEATO Powerswhich(in theirtreatyof 1954)agree
thatan attackon Laos (as on otherdesignatedStates)would endangertheir
peace and safety. 'It is in everybody'sinterest',wroteThe TimesBangkok
on 21stJune1958,'to keep Laos as a buffer
State'.
correspondent
in
the
between
India
and
Tibet,nowfindsitself
Nepal,19
poised
Himalayas
also a neighbour
oftheChinesePeople's Republic. It is a remarkable
case ofa
for
and
State
which
centuries
considerable
seclusion,especially
people
preserved
fromEuropeans- a policyno longerpossible. It escaped the Moslem conquest of India, as also the Britishconquest. It containsthe birthplaceof
Buddha- and Mount Everest. Its intermediate
positionbetweenChina and
of access fromTibet, is reflected
in the racial
India, despitethe difficulties
character
oftheNepalese,who arelargelyMongoloid,in theirreligiousassociations (Buddhismand Hinduism),in theirarchitectural
styles,and in their
languages. The peasantsspeak Tibeto-Burman
languages,while the official
language,Nepali,is relatedto theHindubranchoftheIndo-European
language
family. Like Switzerland,Nepal exportedsoldiers,the famous Gurkhas.
Easiest access to theheartof Nepal, thevalleyaroundKatmanduthecapital,
is fromIndia, but thereare only58 milesof railway.It is withinthe orbitof
India thatNepal lay and lies,witnesstheircommoninterest
in theChatradam
fortheKosi multi-purpose
project.Clearly,in relationto itsgreatneighbours,
India and China,Nepal is weak,vulnerable,
indeedindefensible;
thisveryfact
its
ensure
survival.
Its
State
idea
would
to
seem
in
reside
its national
may
traditions
and cultures.
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14
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES
meetin theGran
The RepublicsofBoliviaand Paraguay,whoseterritories
Statesmaybe
that
land-locked
the
illustrate
Chaco,
generalprinciple(Fig. 6)
stretch
of
continents.
the
middle
towards
througha
Togetherthey
expected
to
a
of
and
breadth
1250
miles
of
1100
miles,lying thesouth
length (at most)
of thecentreof SouthAmerica.Theyoccupyinterior
partsof formerSpanish
in particular
of
of La Plata and Peru.
the
colonialterritory,
Viceroyalties
parts
Bolivia neighboursBrazil, Peru, Chile, Argentinaand Paraguay,while the
last-namedlies betweenBrazil and Argentina,bordersalso Bolivia but not
Uruguay. Formidableobstaclescheckinternalcirculation:in Bolivia, sheer
do 70 6'0 50 40
-10
-0o0-
so
99
so
Sp
70
6
S
o
40o
40
o
-50
90spo7,25,0o.,
MILESS
1000
3,
$o01
FIGURE6-The locationand extentof thelandlockedStatesofSouthAmerica.
extent,the Andean cordillerasand theircontainedAltiplano,plateauxin the
and rainforestin theupperbasinoftheAmazon; and in Paraguay
south-east,
the extensiveforestsof the Chaco lowlands. These conditions,togetherwith
thepaucityofpopulation,helpto explainwhythesetwoStatesremainimmature
sincethe earlynineteenth
century.One difficulty
despitetheirindependence
aredrawnintothe
is that,as railwaybuildingproceeds,partsoftheirterritories
of
countries.
orbit neighbouring
The corearea of Paraguaylies aroundAsunci6n,whichSpain foundedin
and virileGuarani.
1537as thecapitalofitscolonialoutpostamongthefriendly
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THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
15
STATES
(Fig. 7). In thiscorearea,whichoccupiesonly5 percentofthenationalterritory,live60 percentoftheParaguayans,whoare ofmixedGuaraniand Spanish
descent. Similarly,
in Bolivia,three-quarters
ofthepopulationlivein one-fifth
of thetotalarea - separatedvalleysand basinswithinthebleak,east Andean
Highlands,whilelarge areas of potentiallygood arable land lie remoteand
of access,too, doubtlesslies behindthebacklargelyundeveloped.Difficulty
wardnessand povertyof Bolivia and Paraguay,whereare foundthe lowest
incomelevelsand thehighestdegreesof illiteracy
in SouthAmerica. Yet the
conceptof 'underdevelopment'
appliesto both,and mostclearlyto Bolivia,'a
S
/
.
-",
-'', .
"RIO
DE
'"
/.
CONCEPi
,
BUENOS
o PAUL
,
ASUNCION
ROSARIO
SAO
"JANEIRO
N
w
*R
SA
o
URU G U AY
AIRES
-
A*
D...The
oMONTEVIDEO
..
0
Oecmene
of
Paraguay
Ra ilways
MILES
5
C~
7--Paraguay:accessto theAtlantic.
FIGURE
beggarsittingon a Chair of Gold', as expertsstillbelieve.20And we should
thatAndeanBoliviaformedpartoftheIncanEmpirewhichachieved
remember
civilizationof SouthAmerica.
thehighestpre-Columbian
At its inceptionin 1825 and until1879 Bolivia held 250 milesof coast,
and copperores,and theseaportsof
edgingtheAtacamaDesert,richin nitrates
and
all
of
whichare now in Chile. Access to
Mejillones
Cobijo,
Antofagasta,
difficult
forBolivia because of physicalgeothe sea was, however,inevitably
graphy.Bolivialost its sea-coastto Chile in theWar of thePacific(1879-83),
muchlargerareas oftropicallowlandto Brazil(in 1867and 1903),and partsof
theGran Chaco to Argentinaand Paraguay,as well as otherland to Peru,in
an outletto theAtlantic
1938aftera warwithParaguaywhichaimedat securing
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16
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
STATES
by way of theParaguayriver.Indeed,Bolivia is believedto have lost to its
fiveneighboursno less than492,000squaremilesofterritory,
i.e. morethanit
nowretains(Fig. 8). Note thattheboundariesofBoliviaand Paraguay,as now
delimitedand indeeddemarcated,
includeseveral'triplepoints'. Paraguay,no
less hedgedin by morepowerfulStateslost,too, partofitsoriginalholdingto
Brazil and Argentinaduringthe war of 1864-70withBrazil,Argentinaand
Uruguay,in whichit also greatlyreduceditsmalepopulation.
Even thoughit lacks territorial
and economicintegration,
Paraguayis
clearlya nation State,witha broadlyhomogeneousmestizopopulationof
more by
Guarani descentand Guarani language. It has been characterized
so thatit retainsits Indian character(cf. the
emigrationthan immigration,
Territorial losses of
Bolivia, 1825-1938
c-e
Gran Chaco
[I-
F
Bolivia's
4-
access
- ---"T
LMA
P E RU
to the
Pacific
1
LAPAZ
I
MATARA
MOLLEND IILO /
ARICA
B__0
BOLI
TACA_'
VAI
V 1
-17
MEJILLONES
ANTOFAGASTA
UAY
C'"ARAG
iT
1.U
.''.
t -
"
(A.
.
...ARGENTINA
extent,
pastand present.
FIGURE8--Bolivia:territorial
'white'republicsof Argentinaand Uruguay). WhileBoliviais also an Indian
littlefromPeru's,
State,itsIndianpopulation(ofAymarasand Quechuas)differs
distinctness
and
consciousness
are
less clear. Hownational
its
and
cohesion,
has
been
said
to
conclusion
that
both
Bolivia and
justifymy
ever,enough
alike
weak
and militarbe
rated
States,
politically,
economically
Paraguaymay
and
their
lie
between
Like
survival,as
powerful
neighbours,
Uruguay,they
ily.
this
has
obvious
little
buffer
States,
advantages
thoughtheymayappreciate role,
of SouthAmerica.
forthepeacefuldevelopment
To sumup mydiscussionthusfar:theelevenlargerland-lockedcountries
ofwhichis inevitably
connected
weakbuffer
are all militarily
States,thesecurity
withthatof theirmaritimeneighbours.They occupypositionsof strategical
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THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
STATES
17
this applies notablyto Luxembourg,
importance,less today than formerly;
Austria
and
Switzerland,
Czechoslovakia,
Hungaryin Europe,and to Afghaniof
in
Asia.
Two
theelevenStatesare neutralized,
Laos
and
i.e.
stan,
Mongolia
retain
means
for
defence
modest
and
stand
from
they
only
military
they
apart
alliances. Three,in contrast,two in Europeand one in Asia, are alignedwith
the Communistbloc. Of the rest,Laos is neutralist
betweenEast and West,
whileAfghanistan
into
be
may falling
completedependenceon its neighbour,
the SovietUnion. The two SouthAmericanland-lockedcountriesfallwithin
theframework
ofWesternhemisphere
defenceorganizedand led bytheUnited
States. In themaintheland-lockedStatesare 'nationStates',althougha few
of themare doubtfully
so classified.Severalofthem,too,showmarkedsignsof
and of economicunderdevelopment.
politicalimmaturity
They mighttoo
but this
appear to be characterized
by emigrationratherthan immigration,
aspectrequiresinvestigation.
Accessto theSea
I turnlastlyand briefly
to thespecialproblemswhichhave arisenbecause
one-sixthof the sovereignStatesof the worldlack access to the sea through
theirownterritories.
Ofcourse,beyondeveryinlandStateliesthesea or ocean:
thereare alwaysa sea-coastand a seaportto whichany inlandarea can be
relatedin so faras it needsthefacilityof maritimeintercourse
and wishesto
law
enjoyits acknowledgedrightto use the 'highseas' whichin international
are rescommunis,
i.e. freeand availableto all. Further,
progressin themeans
of transport
have beenespeciallyhelpfulto land-lockedStates. Problems,and
not alwaysdifficulties,
arise simplybecause the land is politicallycomparted
and because nations,like individuals,do not relishbeingwhollybeholdento
theirneighbours,
theJoneses,especiallywhen,as in thiscase, theJonesesare
betteroff.The problemswhicharisenecessarily
have a juridicalaspectand a
and
economic
financial
considerations,
too, are involved.
psychological
aspect;
The psychological
is
clear.
Land-locked
States
are
consciousoftheir
aspect
as
no
even
is
the
serious
when,
disability,
commonly case,
practicaldifficulties
arisein theiraccess to the sea. 'The one platformon whichall Boliviansare
unitedis theirdemandforan outleton thesea and thelack ofa seapolitically
boardis thecountry's
mostvociferous
therepresentative
grievance.'21Similarly,
of Paraguay,speakingin the United Nations Assembly(12th session),said:
'The country'smostseriousproblem,fromits earliestdays as an independent
thatone of the Comnation,has been thatit is land-locked.'It is significant
mitteesof the U.N. Assemblyis specifically
concernedwiththe land-locked
Statesand thatat theU.N. Conference
on thelaw ofthesea, whichwas heldat
Geneva from24thFebruaryuntil27thApril 1958,thirteenof the eighty-six
Statesrepresented
wereland-locked;and one of thecommittees
set up by the
Conference
was concernedwith'access to the sea of land-lockedcountries'.22
Availablereports"23
of the discussionsheld at Geneva throwlighton the
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18
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
STATES
whichgovernthe access to the sea of inlandcountries
existingarrangements
and on thedesireheld by some of themthattheirrightsof access shouldbe
written
law. It is noteworthy
thatwhile
into,and guaranteedby,international
some States,notablyAfghanistan,
Czechoslovakia
and
Bolivia,proNepal,
posed this,others,notablySwitzerlandand Austria,were contentwiththe
statusquo. IndeedSwitzerland
was at painsto preventtheformation
ofa bloc
ofland-locked
States.
To the legal aspect of theseproblemsI can onlyallude. Amonginternationallawyersthereis a fundamental
divisionof opinionbetweenthosewho
believethattherightofpassageto thesea is an inescapableobligation- a 'State
servitude'imposedon countriesseawardof land-lockedones,and those(the
majority)who believethatsuch a facilitymay be establishedonly by intermuchprogress
Stateagreements.24Certainly
was made by theConventionand
Statuteon Freedomof Transit25 agreedat the BarcelonaConferenceof 20th
April 1921 when the Statesrepresented
recognizedthe rightof land-locked
countriesto transitthroughsurrounding
countrieswithequalityof treatment,
and specified
themeansforsettling
Further,
anydisputeswhicharosetherefrom.
a solemnDeclaration,26madeat thisConference,
agreedto recognizetheflagof
vesselsofa land-lockedState,providedtheywereregistered
at a specified
place
withinitsterritory.
Use of thisrightis made by Switzerland,
Czechoslovakia,
Paraguay,Hungaryand Austria.27The mainlegal aspectof our problemconcerns 'adequate transportfacilitiesin promotinginternational
trade'. This
law as therightof 'innocent
need- of whatis nicelyknownin international
and itis usuallycateredfor
passage'- is metinpracticeas a matterofcourtesy,
in bilateraltreaties.Note thatinnocentpassage,to be effective,
mustinclude
of
the
State.
of
the
territorial
seas
seaboard
passage
As illustrations
of thesebilateralarrangements
inscribedin treatieswe
in
note
that
a
with
Siam
is
Laos, by treaty
1955, grantedtransitrightsin
may
Siam to Siameseports;thatNepal, by a treatywiththeIndianUnion of 31st
July1950,has 'fulland unrestricted
rightof transit',includingthatof civil
where
itsgoodsare exempted
fromexciseand
Indian
aircraft,
through
territory
such
that
facilities
in theU.S.S.R.
similarly
enjoys
importduties;
Afghanistan
of
in
Pakistan
to
reach
28th
and
June
Karachi,and that
(Agreement
1955)
and
undermorerecentagreements28
(in 1958) transport portfacilitiesare to
be improved,
withAmericanfinancialhelp,to facilitate
accessto
Afghanistan's
thesea.
an inland State
For purposesof customs,as also formereconvenience,
needsto haveitsownshareofone at leastofitsneighbour's
seaportsand thisis
usuallymade availableon a clearlegal footingby theprovisionof a so-called
'freeport',i.e. a specified
portarea is assignedto thecontroloftheinlandState.
Anotherarrangement
whichwas devisedand appliedas earlyas 1815 to the
river'. Thus the
riverRhine,restedon thelegal conceptof the 'international
navigable section of the riverRhine was made legallyavailable to the vessels of
all nations, and not merelyto those of riparian States, so that Switzerland,in
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19
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES
pre-railway
days,enjoyed,as of right,riveraccessto thesea fromBasel.29 The
Euroriverwas laterappliedto otherimportant
principleof theinternational
of severalStates,
pean riverswhichindifferently
passed throughtheterritories
notablyto theDanube (in 1856)and to theElbe and Oder (in 1919),but since
theSecondWorldWar it has beenabandonedin respectoftheserivers.30
Even
so, it appearsthattheEuropeanland-lockedStatesenjoyin factthefacilities
whichtheyneed forthe conductof overseatrade. Thus Czechoslovakiahas
access to and fromHamburg,Stettinand Gdynia-Dansk,whereit has its own
customs-free
zone and,likeAustriaand Hungary,can plyitsownvesselson the
t
t10s
i0ow
do'w
I
MILES
100
L
,, .
MILES
.
RAILWAYS
....',
CUZCO
*'
1IIiSANTA
CRU;i
MOLLENDO
2020S
sbow
800
.oS
ILA PAZ
,I ,
,
SUCRE I
ARICA
ANTOFAGASTA
JANEIRO
RIO DE
SUN/I
FE
SANTA
VALPARAISO
w
BUENOS
AIRES
so*w 70*w
MONTEVIDEO
so5w 40eW
FIGURE
9-Bolivia: railwayaccessto Pacificand Atlanticports.(The
area of Boliviais vertically
shaded.)
Danube. Austriahas a 'freeport'at Trieste(Agreement
of 3rdFebruary1956)
needsare amplycoveredbyitsmembership
whileLuxembourg's
oftheBenelux
customsunionand theCommonMarket.
In Bolivia,thesettledAltiplanoand thecapitalLa Paz have accessto the
Pacificand freetransitby threesingle-track
railways,all builtin thiscentury,
whichcarryBolivia's mineralexports. These connectLa Paz to Arica and
Antofagastain Chile,and to the Peruvianportsof Mollendo and Matarani.
Boliviahas also treaty
rightsto 'freeports'inthesefourPacificports.Relatively
newrailways,whichconnectSanta Cruz withCorumbain Braziland withthe
railwaysystem,provide,at some distance,outletsto Atlanticports
Argentine
fromthe easternlowlandsof Bolivia (Fig. 9). But facilities
at thePacificports
are deemedinadequateforBolivia'sneeds.
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20
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED
STATES
as well as historically,
thebestsettledareas of Paraguay
Geographically,
of the La Plata estuaryand this'riversidenation'
are part of the hinterland
on theParaguay-Parand
riversforthetransport
of
dependsalmostcompletely
chief
river
which
is
accessible
freight.Asunci6n,Paraguay's
port,
(exceptduring
the season of low waterfromJanuaryto May) by vesselsof up to 12 feet
draught,
mayin a smalldegreebe reckoneda seaport,in thata fewsmallvessels
of 800 tons deadweightactuallyreachit directlyfromEuropeanports. The
bulk of its trade,however,is by way of BuenosAiresand, to a muchsmaller
extent,via Montevideo. Paraguay enjoys bonded warehousefacilitiesat
BuenosAiresand Rosario. Goods traffic
carriedby waterbetweenAsunci6n
and Buenos Aires and Montevideoare handled respectively
by Argentine
State-owned
vesselsand by a Braziliancompany.Whetherrail or rivertransportis used,Paraguayhas to facethedelaysand thechargesimposedbyothers,
and freight
chargeshavebeenat timeshigherbetweenBuenosAiresand Asunci6n than betweenEngland and Buenos Aires."3Remember,however,the
distancesinvolved:Asunci6nis 938 miles fromBuenos Aires by rail, and
farther
byriver.ButParaguaywillsoonenjoyanotherapproachto thesea and a
freeporton theBraziliancoast at Paranagua,sinceBrazilis buildingan internationalhighwayto makethisaccessfeasible.
Conclusion
land-lockedcountries,
The fourteen
to whichI havedrawnyourattention,
arbitrariness
with
the
which
the
Earth'ssurfaceand itsresourcesare
reflecting
in
their
international
affairswithoutany very
politicallyshared,get along
their
of
lack
coasts.
Some of thesecounevidentpracticaldifficulties
through
- theirunder-privileged
triesare acutelyawareoftheirdeficiency
status;others
whichemphasizesthattransitis a two-waytraffic
and
are not,likeSwitzerland,
that reciprocalrelationsbetweencountrieswithand withoutcoasts can be
aroundtheconference
table. However,relationsbetweenneighsettledsensibly
cordial:theAfghandelegatesat Geneva,accordingto
boursare notinvariably
thatPakistanwas 'strangthePakistannewspaperDawn," gavetheimpression
land-locked
like
a
country
Afghanistan'.It may be recalledthat
ling poor
in
the
its
war
with
1930s
Chileand Peru deniedtheshipment
Paraguay
during
whichhas since been
of arms to Bolivia throughtheirports,a restriction
has long escaped isolationby joiningthe
removedby treaties.Liechtenstein
Swisscustomsunion,whileLuxembourgis showingthata smallcountrycan
surviveand prosperby mergingits economiclifewiththat of other,larger
States. This policymayfindfollowers.Thus thePrimeMinisterof Pakistan,
aloud'33in thesummerof 1958,mootedtheidea ofa customsunionor
'thinking
withhisMoslemneighbours,
and Iran. The larger
evenfederation
Afghanistan
in varyingdegreeand,as such,
land-lockedStates,we havefound,areall buffers
have value to theirgreaterneighboursand thus contributeto international
stability.
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THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES
21
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Theauthoracknowledges
thehelpgivenbythePublications
Fund,Birkbeck
College,University
of London,towardsthecostof theillustrations.
NOTES
Note: AmongtheavailableUnitedNationspublications
used are thefollowing:Comments
by
Governments
on the Articlesconcerningthe law of the sea prepared by the InternationalLaw Commissionat its eighthsession(23rd October 1957) and UnitedNations Conferenceon thelaw of thesea,
Officialrecords,vols. ii and vii (Geneva, 1958).
Bolivia: a landdivided(1954), 1.
1 See HAROLDOSBORNE,
2 The figure
because
of'overninety'shouldnow(October1960)be revisedto'overonehundred'
of thecreationof manynew(mainlyAfrican)States. The numberof independent
Stateshas more
thandoubledsincethebeginning
ofthiscentury.Theirenumeration
todayraisesvariousdifficulties.
UkraineS.S.R. and Byelorussia
S.S.R. are nothereincludedas independent
States,althoughthey
aremembers
oftheUnitedNations,norcertainland-locked
Stateswhicharenotwhollyindependent,
Andorra,Bhutanand Sikkim.
notably
3
tothoseland-locked
Stateswhich
wereamongtheeighty-seven
Switzerland
confined
itsinvitations
invitedAfghanistan,
U.N. members
on thelaw of thesea, and accordingly
calledto theconference
Austria,Byelorussia,
Laos, Luxembourg,
Bolivia,Czechoslovakia,
Hungary,
Nepal,Paraguay,San
MarinoandtheVatican.This,withthehostcountry,
makesthirteen.
NotetheomissionofLiechtensteinandtheMongolianPeople'sRepublic,whicharenotmembers
ofone
ofUNO, andtheinclusion
memberstateof theSovietUnion,whichis. Attempts
of Czechoslovakia,
by therepresentatives
and Hungaryto haveMongoliainvited
failed(TheTimes,12thFebruary1958).
Byelorussia
4 Cited by R. HARTSHORNE, The natureof geography(1939),203, fromCARL SAUER, 'Recent
in thesocial
developmentsin culturalgeography',chap. 4 of E. C. HAYES(ed.), Recent developments
sciences
(1927),154-212.
Interenclavesand the questionof stateservitudes',
5 C. D'OLIVIER FARRAN, 'International
nationaland ComparativeLaw Quarterly,4 (1955), 294-307. There are also 'internationalexclaves',
of whichWest Berlinis a notable example: see G. W. S. ROBINSON,
'Exclaves', Annals of theAssociationof AmericanGeographers,49 (1959), 283-95.
6 W. G. EASTand A. E. MOODIE(eds.), The
changingworld(1956), 889.
des Etatsvoisins',in Espritdes lois (Paris,1872),113.
7 Book IX, chap. X, 'De la faiblesse
Thisworkwasfirst
at Genevain 1748. I thankmycolleagueDr. D. Dakinfordrawing
published
my
attention
to thispassage.
of coastlineto unitarea of landwas a signthata
believedthata highproportion
8 Carl Ritter
wouldbe advancedand prosperous.
country
9Comparethe so-called'triplepoints'in SouthAmerica,where'antecedent'boundariesof
astronomic
or geometric
of threeStatesconverge.
typeconverge.At suchpointsthejurisdictions
Notealso thattheSovietUnionandCanada meetat theNorthPole. On theCanadianaspectofthis,
see N. L. NICHOLSON,The boundariesof Canada, itsprovincesand territories
(Ottawa, 1954).
10 Cf. H. F. TOZER,Lectureson thegeographyof Greece(1873), 291: 'But thepositionof Arcadia,
though it developed the physique of its inhabitants,did not tend at the same time to awaken their
energies,or provide themwith a career in life. Being removedfromthe sea, it had no trafficof its
own, and thus all those interestinginfluenceswere cut offwhich arise fromcommunicationswith
foreignnations.'
wrote' ... each state must seek to presentto its people a specificpurpose, or
11 R. HARTSHORNE
purposes,distinctfromthepurposesformulatedin otherstates,in termsof whichall classes of people
in all the diverseareas of the regionwill identifythemselveswiththe state that includesthemwithin
its organizedarea. This conceptof a complexof specific
purposesofeachstatehasbeencalledthe
"stateidea" byvariouswriters
of the
Ratzel,or byotherstheraisond'etre,orjustification
following
state.' P. E. JAMES
and C. F. JONES(eds.), AmericanGeography:inventory
and prospect(1954), 195.
12 On 'collective
guarantees', see InternationalCongresses,Foreign OfficeHandbook (1920),
134-40. Switzerland'sneutralitywas reaffirmed
in the Treatyof Versailles,1919.
13 See JAQUELINEBERLIN, La Suisse et les Nations Unies (New York, 1956). While Switzerland
joins only internationalorganizationswhichhave humanitarianand technicalfunctions,it adopts a
policy of active neutrality.In 1960 it joined the European Free Trade Area of the so-called 'Outer
Seven'.
C
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22
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND-LOCKED STATES
14Cf.H.
15 ERICH
J.MACKINDER, Democratic
idealsandreality
(1919),120-1.
THIEL,
Die Mongolei (Miinchen, 1958), 192-7.
The extension
in 1956oftheSovietbroad-gauge
railwayfromtheMongolcapitalUlan Bator
to Peking,whileshortening
a flowof
rail distancesbetweenMoscowand Peking,has encouraged
intothisRussiansatellite.'The Mongolsare beginning
Chinesesettlers
to takeadvantageof being
a buffer-state,
andofthechancethatgivesthemto playoffonecountry
againsttheother'- notleast
16
in the matter of gettingcredits. See KLAUS MEHNERT,'Soviet-Chinese relations', International
Affairs,35 (1959), 417-26.
17 See W. G. East and O.H. K. SPATE, The changingmap of Asia (1950), 132-4 and Figure 13.
and
and thevisitsthereof Khrushchev
18 Rouble and dollargiftsand loans to Afghanistan
Eisenhower
to theinterest
ofthetwoworldprotagonists
in thisbuffer
betweencontestify
country
tinentaland oceanicpower. Considerable
airmaterialchangesare beingmade- new highways,
worksand a tunnelthrough
fields,electricity
plantshavebeenbuiltand projectsincludeirrigation
theHinduKushtogivedirectaccesstoKabulfromtheSovietfrontier.
TheAfghan
armyandairforce
are suppliedwithSovietequipmentand clearlySovietdevelopments
and
have made the stronger
morevisibleimpression.Afghanistan's
'Pakhtunistan'
policy,whichseeks to win fromwestern
PakistansometwomillionPathanslivingthere,undermines
good relationswiththisneighbouring
MoslemState. It mightseemthatonlythediscovery
of petroleum,
whichhas so fareludedprosof its
whichis Pathan,anydegreeof independence
pectors,wouldgivetheAfghangovernment,
mightySoviet neighbour. See ANDREWWILSON'Sarticlein The Observer,6th December 1959.
19 On the geographicalbackground of Nepal, see 0. H. K. SPATE,India and Pakistan (1954),
405-21.
20 L. A.
Conciliation
International
LEPAWSKY, 'TheBolivianoperation',
(March1952),no.479.
21
H. OSBORNE, op. cit.,38.
22
23
toUnited
Seethereference
Nations
note1 onpage21.
publications
preceding
TheTimes,10thFebruary1958and 13thFebruary1958.
SeeC.D'OLIVIER
article
andOPPENHEIM,
InternationalLaw
FARRAN,
(ed.H. Lauterpacht),
cited,
I, Peace
(ed.,
1955).
25
24
26
League of Nations TreatySeries, vol. vii, nos. 1-3.
1921inlandStateshadtoregister
a
their
Ibid.,73-5.Before
shipsatsomeforeign
portunder
mercantile
law: Brig.-Gen.Sir OsborneMance,Frontiers,
foreign
flagand subjectto foreign
peace
treatiesand international
organizations(1946), 23.
whichhas a merchant
fleet
has beentakenof thisfacility,
27 Advantage
notablybySwitzerland
at Basel,therestmainlyat Panama. Reference
of 150,000tons,morethanhalfofwhichis registered
has at leastthreeships,
to Lloyd'sRegister
further
thatCzechoslovakia
1956-7suggests
ofShipping,
2516tons,registered
at
hasfour,
atPrague;thatParaguay
tons,registered
17,217
totalling
totalling
at Budapest.Bya decree
has a newmotorvesselof1181tonsregistered
Asunci6n;andthatHungary
undertheflagoftheHolySee,
1951theVaticanmaderulesgoverning
of 15thSeptember
navigation
as didAustriabya FederalActof17thJuly1957.
28
PakistanNews(London),July1958,no. 17.
29 The Rhinecan carry
bargesof over1500tonscapacityfromtheNorthSea to Rheinfelden,
13 miles above Basel. See W. G. EASTand A. E. MOODIE,op. cit.,227.
30
31
on theDanubeof 1948.
is nowgoverned
Use oftheDanubewaterway
bytheConvention
G.
PENDLE,
Paraguay: a riversidenation(1954), 73.
20thApril1958.
33 Pakistan
1958.
News,1stSeptember
32
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