Not every country is lucky enough to have a coast. Some countries are landlocked, which means they are completely cut off from the sea, and instead, they have to rely on the goodwill of their neighbors for trade. South America has two landlocked countries, Bolivia and Paraguay. Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile and to this day, Bolivia is still just as salty as the ocean they lost, since they maintain a navy that sails exclusively in their lakes and rivers. Bolivia and Paraguay were once part of the Spanish Vice- -Royalty of the Rio de la Plata, along with Argentina, but during the war for independence, Paraguay became an independent landlocked state in 1811. Five years before Argentina declared independence, and Bolivia remained in Spanish hands until it gained independence in 1825, but with much more land than it has today. In 1870, Paraguay fought a war with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, where they lost territory and 300,000 lives, which is a lot considering their pre-war population was only 500,000, meaning they were left with just 200,000 people, including only 30,000 adult males. In 1883, Bolivia and Peru lost a war with Chile, which cost Bolivia its coastline. Something Bolivia refuses to forget, given that their flag contains a star for every one of their nine departments, and an extra one for its lost coastal department, and their previously mentioned Navy, which actually does serve a purpose, since the Amazon River and its tributaries are navigable deep into the continent. A part of the Orinoco river in Venezuela splits off and flows into an Amazon tributary, forming a natural canal, making it possible to sail from Brazil to Venezuela without going out to sea. The man-made canals in North America achieve the same thing, allowing ships to travel from the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes and into the Mississippi River. Similarly, China has the 1776 kilometer-long Grand Canal, that connects the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. Asia is also home to one of the only two countries that are not only landlocked, but also surrounded by countries that are themselves landlocked, meaning they are doubly landlocked. Uzbekistan is surrounded by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, all landlocked. Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, and Laos are also landlocked. Jordan and Iraq may look landlocked, but they both have small coastlines on the Red Sea and Persian Gulf respectively. Armenia was given access to the Black Sea as part of the treaty of sèvres, but lost it in a war of turkey, while simultaneously being taken over by the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan is considered landlocked, but along with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan it has a coast on the Caspian Sea. But the Caspian Sea is an inland sea with its surface 28 meters below sea level, and it has no connection to the ocean which prevents large areas from being underwater. Small ships can reach the ocean by sailing up the Volga River and taking a Russian canal to the Don River down to the Black Sea. The canal is part of a Russian canal and river system which provides water transport to Russia's interior, and links the Arctic Ocean with the Baltic, Black, and Caspian Seas. From the Black Sea a ship could then either travel through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, or it could travel up the Danube and take a canal to the Rhine river down into the North Sea. Because this waterway is international, many of Europe's landlocked countries have some access to the sea, such as Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, and Moldova, which the Danube either flows through or borders. The tiny country of liechtenstein is the only other doubly landlocked country, along with Uzbekistan, as both Austria and Switzerland are landlocked. Though, small ships can sail along the Rhone river through France from Lake Geneva. The other tiny landlocked nations in Europe are luxembourg and Andorra bordering France, and the city states San Marino and Vatican City enclaved by Italy. After the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the Republic of Macedonia became landlocked. Serbia and Montenegro remained together, until Montenegro voted to become independent in 2006, which was recognized by Serbia, which became landlocked. Bosnia and Herzegovina looks landlocked, but it has a tiny stretch of coastline for complicated historical reasons. However, it does not have a port so it relies on Croatia for its shipping. Slovenia also has a small coastline that used to be part of the free city of Trieste, which was established after world war two, and was eventually split between Yugoslavia and Italy in 1954. Belarus is also landlocked, but it has close economic ties with Russia, which minimizes the effects. Same goes for the Czech Republic with Germany. Africa has 16 landlocked countries, the most of any continent. It's also where the effects of being landlocked are most visible. A landlocked country is dependent on the infrastructure of its neighbors to transport its goods. Unlike Europe, where there are many canals and railroads, Africa's infrastructure is undeveloped, and there's little a landlocked country can do but wait for their neighbors to improve. Or even worse, if the country's transit neighbors become hostile, or have a civil war, it forces them to seek longer, costlier trade routes. Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and the Central African Republic, were all once part of French Africa, and became landlocked when they gained independence. South Sudan is the newest UN member, gaining independence from Sudan and thus becoming landlocked in 2011. Ethiopia was one of the two african countries to avoid European colonization before world war one. Nearby coastal areas were colonized as they were both more valuable, and easier to take over. Ethiopia was taken over by Italy in the prelude to world war two, when Mussolini, who dreamed of recreating the Roman Empire, invaded ethiopia in 1936. It was liberated by British and Ethiopian forces in 1942. In 1950, the UN gave Ethiopia the british administered, former Italian colony of Eritrea, which gave it a coast on the Red Sea, until nineteen ninety-one when Eritrea gained independence. Now Ethiopia relies on Djibouti for its port. Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Lesotho, and Swaziland were all British colonies and all are landlocked. The British took over the interior of Africa, in part, because some wish to see continuous british rule from Capetown to Cairo. Rwanda and Burundi, both landlocked, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were all Belgian colonies. The Democratic Republic of the Congo would be landlocked if it were not for small strip of land that cuts off a piece of Angola. Which is explained in this video I made, along with why Bosnia and Herzegovina has that tiny strip of coast, discussed earlier. You can also watch this video which explains all the complicated relationships Russia has with its federal subjects.
