Disputed places
Where the map depends on who you ask, and why.
- AbkhaziaA strip of Georgia’s Black Sea coast that has been outside Georgian control since the war of 1992–93. Russia recognised it as independent in 2008; Georgia and most of the world still count it as part of Georgia.
- Northern CyprusThe northern third of Cyprus, run since 1983 by a self-declared Turkish Cypriot state that only Turkey recognises. A UN buffer zone, drawn where the two sides’ forces stood at the ceasefire of 16 August 1974, still divides the island and its capital.
- South OssetiaA mountain region on Georgia’s northern border, home mostly to Ossetes, that has been outside Georgian control since the early 1990s. The five-day war of August 2008 began here, and Russia recognised it as independent soon after.
- TransnistriaA strip of land along the Dniester river that broke away from Moldova in 1990–92 and has run its own affairs since, with Russian troops still on its soil. No country recognises it, not even Russia.
- Western SaharaA former Spanish colony on Africa’s Atlantic coast that Morocco and the Polisario Front have contested since 1975. Maps disagree about it too: some draw a border at 27°40′N and some, including the US government’s since 2020, do not.