Country shapes
Why a country is long and thin, wraps a river, or has a panhandle.
- Why Chile is so long and thinAbout 4,300 km long and on average under 180 km wide. The Andes and a 19th-century treaty set its eastern edge along the highest peaks, and a war with Bolivia and Peru added the desert that makes up its northern third.
- Why Namibia has a panhandleAn 1890 treaty drew Namibia’s eastern edge as straight lines along meridians and parallels, then sent a strip of land 450 km east to the Zambezi. Both came from a deal in which Britain and Germany split southern Africa and Germany asked for a way to the river.
- Why San Marino is a country inside ItalyA hilltop commune that stayed self-governing while the rest of Italy was conquered, traded and finally unified around it. Its borders were set in 1463, and in 1797 it turned down Napoleon’s offer of more land.
- Why The Gambia follows a riverA strip of land along both banks of one river, about 480 km long and never more than about 50 km wide, surrounded by Senegal except at the sea. It is what was left when France and Britain split the region in 1889 and Britain kept the river.