How and why do tiny countries like Singapore and Monaco exist? Why aren’t they just a part of the larger country surrounding them?
In: 342
The answer for European ones is that the entirety of Europe was divided into royal counties that became vassals to larger kingdoms at certain times. You might have small countries like Andorra that maintained their independent royal title and thus could remain independent from larger kingdoms. In the 19th century you had the emergence of a nation-state and a lot of these small principalities simply became their own nation-states.
For the rest of the world the answer is “The British Empire” and all those other lesser European Empires. The British were the single largest empire in the world at their peak. Before their peak Britain kind of just placed little itty bitty colonies all around the world. They exist as they are today because of the separate administrative divisions between the old rulers of those lands (The French, Dutch, Germans, Italians, Russians, Americans etc.).
For example South Africa was originally four different administrative divisions that unified to become the “Cape Province” and eventually South Africa. Awkwardly and directly in the middle of this new South Africa was the administrative district of Lesotho who created their own monarch in the early 1800s who ran the British administration. When they sought independence the new royal family saw no need to secede their territory to South Africa (which was having problems with the Dutch Boers).
Latest Answers