's loss of its coastline in the
War of the Pacific (1879–1884) remains a major political issue Historically, being landlocked has been disadvantageous to a country's development. It cuts a nation off from important sea resources such as
fishing, and impedes or prevents direct access to
maritime trade, a crucial component of economic and social advance. As such, coastal regions, or inland regions that have access to the World Ocean, tended to be wealthier and more heavily populated than inland regions that have no access to the World Ocean.
Paul Collier in his book
The Bottom Billion argues that being landlocked in a poor geographical neighbourhood is one of four major development "traps" by which a country can be held back. In general, he found that when a neighbouring country experiences better growth, it tends to spill over into favorable development for the country itself. For landlocked countries, the effect is particularly strong, as they are limited in their trading activity with the rest of the world. He states, "If you are coastal, you serve the world; if you are landlocked, you serve your neighbors." Others have argued that being landlocked has an advantage as it creates a "natural tariff barrier" that protects the country from cheap imports. In some instances, this has led to more robust local food systems. Landlocked
developing countries have significantly higher costs of international cargo transportation compared to coastal developing countries (in Asia the ratio is 3:1). Historically, traveling between a landlocked country and a country which did not border said country required the traveler to pass border controls twice or more. In recent times the advent of
air travel has largely negated this impediment.
Actions to avoid being landlocked Countries have acted to overcome being landlocked by acquiring land that reaches the sea: • The
Republic of Ragusa, in 1699, gave the town of
Neum to the
Ottoman Empire because it did not want to have a land border with the
Republic of Venice. This small municipality was inherited by
Bosnia and Herzegovina and now provides limited sea access, splitting the
Croatian part of the Adriatic coast in two. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is a new country, railways and ports have not been built for its need. There is no freight port along its short coastline at
Neum, making it effectively landlocked, although there are plans to change this. Instead, the
Port of Ploče in Croatia is used. • The
International Congo Society, which owned the territory now constituting the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, was awarded a narrow piece of land cutting through
Angola to connect it to the sea by the
Conference of Berlin in 1885. • After
World War I, in the
Treaty of Versailles, a part of
Germany designated "the
Polish corridor" was given to the new
Second Polish Republic, for access to the
Baltic Sea. This gave
Poland a short coastline, but without a large harbour. This was also the pretext for making Danzig (now
Gdańsk) with its harbour the
Free City of Danzig, to which Poland was given free access. However, the Germans placed obstacles to this free access, especially when it came to military material. In response, the small fishing harbour of
Gdynia was soon greatly enlarged. • As a result of a 2005 territorial exchange with
Ukraine,
Moldova received a 600-metre (650-yard) long bank of the
Danube (which is an
international waterway), subsequently building its
Port of Giurgiulești there.
Trade agreements Countries can establish agreements to provide for free transport of goods through neighbouring countries: • The
Treaty of Versailles required Germany to offer
Czechoslovakia a lease for 99 years of parts of the ports in
Hamburg and
Stettin, allowing Czechoslovakia sea trade via the
Elbe and
Oder rivers. Stettin was annexed by
Poland after
World War II, but
Hamburg continued the
contract so that part of the port (now called
Moldauhafen) until 2028 could be used for sea trade by a successor of Czechoslovakia, the
Czech Republic. • The
Danube is
an international waterway, and thus landlocked
Austria,
Hungary,
Moldova,
Serbia and
Slovakia have secure access to the
Black Sea. However, oceangoing ships cannot use the Danube, so cargo must be transloaded anyway, and many overseas imports into Austria and Hungary use land transport from Atlantic and Mediterranean ports. A similar situation exists for the
Rhine river where Switzerland has boat access, but not oceangoing ships.
Luxembourg has such through the
Moselle, but
Liechtenstein has no boat access, even though it is located along the Rhine, as the Rhine is not navigable that far upstream. • The
Mekong is an international waterway so that landlocked
Laos has access to the
South China Sea (since Laos became independent from
French Indochina). However, it is not navigable above the
Khone Phapheng Falls. •
Free ports allow transshipment to short-distance ships or river vessels. • The
TIR Convention allows sealed road transport without customs checks and charges, mostly in Europe.
Political repercussions Losing access to the sea is generally a great loss to a nation, politically, militarily, and economically. The following are examples of countries becoming landlocked. • The independence of
Eritrea, brought about by the 30-year
Eritrean War of Independence, caused
Ethiopia to become landlocked in 1991 (
de facto)/1993 (
de jure): the
Ethiopian Navy operated from foreign ports in
Djibouti and
Yemen before being dissolved in 1996. •
Montenegro's
decision to abandon the
State Union of Serbia and Montenegro caused the
federal unit of Serbia to become a landlocked
current independent state. •
Bolivia lost its coastline to
Chile in the
War of the Pacific and accepted it in treaties signed in 1884 and 1904. The last treaty gives port storage facilities and special treatment for the transit of goods from and to Bolivia through Chilean ports and territory. Peru and Argentina have also given special treatment for the transit of goods. A fluvial
Bolivian Navy, which did not exist at the time of the
War of the Pacific, was created later and both trains and operates in
Lake Titicaca and rivers. The Bolivian people annually celebrate a patriotic "
Dia del Mar" (Day of the Sea) to remember its territorial loss, which included both the coastal city of
Antofagasta and what has proven to be one of the most significant and lucrative copper deposits in the world. Early in the 21st century, the selection of the route of gas pipes from Bolivia to the sea fueled
popular uprisings, as people were against the option of laying the pipes through Chilean territory. • Austria and Hungary also lost their access to the sea as a consequence of the
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) and the
Treaty of Trianon (1920) respectively. Previously, although
Croatia had a limited constitutional
autonomy within the
Kingdom of Hungary, the City of
Fiume/
Rijeka on the Croatian coast was governed directly from
Budapest by an appointed governor as a
corpus separatum, to provide Hungary with its only international
port in the periods 1779–1813, 1822–1848 and 1868–1918. The most important ports in Austria were
Trieste and
Pula, now in
Italy and Croatia. • In 1801, the
Nizam's dominion of
Hyderabad State assumed its current borders as a landlocked
princely state with territories in central Deccan, bounded on all sides by
British India. For the preceding 150 years it had had a
considerable coastline on the
Bay of Bengal that was annexed by the British. • It is possible that one of the causes of the
Paraguayan War was
Paraguay's lack of direct ocean access (although this is disputed; see the linked article). • When the
Entente Powers divided the former
Ottoman Empire under the
Treaty of Sèvres at the close of
World War I,
Armenia was promised part of the Trebizond vilayet (roughly corresponding to the modern
Trabzon and
Rize provinces in
Turkey). This would have given Armenia access to the
Black Sea. However, the Sèvres treaty collapsed with the
Turkish War of Independence and was superseded by the
Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which firmly established Turkish rule over the area. • In 2011,
South Sudan broke off from the
Sudan, causing the former to become landlocked. There still remains conflict over the oil fields in South Sudan between the two countries. The
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea now gives a landlocked country a right of access to and from the sea without taxation of traffic through transit states. The
United Nations has a programme of action to assist landlocked developing countries, and the current responsible Undersecretary-General is
Anwarul Karim Chowdhury. Some countries have a long coastline, but much of it may not be readily usable for trade and commerce. For instance, in its early history,
Russia's only ports were on the
Arctic Ocean and frozen shut for much of the year. The wish to gain control of a
warm-water port was a major motivator of Russian expansion towards the
Baltic Sea,
Black Sea, and
Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, some landlocked countries can have access to the ocean along wide navigable rivers. For instance, Paraguay (and Bolivia to a lesser extent) have access to the ocean through the
Paraguay and
Paraná rivers. Several countries have coastlines on landlocked bodies of water, such as the
Caspian Sea and the
Dead Sea. Since these seas are in effect
lakes without access to wider seaborne trade, countries such as
Kazakhstan are still considered landlocked. Although the Caspian Sea is connected to the Black Sea via the man-made
Volga–Don Canal, large oceangoing ships are unable to traverse it. Some countries or important parts of countries have coastlines or river ports reachable by oceangoing ships, but only through a strait or river part of the territory of another country. The other country can put restriction on passage. Between 1429 and 1857
Poland,
Sweden,
Russia and other Baltic countries were subjected to the
Sound Dues, a toll needed to be paid to reach Western European waters. Sweden bypassed it by conquering
Scania in 1658. The landlocked nature of a country can also hinder its ability to enforce international treaties. For example,
Mongolia did not enforce an
International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued at
Vladimir Putin during his state visit, despite its obligation to do so as an
International Criminal Court state party; Mongolia is landlocked and only borders Russia and China (both of whom are not ICC parties and are important economic partners with the country), which would make the delivery of Putin to the ICC headquarters in
The Hague after his hypothetical arrest extremely difficult. == By degree ==