Where we are in the world
For this post we are travelling to the Middle East, specifically the northern regions of both the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman and charting a very peculiar border phenomenon – enclaves.
Here is where it gets complicated:
- Nahwa is a region that is part of the UAE emirate of Sharjah (emirates are the administrative divisions of the UAE)
- Nahwa is completely surrounded by Madha, which is part of the Omani Governate of Musandam
- Madha (part of Oman) is completely surrounded by the UAE
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Three key facts
Nahwa is one of very few second-order enclaves that exist in the world
Nahwa (part of the UAE) is technically a “second-order enclave” because its an enclave-within-an-enclave. Madha (part of Oman) is a “first-order enclave”. At a national/country level, there are very few other instances of “second-order enclaves”, one of which is Baarle-Hertog in Belgium & the Netherlands.
Nawha is separated from the UAE due to early-1900s clan allegiances
When the British began the long process of mapping borders throughout the Middle East in the early 1900s, the village within Nahwa pledged allegiance to the Al Qasimi tribe (Al Qasimi is the ruling family of the Emirate of Sharjah in the UAE). Meanwhile, the tribe based in Madha with land surrounding the Nahwa tribe, stated allegiance to the Sultan of Oman believing that he could better-protect the water sources used for agriculture in the area than the Al Qasimi tribe could. The borders that the British mapped were officially established in 1969 and accounted for Nawha’s allegiance to the Al Qasimi tribe of Sharjah/UAE and the surrounding Madha enclave to Oman.
There are no official border crossings or customs checks for either enclave
Typically, there is border control between the UAE and Oman where customs & passport checks occur. However, Madha is the one exception due to the fact that it is fully enclosed within the UAE with no official air links (there is, however, a small air strip). This means that individuals travelling from Madha to “mainland Oman” need to travel through the UAE to re-enter Oman through an official border crossing.
Likewise, there are no customs checks between Madha and Nahwa. The small enclave of Nahwa has only about 40 houses, a health center, a mosque and small grocery store. Residents frequently travel into Madha for services and do not have to go through any border crossing formalities.
Additional links and sources
- An article that includes an interview from a Nahwa resident (link, article from 2010)
- Information about visiting the Nahwa enclave from Visit Sharjah, a tourism website run by the Government of Sharjah (link)
- Photos of the enclaves of Nahwa and Madha (link, post from 2012)
Have you ever been to or near Nahwa & Madha?
See other places around the world Globe Charting has featured!
Including other locations in the Middle East/Africa: Suez Canal Expansion and the Qattara Depression!
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