Landlocked country

For this reason, nations large and small throughout history have fought to gain access to open waters, even at great expense in wealth, bloodshed, and political capital.

[7] On 19 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a new offensive against the Republic of Artsakh (de facto state) and achieved a decisive victory.

As a result, Artsakh ceased to exist as a landlocked de facto state and the Nagorno-Karabakh region was reintegrated into Azerbaijan.

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.

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.

"[10] Others have argued that being landlocked has an advantage as it creates a "natural tariff barrier" that protects the country from cheap imports.

The United Nations has a programme of action to assist landlocked developing countries,[22] and the current responsible Undersecretary-General is Anwarul Karim Chowdhury.

For instance, in its early history, Russia's only ports were on the Arctic Ocean and frozen shut for much of the year.

Since these seas are in effect lakes without access to wider seaborne trade, countries such as Kazakhstan are still considered landlocked.

Between 1429 and 1857 Poland, Sweden, Russia and more Baltic countries were suffering from the Sound Dues, a toll needed to be paid to reach Western European waters.

[27][28] There are two such countries: After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Württemberg became a doubly landlocked state, bordering Bavaria, Baden, Switzerland, the Grand Duchy of Hesse (Wimpfen exclave), Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and Hohenzollern-Hechingen.

Uzbekistan, which had been part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union, gained its independence with the dissolution of the latter in 1991 and became the second doubly landlocked country.

In the latter case, Uzbekistan is not doubly landlocked, since its neighbors Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have access to the Caspian Sea.