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Border irregularities of the United States

Border irregularities of the United States, particularly panhandles and highway incursions into other jurisdictions, are shown here. Often they are a result of borders which do not conform to geological features such as changes in the course of a river that previously marked a border.

International

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Canada

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See also: Canada–United States border § Boundary divisions, and List of areas disputed by Canada and the United States
 
The Northwest Angle in Minnesota, bordering Manitoba, Ontario, and Lake of the Woods

There are several exclaves between the United States and Canada, including the entire state of Alaska (though the state can still be accessed by sea from the United States, except the small settlement of Hyder which is only accessible by road from British Columbia). Other exclaves include Akwesasne, the Northwest Angle, Point Roberts, and Seaway Island.

The status of the waters around Nunez Rocks is disputed. Nunez Rocks is a low-tide elevation ("bare at half-tide"[1]) area (LTE) that is south of a line known as the "A-B" Line,[2] which was defined in a 1903 arbitration decision on the Alaska–Canada boundary.[3] The court specified the initial boundary point (Point "A") at the northern end of Dixon Entrance[4] and Point "B" 72 nautical miles (83 mi; 133 km) to the east.[5] Canada relies on the "A-B" Line as rendering nearly all of Dixon Entrance as Canadian internal waters. The U.S. does not recognize the "A-B" Line as an official boundary, instead regarding it as allocating sovereignty over the land masses within the Dixon Entrance,[2] with Canada's land south of the line. The U.S. regards the waters as subject to international marine law, and in 1977 it defined an equidistant territorial sea throughout Dixon Entrance.[2] This territory, which surrounds Nunez Rocks, extends south of the "A-B" line for the most part.[2] The United States has not ratified the Law of the Sea Treaty, although it adheres to most of its principles as customary international law. Under the treaty, LTEs may be used as basepoints for a territorial sea, and the U.S. uses Nunez Rocks as a basepoint. As a non-signatory, however, there is nothing preventing the U.S. from claiming areas beyond the scope of the Law of the Sea Treaty. The fact remains that, for about half of each day, above-water territory that is Canadian is surrounded by sea territory that the U.S. has declared to be American.

Another disputed area is the Grey Zone, including Machias Seal Island, in the Gulf of Maine.

The Aroostook Valley Country Club is a golf course which straddles the Canada–US border, between the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The club, located near Perth-Andover, New Brunswick and Fort Fairfield, Maine, has its course (except part of the tee area for the ninth hole, and possibly part of a sand trap on the first hole) and clubhouse on the Canadian side of the border and its parking lot and pro shop on the American side.[6]

East Richford Slide Road in the U.S. state of Vermont crosses into the Canadian province of Québec for a distance of approximately 330 feet (100 m) before returning to the United States.[7]

The Piney Pinecreek Border Airport runway straddles the Canada–U.S. border, between the U.S. state of Minnesota and the Canadian province of Manitoba.[8]

Mexico

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In Texas and Mexico, shifts in the course of the lower Rio Grande have created numerous bancos. Under the Boundary Treaty of 1970 and earlier treaties, the United States and Mexico have maintained the actual course of the river as the international boundary, but both must approve proposed changes. From 1989 to 2009, there were 128 locations where the river changed course, causing land that had been on one side of the river to then occupy the opposite bank. Until the boundary is officially changed, there are 60 small exclaves of the state of Texas now lying on the southern side of the river, as well as 68 such exclaves of Mexico on the northern side of the river.

Russia

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Main article: USSR–USA Maritime Boundary Agreement

The legal status of the U.S.-Russian border is unclear. The United States Senate ratified a treaty setting the boundary with the Soviet Union in 1991. However, shortly after, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Russian parliament never voted on the treaty.

States and territories

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Separated by water

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State border of Ellis Island after New Jersey v. New York, 1998. Green is the area of the original natural island, part of New York City, New York, while the man-made rest of the island is part of Jersey City, New Jersey

Separated by the Mississippi River

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These border irregularities were caused by changes in the Mississippi River during the 1812 New Madrid earthquake or other river changes:

  • Over a period of about 24 hours on 7 March 1876, the Mississippi River abandoned its former channel that defined the Tennessee-Arkansas border, and established a new channel east of Tennessee's Reverie and Corona, located in Tipton County north-northwest of Memphis.[11]

Other irregularities involving the Mississippi River:

Salients

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A salient, also known as a panhandle or bootheel, is an elongated protrusion of one jurisdiction into another.

Other state boundary irregularities

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  • The Delaware Wedge adjacent to Maryland and Pennsylvania[12]
  • Boston Corner, New York, transferred from Massachusetts to New York because a mountain range made it difficult for Massachusetts authorities to police it

Municipal and borough boundaries

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References

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  1. ^ U.S. National Geodetic Survey. "NOAA Shoreline Data Explorer". Retrieved 2015-04-10.
  2. ^ a b c d Gray, David H. (Autumn 1997). "Canada's Unresolved Maritime Boundaries" (PDF). IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin. p. 61. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  3. ^ "International Boundary Commission definition of the Canada/US boundary in the NAD83 CSRS reference frame". Archived from the original on 2021-08-01. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  4. ^ White, James (1914). Boundary Disputes and Treaties. Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Company. pp. 936–958.
  5. ^ Davidson, George (1903). The Alaska Boundary. San Francisco: Alaska Packers Association. pp. 79–81, 129–134, 177–179, 229.
  6. ^ "Chapter 1: Eastern Maine". United Divide: A Linear Portrait of the USA/Canada Border. The Center for Land Use Interpretation. Winter 2015. Archived from the original on 2018-12-10. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  7. ^ Google Maps
  8. ^ Google Maps
  9. ^ "A little piece of Delaware is actually hidden in N.J. How did that happen?". 17 February 2019.
  10. ^ "Chapter 2. Alternatives, Goals, Objectives, and Strategies". Lewis and Clark and Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuges Draft CCP/EIS (PDF). Washington, DC: United States Fish and Wildlife Service. pp. 2–27. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
  11. ^ "Tipton". Tennessee History for Kids. Nashville, Tennessee. 2010-01-18. Archived from the original on 2010-07-06. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  12. ^ Whong, Christopher M. (2000-12-11). "The Boundary Disputes of Colonial Maryland". Baltimore, Maryland. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
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