What former countries/enclaves have you visited?

[AisleSeat]

Diego Garcia, in the middle of nowhere but has has a number of owners/ administrators since it was first discovered.

Harbin in China is another, I think it was once part or claimed by Russia, then the Japanese had a turn through occupation and finally reclaimed by China under communist rule. Now it is a great place to visit in the winter for the ice festival.

Also been to Hong Hong, Macau and East Deutschland.

Whilst talking former colonies, would Singapore, India, Canada, Africa, the US and parts of South America etc., also be included. From memory most of the world was once claimed by the Poms and other Europeans e.g. Germany, France, Spain etc. Then there is Korea claimed I think by both Japan and China at some stage then split in two last century. Further what other Asian countries would be considered to be part of Japan during their occupation.

As for the list, I meant it as you visited the place in its former state (and perhaps afterwards as well)

 

[codash1099]

Hong Kong
Macau
Estonia
Czechoslovakia
East Germany
West Germany

 

[drron]

Well my only real claim is that when we built our house it was in the suburb Wurtulla on the Sunshine Coast.
Some years ago the government released the 1 in 100 year flood maps.Turns out that our house plus the one next door are the only properties above the 1 in 100 flood level.
Our 2 houses we have proclaimed as now being in the suburb of Wurtulla Heights.

And I also worked for 3 months in Redfern in 1970.

 

[BjJames]

Hong Kong (when British Colony, now HK SAR/China)
West Germany )
East Germany ) now unified
Yugoslavia - now fragmented
USSR - now fragmented

 

[Archphoto]

Hong Kong (British Colony, SAR/China)
West Germany

 

[The man with no name]

Nagoro Karabah

 

[AisleSeat]

Nagoro Karabah

I had to look that one up!

 

[Happy Dude]

Does San Marino or Kurdistan count?

 

[JohnK]

Cyprus in 1972
South Africa in 1972

 

[AisleSeat]

Does San Marino or Kurdistan count?

Has something with San Marino changed since you visited? Kurdistan is more of region, no?

 

[burmans]

I'm not convinced of everyone's ability to understand English given responses to date, particularly in regards to the meaning of the word former, let alone countries and enclaves.

 

[amaroo]

First off the bat....

Hong Kong
Czechoslovakia
Fiji (Republic/name change 1987 & name change again in 1997)
Northern Island, Scotland, Wales (Devolution Act 1998) ... long bow, but it was a devolution of some sort from Westminster

 

[Cossie]

Easy ones first, Hong Kong before and after, the DDR and West Germany, before and after including east and west Berlin.
Czechoslovakia before and after it split into Czech Rep. and Slovakia.
Former Yugoslavia, before and Slovenia after.
Sudan before it split into the Sudan and South Sudan.
USSR before the breakup.
Just names changes include Zaire, probably others.

 

[Archipelago]

Rhodesia
Burma
Hongkers and Macau

 

[xander]

Czechia - when it was the Czech Republic
North Macedonia - when it was the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Eswatini - when it was Swaziland
Sint Maarten - when it was part of the Netherlands Antilles

 

[walkerp]

Does Ayers Rock count?

 

[Wightbear]

As I am now thinking to deeply into this topic, is there any Country, Nation, State etc. that has not been claimed/ conquered by another empire be it Egyptian, Roman, Mongolian, Chinese, Japanese, British, Spanish etc. Is there any one place left that throughout known history has never been claimed.

I believe an argument can be made for Nepal and Bhutan, and possibly Sweden.

 

[Paddy Walsh]

Years ago got a job in PDRSY the People's Democratic Republic of South Yemen, onto Rhodesia, Listening to Short wave radio ,Thought Albania sounds interesting so a flight though Belgade, YUGOSLAVIA connecting down to Titograd, now known as Podgorica in Montenegro, what other interesting places are there? How about Berlin before the wall came down. Took the outlaws to Koln, West Germany. Next job in Iran whilst the Shah was in charge, Bit late in Goa, onto Hong Kong when it was still Briish, never understood why they gave it away, HK Island was gifted in perpetuity. Kowloon and Macao,, the casinos were manic !

 

[Archphoto]

Almost forgot the Czech Republic. Visited the year after Czechoslovakia split.

 

[RobJ]

There's lots of former colonies. Two which come to mind are:
* New Hebrides
* Portugese Timor.

New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, was a hoot because it was a condominium. That meant at the airport you had to choose British Customs or French Douane, then currency: French Pacific Francs or Oz dollars (for the British, oddly), there were two police forces, three official languages (still true), two prisons (the French had better food, the British had better beds). The supermarkets were either French or British. Even the Catholic Church had two distinctly different offerings.

Portugese Timor was a real Grahame Greene end-of-empire place, just barely holding together, with the secret police (Portugal was still a dictatorship in the 1970s) riding around town on motorbikes. No electricity each afternoon. I stayed at the best hotel (still not much) and the staff were mostly Portuguese military, who had a lot of free time and not much pay.