An enclave is a territory that is surrounded by another territory that has different characteristics in terms of its administration, political regime or culture. The notion also refers to a human group inserted in another territory with characteristics that are different from its own.
An enclave can be described as a region of a certain territorial jurisdiction, which is completely surrounded by lands of another jurisdiction. It may be a country surrounded by another , a municipality located within the territory of another, etc.
An example of an enclave is the Vatican . This small sovereign state, whose surface area barely reaches 0.44 square kilometres, is located in the middle of the city of Rome . This means that the Vatican is an enclave in Italian territory.
San Marino is another enclave whose surface is surrounded by Italy . It shares its 39 kilometres of borders with the Italian State.
In Africa we can also find an enclave: Lesotho , whose surroundings belong to South Africa . It is a larger country than those mentioned above, since its surface area exceeds 30,000 square kilometers (it has more territory than nations such as Armenia , Albania , El Salvador and Lebanon ).
In addition to all the above, we must not forget, from a historical and artistic point of view, the Munigua Archaeological Site. It is located in the Sierra Norte of the province of Seville, belongs to the municipality of Villanueva del Río y Minas and dates back to Roman times.
It can be added that it corresponds to the population of Municipium Flavium Muniguense, which has its origins in the so-called pre-Roman period and that its discovery as such occurred in the 16th century when several inscriptions were found. It is believed that this settlement or municipality was created in that area due to the iron and copper mines that existed in the place.
Today, this enclave is listed as a Site of Cultural Interest and the remains of the walls, the Forum Street, the Temple of Mercury and the Sanctuary, which is considered the most important monument in Munigua, take on special importance.
The Forum, the Roman baths and the necropolis are also important spaces in this Sevillian archaeological site that we are dealing with, as are the seven houses that have been excavated so far. They have different dimensions, but they are a wonderful example of houses from that period.
The concept of enclave is often used to refer to an ethnic neighborhood that brings together inhabitants of the same community living in a foreign country. In this sense, we can mention the case of Chinatown in New York , which is a Chinese enclave located in the American city. On its streets you can find Chinese products and signs written in Mandarin.
Similarly, we cannot overlook the existence of the Enclave Social association, which is based in Córdoba (Spain) and has ten years of experience providing consultancy and advice to NGOs.