Is Australia the largest country without a land border?
Australia is the largest country in the world without a land border, unless you count the Australian Antarctic Territory as legitimate territory that is an integral part of Australia.
What is the largest country without a land border? That’s a pub quiz question that’s going to require a bit of thinking, even from someone who really knows their geography.
Given a bit of thought, though, it is likely that you’ll stumble upon Australia as a potential answer. But before inking it in, you need to be sure that Australia doesn’t have a land border, and that there are no larger countries with the same status.
Does Australia have a land border?
So, to step one. Does Australia have a land border? Well, none of mainland Australia or Tasmania does, but there’s the tricky issue of external territories.
The majority of Australia’s external territories are little islands, but then there’s the Australian Antarctic Territory.
Is the Australian Antarctic Territory internationally recognised?
This is where things get tricky. The Australian Antarctic Territory is not technically part of Australia. It is also not widely recognised as Australian territory. The only other countries that recognise Australia’s claim to the Australian Antarctic Territory are other countries that claim territory in the Antarctic.
Those countries are Norway, France, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The rest of the world doesn’t recognise Australia’s claim, but isn’t putting up a fight about it either.
By most reasonable assessments, then, Australia does not have a land border. But what is the largest country without a land border?
The largest country without a land border
Well, Australia is big. It is the sixth largest country in the world. The five larger countries are, in order, Russia, Canada, China, the United States and Brazil. All of them, pretty obviously, have borders. Therefore, Australia is the largest country without a land border, and the Australian mainland is the biggest island in the world.
Incidentally, if you are including the Australian Antarctic Territory as both a legitimate territory and part of Australia, Madagascar is the largest country without a land border.
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