In
political geography, an
enclave is a territory whose geographical boundaries lie entirely within the boundaries of another territory.
[1]An exclave, on the other hand, is a territory legally attached to another territory with which it is not physically contiguous.[2]
These are two distinct concepts, although many entities fit both definitions. In Fig. 1 at right, C is an exclave of B, and is also an enclave within A. If C were independent it would be an enclave but not an exclave. In Fig. 2 at right, D is again an exclave of B, but is not an enclave, because it has boundaries with more than one country.
The word enclave crept into the jargon of diplomacy rather late in English, in 1868, coming from French, the lingua franca of diplomacy, with a sense inherited from Late Latin inclavatus meaning 'shut in, locked up" (with a key, Latin clavis). The word exclave is a logical extension created three decades later.
