The western Leeward Islands are a constitutional shrapnel zone. A UK dependency, a French overseas collectivity, a Dutch constituent country, another French OC, two Dutch special municipalities, and a sovereign federation of two islands. All within 120km. https://twitter.com/andrewgdotcom/status/1266112949762117632

From N-S that’s Anguilla, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten (same island, different language), Saint Barthélémy, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Saint Kitts and Nevis. The result of three great powers divvying up the eastern Caribbean down to the last grain of sand.

Europe has some tiny states but they don’t compare to Caribbean islands. Saba is 5km across and has a population of less than 2000. Sint Eustatius is not much bigger. They make San Marino look like New York. Only the Vatican and the remotest Pacific atolls are smaller.

Zoom out slightly and the rest of the leeward islands are only slightly less complicated. A multi-island unitary sovereign state (Antigua and Barbuda), another UK dependency (Montserrat, partially evacuated) and a French overseas department (Guadeloupe).

The Dutch special municipalities and the French overseas department (but not the Dutch constituent country nor the French overseas collectivities, pay attention at the back) are integral parts of their parent countries, so legally they are Europe.

Forgot to add the zoomed out map.

Maps don’t do justice to
the scales involved. In the south Pacific, individual territories are hundreds of kilometres apart. Caribbean islands are practically on top of one another. You could stand on a mountaintop on one island and see half a dozen jurisdictions below you.

And of course there is the anomaly of St Martin. Not the world’s smallest partitioned island (countless rocks in lakes have stronger claim to that), but certainly the smallest where each half forms an (almost) entire jurisdiction by itself.

The distances involved are quite swimmable BTW (if you ignore the sharks).