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2/ To start, we’ll look at the European Union . Formed in 1993 under the Maastricht Treaty, and since expanded, it finalised post-WW2 efforts to ensure peace and cooperation across Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union

The 27 member states share laws on key industries such as trade and agriculture and enjoy free movement.

The UK is the only state to leave the EU (2020) while 9 countries are currently candidates to join:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_enlargement_of_the_European_Union

3/ Several modern countries started as political unions between seperate nations or groupings - most famously the United Kingdom , the Untied States , and more recently the United Arab Emirates (UAE) a Sheikhdom composed of 7 emirates, meaning it has a Federal Supreme Council with a Sheikh representing each emirate.

See our thread about the #geoweirdness of the UAE: https://en.osm.town/@opencage/111113713944602654

4/ Not all unions were made to last though.

One failed example is the Senegambia Confederation -

The Gambia is the smallest country in continental Africa, and is almost completely engulfed by its neighbour, Senegal

Founded in 1982, the Senegambia Confederation aimed to promote cooperation between the two countries but was ultimately dissolved in 1989.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senegambia_Confederation

5/ Another example of a short-lived political union was the West Indies Federation.

For 4 years (1958-1962), a union existed between several Caribbean islands belonging to the British Empire, including modern Barbados , Jamaica , Dominica , Grenada , and more.

The union was formed to try to secure independence as a single state, but collapsed as a result of differences on how the territory should be governed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies_Federation

6/ In the Middle East there was the United Arab Republic which existed between 1958 and 1971, a union between Egypt (and Gaza, which was under its governance) and Syria . It lasted from 1958 until 1961, falling as a result of the ‘61 Syrian coup d’état.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Republic

The United Arab Republic itself entered a confederation with the Kingdom of Yemen to form what was known as the United Arab States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_States

7/ It gets complicated.

In 1958 Jordan and Iraq formed the Arab Federation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Federation

Then from 1972-1977 Egypt , Libya , and Syria were the Federation of Arab Republics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Arab_Republics

in 1974 the Arab Islamic Republic, a merger between Libya and Tunisia (with plans to later add Morocco and Algeria ) was also proposed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Islamic_Republic

8/ Malaysia is another country with a fascinating history as a political union.

Malaysia’s roots trace back to the Malay kingdoms, later colonized by Britain . It became the Malayan Union in 1946, then the Federation of Malaya in 1948, gaining independence in 1957.

On 16th September 1963 (now Malaysia Day), it united with Singapore, Sarawak, & North Borneo - but Singapore was ultimately expelled in 1965 and became an independent country

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Malaya

9/ The fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990 also meant the end of several European political unions:

In 1992 Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_Czechoslovakia

The split of Yugoslavia into 7 modern states unfortunately did not go peacefully, and even today the legal status of Kosovo is unresolved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_Wars

10/ But by far the biggest dissolution of a political union was the break up of the Soviet Union which formally dissolved on 26 December 1991 and resulted in the modern states of Russia Estonia Latvia Lithuania Belarus Ukraine Moldova Georgia Armenia Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

11/ With that we wrap up this week's #geoweirdness thread about political unions - successful and failed. Thanks for reading and sharing. What did we miss? What unions does the future hold?

As always you can find many more threads about specific countries, border disputes, geocoding, etc linked from our blog. Enjoy:
https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads

@opencage This is a fun thread

I'd like to add the little known Benelux union - BE, NL, LUX > three small nations working together, though I really should read up on how they work together!

@estebanz01 yes, very interesting examples. This thread focused a bit more on the modern (post WWII) era.

@Stork yes, going back there are many interesting examples (Austria-Hungary for example) we were focused on modern (post-WWII) era.

re: Greenland, you may enjoy: https://en.osm.town/@opencage/113800557605866524