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Four colours also isn't enough for some real-world country maps. Countries with enclaves (like Alaska, Kaliningrad or Sint-Maarten, though only the last actually makes 4- colouring impossible) change the topology: you can think of what shape the earth would have if there was also a tunnel connecting Alaska and New York.



Torus, of course, but how does that relate to enclaves, which are planar ?


You might want to colour the exclave the same colour as the rest of its country, even though no connection can exist between them on the plane.


It seems like you're using "enclave" and "exclave" interchangeably, which is causing confusion. What you're referring to is an exclave; an enclave is when one region is completely surrounded by another, like Lesotho or Vatican City.


You're right, my first post should say exclaves and the three examples I gave are all exclaves.




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