Neutral zone (territorial entity)

The neutral zone separating the Spanish town of Ceuta from Morocco

A neutral zone is a delimited zone bordering at least one of the states that has agreed to set up a neutral territory. This has occurred in the past and/or present for:

• Neutral Moresnet, a 19th-century neutral zone between the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (and later Belgium) and Prussia (and later the German Empire).
• in the colonial era, the neutral zone between Thailand and French Indochina, 25 kilometres wide (roughly 15.5 miles) on the east bank of the Mekong, was placed under French control but formally remained under Thai sovereignty
• the Saudi–Iraqi neutral zone
• the Saudi–Kuwaiti neutral zone
• the neutral zones between Morocco and Ceuta and Melilla
• Antarctica
• Mount Vernon historic site, home of George Washington, during the US Civil War
• a strip of land in between Macau's Portas do Cerco and China's Kung-pei (Gongbei).

In many cases, a neutral zone is also a demilitarized zone.