Here are few QSL Cards from contacts made with “countries” that no longer exist (deleted DXCC entities). It’s not as though they were erased from the map. Rather, they no longer count for a separate DXCC credit as they once did.
The Abu Ail lighthouse in the Red Sea had been under French or British control since the Ottoman Empire. This external control under the DXCC rules at time made it count as a separate DXCC entity. In 1990 Britain transferred control to Yemen and it was removed from the DXCC list.
Bonaire, Curacao – The Netherlands Antilles once consisted of a number of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Over time each changed their administrative relationship with the Netherlands and their association with each other. At one point, the Islands of Bonaire and Curacao were represented in the DXCC lists as the Netherlands Antilles. Each is now represented as a separate DXCC country.
Czechoslovakia In 1992 Czechoslovakia dissolved into the separate countries of Czechia (a.k.a. the Czech Republic) and Slovakia. Each of these is a now separate DXCC entity.
In 1990 East Germany (officially the German Democratic Republic) was absorbed by West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany). After that point the territory of East Germany became part of Federal German Republic.
Malyj Vysotsky Island is a small Russian island that was leased to the Finns along with a nearby canal after World War II. It provided water access to the interior of Finland to make up for land and sea access it lost to the Soviets. A new lease agreement transferred control of the island back to Russia. In 2012 the island was removed from the DXCC list.
As mentioned above, the Dutch islands in the Caribbean underwent numerous administrative changes. At one point Sint Maarten, Saba and Saint Eustatius were treated as a single DXCC entity. Sint Maarten has since broken out on its own and Saba and Saint Eustatius were created as a new entity.
Southern Sudan had been an autonomous region of Sudan and later broke away completely. At some point Southern Sudan counted as a separate DXCC entity even before South Sudan gained official independence in 2011. A new DXCC entity (Republic of South Sudan) was created for it at that time.
Walvis Bay Walvis Bay is a deep water port city along the Namibian coast. The port remained under South African control after it pulled out of the rest of the country. It maintained its separate DXCC status until being turned over to Namibia in 1994.
