Hans Island

Greenland / Qaanaaq / Qeqertat /
 island, arctic, uninhabited island
A small, uninhabited, barren knoll measuring 1.3 km², once disputed by Greenland (Denmark) and Canada. They failed to settle the issue when borders were drawn between Canada and Greenland in 1973. The border is established in the delimitation treaty about the Continental Shelf between Greenland and Canada, ratified by the United Nations on December 17, 1973, and in force since March 13, 1974.
Finally, in 2018, the countries decided to establish a joint working group to resolve the dispute, ending their decades-long "agree to disagree" policy.

The deal will be signed once both countries grant parliamentary approval and will see the island split along a naturally occurring cleft on the rocky outcrop, according to a deal published by the Danish foreign ministry on Tuesday.
Once signed off, Canada and Denmark will have established the world's longest maritime border at 3,882km.

www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61801682
www.geus.dk/publications/bull/nr15/nr15_p77-80.pdf

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7xPr5pTOW8
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Island
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   80°49'36"N   66°27'11"W

Comments

  • Actually I've just read that updated satellite images shows that Hans ø/Hans island is not in canadian territory. Canada has therefore changed their claim from "canadian territory without a doubt" to something like: "oh lets just call it 50-50 and be friends". Now they want to split the island in half and likes the prospect of sharing in good spirit... Peronally I thought it might be a good idea to share the island but some canadian politicians and legions of other people have been acting like warmongering morons on TV and the internet the past few months and it has been very annoying. Maybe we should go to the international court just to settle the matter once and for all. But whatever... neither one of us have a say in this anyway. Lets hope they'll find a solution peacefully and soon.
  • Same problem with a tiny island in the channel between Sweden and Finland. They agreed to each accept mhalf of the island. Later it was discovered that the lighthouse Finland had built on the is;and before the treaty was on the Swedish half so the Finns and Swedes worked out a drawf landswap. The Finns got a blob of Swedish land that included the lighthouse and connected to the Finnish side and The Swedes got a same sized piece of the Finnish half with a link to the Swedes half. Check Wikimapia for the weird borders.
  • Just watched a "cartoon" on FB where Canadian Marines invade the island, knock down the Danish flag and drink the Schnapps that was left then plant a Canadian flag and leave a couple of cases of Canadian whiskey for future Danish invaders to drink. No idea if it's true or not, but seems like a fine "war" to continue!
  •  378 km
  •  928 km
  •  1149 km
  •  1177 km
  •  1187 km
  •  1333 km
  •  1354 km
  •  1396 km
  •  1437 km
  •  1585 km
This article was last modified 4 years ago