Places on the world map that different countries can’t divide among themselves
In the light of the political events of recent years, questions about the belonging of a particular territory to a particular country are often raised in various news channels. I am not talking about specific countries, I am referring to the general global agenda, because there are more than enough such cases on all continents. From time to time, news comes up here and there that someone has once again declared that a certain territory historically belongs to him, and the other side has begun to dispute this again. But these are basically the same territories that we are already used to hearing about almost daily. In fact, there are also some that we haven’t heard of that are officially run by different countries at the same time. Moreover, some of them are even managed by different countries according to a strictly defined schedule. What are these territories?
There is a very beautiful lake in Europe, it is called Lake Constance. The shores of the lake are located in three countries at the same time – Austria, Germany and Switzerland. On the one hand, everything is simple – the 25-meter coastal zone is under the jurisdiction of the nearest country. But there is one small catch – on the territory of the lake there is the island of Reichenau, which is still unclear to whom. Switzerland claims that half of the island belongs to it, mentioning it in all its official documents. Austria is more loyal and considers the island to belong to all three countries. Germany, on the other hand, does not worry about this issue at all and believes that this island is exclusively German. By the way, almost everywhere on the Internet it is also indicated that it belongs to Germany. However, officially, this territory has not been divided for several decades. There is even a special representative of the United Nations, whose job is to deal exclusively with disputes on this island.
Since we are talking about Germany, there is one more geographical object that this country considers exclusively its own – the Moselle River. The object is interesting because it is essentially a natural border between Germany and Luxembourg. It runs along almost the entire border between these states. Officially, since 1816, all objects located on this river, that is, road and pedestrian bridges, as well as various islets, are under the jurisdiction of two countries at once. But to this day, Germany does not officially recognize or agree on any initiatives on these facilities. Like, the territory is ours, we’ll figure it out ourselves. Well, Luxembourg is not arguing much yet.
The most interesting object from this list is the Island of Pheasants. The island itself is generally very small – 200 by 40 meters. But there are no arguments because of him, as they say, mom, don’t grieve. The island is located in the middle of the Bidasoa River and is administered by both France and Spain at the same time. And this has been happening for quite a long time, since 1659. It was in this year that the Treaty of the Pyrenees between the countries was signed on this island, which officially marked the end of the Franco-Spanish war. So, of particular interest is the fact that both countries manage this island according to a strictly established schedule. Every year, from February 1 to July 31, it is a Spanish island, but from August 1 to January 31, it is already French.
Well, the most original geographical object, which is managed by several countries at once, is guess what exactly? When I was asked, I didn’t immediately figure it out, to be honest. In fact, the answer is very simple – it’s Antarctica. After all, it does not fully belong to any country in the world. Regarding this continent, there is a special international treaty on Antarctica, according to which 29 countries have the right to govern it at once. At the same time, 54 countries are parties to this treaty. But the rest, which are smaller in size, following the example of Luxembourg, which we will talk about above, are simply members of it, but are not part of the government.