Pheasant Island
Pheasant Island (French: Île des Faisans/Île de la Conférence, Spanish: Isla de los Faisanes, Basque: Konpantzia) is an uninhabited river island in the Bidasoa river, located between France and Spain, whose administration alternates between both nations.
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Bidasoa |
| Area | 0.00682[1] km2 (0.00263 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 6 m (20 ft) |
| Administration | |
Spain (current) | |
| Autonomous community | Basque Country |
| Province | Guipuscoa |
| Region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine |
| Département | Pyrénées-Atlantiques |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0 |
History
The most important historical event to have taken place on the island was the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees. This was the climax to a series of 24 conferences held between Luis de Haro, a Grandee of Spain, and Cardinal Mazarin, Chief Minister of France, in 1659 following the end of the Thirty Years' War. A monolith was built in the centre of the island to commemorate the meeting.
The island has also been used for several other royal meetings:
- 1659 – Louis XIV met his future wife Maria Theresa of Spain (1638–1683); they were the parents of le Grand Dauphin; a year later – at the Meeting on the Isle of Pheasants – she said farewell to her father, Philip IV of Spain and much of the Spanish court, before crossing into France to become the consort of Louis XIV.
- 1721 – Louis XV met his intended bride Mariana Victoria of Spain (1718–1781). The two never married; Louis instead married Marie Leszczyńska, and Mariana the future Joseph I of Portugal.
Political status
The island is a condominium,[2] the world's smallest,[3] under joint sovereignty of Spain and France, and for alternating periods of six months is officially under the governance of the naval commanders of San Sebastián, Spain (1 February – 31 July) and of Bayonne, France (1 August – 31 January). In practice, it is administered respectively by the mayors of Irun (in Gipuzkoa, Spain) and Hendaye (in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France).[4]
Geography
As of January 2018, the island is approximately 200 metres (660 ft) long and 40 metres (130 ft) wide, and is eroding.[4]
Access
The island can sometimes be reached from the Spanish side at low tide.[4] It is uninhabited, and access is forbidden[5] except very occasionally on heritage open days.[4] Other than that, employees of the municipal government of Irun or Hendaye may access the island once every six months for cleaning and gardening,[6] and members of the Naval Commands of San Sebastián (Spain) and Bayonne (France), responsible for monitoring the island, will land on it every five days.[6]
References
- Wullms, Jannie (2012). "La edición" (PDF). Propuesta de una edición crítica de José de Butrón y Mújica, Relación panegírica de la jornada de los señores, señor don Luis Méndez de Haro y señor cardenal Julio de Mazarino, a la conferencia de los Tratados de la Paz entre el Católico Felipe Cuarto el Grande de España, y el Cristianísimo Luis Catorce de Francia (MA) (in Spanish). Universidad Complutense de Madrid. pp. 59–83. Docket 17363. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- "España asume la jurisdicción de la isla de los Faisanes, la más pequeña del mundo". El Mundo (in Spanish). 2 February 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- "The Pheasant Island - A threshold in Time" by G. Sánchez Arsuaga, EURAU18 Congress proceedings 85, page 549
- "The island that switches countries every six months". BBC. 28 January 2018.
- "Caneta and Pheasant Island". Hendaye Tourism. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
Currently, the island cannot be visited but it can easily be seen from the Joncaux bank, on the Bay Path.
- Porto, Rita. "A ilha dos Faisões, o condomínio mais antigo do mundo, é seis meses francesa e seis meses espanhola". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 3 February 2019.
External links
Media related to Pheasant Island at Wikimedia Commons
- Pheasant Island article from BBC News
- The World's Only Border-Swapping Island by The Tim Traveller on YouTube