
An island that switches countries every six months - appwiz
http://www.bbc.com/news/stories-42817859
======
skissane
> This sort of joint sovereignty is called a condominium, and Faisans Island
> is one of the oldest in existence.

I don't think this strictly counts as condominium. In a true condominium,
France and Spain would exercise joint sovereignty 100% of the time. But in
this case, they never exercise joint sovereignty, it is just they have agreed
to transfer the single sovereignty of the territory back and forth on a
regular basis.

New Hebrides (now known as Vanuatu) was a true condominium in that 100% of the
territory was under joint British-French sovereignty 100% of the time (until
independence in 1980).

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JshWright
Google Maps currently shows it on the Spanish side of the border for me
(despite that fact that it's France's "turn" for a few more days). I suspect
this sort of detail isn't worth bothering with, but it is interesting...

~~~
cbcoutinho
This is a pretty tame example, but Google is definitely active in delivering
maps based on the viewers location in some more tumultuous parts of the world,
for example the disputed borders of China/India/Pakistan in the kashmir
region.

[https://www.google.nl/amp/s/www.gislounge.com/the-
politics-o...](https://www.google.nl/amp/s/www.gislounge.com/the-politics-of-
googles-mapping/amp/)

~~~
majewsky
Link without AMP crap: [https://www.gislounge.com/the-politics-of-googles-
mapping/](https://www.gislounge.com/the-politics-of-googles-mapping/)

~~~
fooker
Screenshot 'without AMP crap' :
[https://imgur.com/a/6i7ae](https://imgur.com/a/6i7ae)

Screenshot with AMP : [https://imgur.com/a/3IsGe](https://imgur.com/a/3IsGe)

I hope you understand why people might prefer AMP.

~~~
majewsky
That's actually why I prefer adblockers.

~~~
fooker
That is just digging your head in the sand. If everyone starts using
adblockers, ads will no longer be blockable (say, just a dumb image).

Accept it or not, ad revenue is how the internet runs at today's scale.

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dandare
This could be one of the "Falsehoods programmers believe about" series.
Imagine how this complicates maps, geography data etc. Obviously, unless you
ignore the reality.

~~~
Piskvorrr
I do believe it's mentioned, either in the article or in the discussion:

[https://wiesmann.codiferes.net/wordpress/?p=15187](https://wiesmann.codiferes.net/wordpress/?p=15187)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14891185](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14891185)

------
tzs
> For six months of the year, from February 1 to 31 July, it's under Spanish
> rule - and for the following six months it's French

If I'm counting right, France has it 184 days per year (185 in leap years),
and Spain has it 181 days.

I wonder why they didn't balance that better? April 1 to Sept 30 for France
and Aug 1 to March 31 for Spain would have given 183 for France and 182 for
Spain (183 in leap years).

The same balance would also arise from June 1 to November 30 for France and
December 1 to May 31 for Spain.

~~~
Reason077
It would hardly be fair if one country got to enjoy the island in the nice
warm summer months, while the other only got it for the cold winter, would it?

~~~
petecox
Given that it's uninhabited, I don't think anyone _enjoys_ it as such.

It's located in what, either side of the river, was the medieval kingdom of
Navarre, subsequently ruled by distant monarchs in Paris and Madrid.

------
RightMillennial
> Next week, France will hand over 3,000 sq m (3,200 sq ft) of its territory
> to Spain without a single shot being fired.

Those numbers don't add up.

> The island is tiny - just over 200m long and 40m wide.

Assuming the island is roughly an ellipse, it's area should be ~6,280 m^2 or
~67,400 ft^2. Wikipedia reports the island's area as 0.00682 km^2 (6,820 m^2)
and 0.00263 mi^2 (73,300 ft^2) [1].

So the reported area is half of the actual area, and the U.S. conversion to
feet is off by an order of magnitude. BBC should have someone double check the
numbers.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheasant_Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheasant_Island)

~~~
Piskvorrr
It does say "over 3000 sq m." 6280 > 3000 ;)

(The article also says that it's eroded and diminished recently)

------
ufmace
Cool and weird! You'd think by now, they would have made some sort of
agreement for one country to take it full-time, and the other to pay a modest
price or give some other sort of diplomatic consideration. Guess nobody cares
enough because it's so small and nobody lives there.

~~~
Cogito
I like to think that rather there is no reason for either country to want the
island full time, except to say they have it and the other does not, and
plenty of reasons to keep a quirky tradition that serves as occasional
reminder of an old treaty.

------
manmal
My father‘s neighbor‘s garden covers more area than that. Isn’t the
administrative cost within, say, 10 years, not higher than the asking price?

~~~
lostlogin
You talk like a buyer...

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labster
With the housing shortage, I'm surprised that no one has built condominiums on
this condominium.

~~~
ithkuil
Pun aside, allowing people to actually live there would open an interesting
question. Would people be tax residents of France only just because it's 184
days under French rule vs. 181 days under Spanish?

~~~
lostlogin
Should you only pay tax where you live, or where you earn the money too?

~~~
tempay
In the EU this is a common issue in some areas where you can commute across a
border each day. The rules are well established, albeit varying depending on
which border is involved.[1]

[1] [https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/double-
taxa...](https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/double-
taxation/index_en.htm)

