The friendliest (or most passive-aggressive) war ever fought is over. After 50 years of claiming sovereignty over Hans Island, located in the Arctic Circle and measuring only 1.3 square kilometers, Denmark and Canada decided to divide the island, resulting in the first Canada-Europe land border.
In 1972, Canadian and Danish scientists were tasked with determining the geographic coordinates of this small island and where it falls in relation to completely arbitrary maritime boundaries. The following year both countries claimed their side of the island.
For several years the dispute did not matter to anyone until a Canadian oil company conducted research on and around the island. This problem arose when the two countries were negotiating an agreement on the maritime zones of the Nares Strait, where Hans Island is located. The agreement was signed in 1983 and news of the discovery of Dome Petroleum reached Denmark in 1984.
The then Greenland Minister, Tom Høyem, is said to have flown by helicopter to Hans Island, planted a flag, dropped a bottle of liquor, and delivered the message: “Velkommen til den danske – Welcome to Denmark Island.” The Canadians then did the same, raising the flag and later leaving behind a bottle of Canadian whiskey, for which this benign battle was named. These changes continued for years.
The war again caught the attention of the press in 2004, and since then the two countries have started to search again for a solution. Years later, they decided to choose the most obvious solution: dividing the uninhabited island in two.
This solution created one of the smallest borders in history and the first land border between Canada and Europe. Both Canada and Denmark instantly doubled the number of countries they border. Prior to this agreement, both countries had a single land neighbor, the USA and Germany, respectively.
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