Tug of War: Canada and Denmark fight the Strangest War in Human History

In the middle of the Nares Strait, which separates Greenland and the Canadian province of Nunavut, stands Gansa Island. The area of the island is only 1.3 square kilometers, it is uninhabited, there are no trees and almost no soil. It would seem, well, let it rise, to whom he, in fact, surrendered. 

But no, this island has been the scene of an international conflict for almost half a century. In practice, it looks like this. Every few months, a landing party of Canadian navy sailors lands on Hansa Island, they lower the Danish flag, hang up their own, and leave a bottle of whiskey. Then the Danes appear, repeat the procedure, take the whiskey and leave their bottle. Therefore, this strange conflict was dubbed the whiskey war.

The exact location of Hans Island was described by researchers in the 20s of the last century. It turned out that it is located exactly in the middle of the Ners Strait with a width of 35 kilometers. Which sets an interesting precedent in terms of international law. According to the legislation, the border of territorial waters is 12 miles (22.2 kilometers) from the shore. Consequently, Hans Island falls into both Canadian and Danish (Greenland belongs to Denmark) territorial waters.

In 1933, the issue was raised at a meeting of the Permanent Court of International Justice (the judicial body of the League of Nations). As a result, the island was given to Denmark. However, due to the remoteness of the disputed territory and the subsequent collapse of the League of Nations, this decision soon lost both practical and legal force.

Hans Island

In the 70s, the two countries recognized each other's claims to the continental shelf and even drew a sea border approaching the island from the north and south, but they could not agree on the status of the island itself. However, due to the presence of more pressing foreign policy issues, both sides for a long time forgot about the existence of the dispute.

Until 2004, the Canadian Parliament used the Gansa Island conflict as an excuse to raise defense spending. Canadian troops arrived on the poor island, erected a stone sculpture and raised the flag. Which caused a storm of indignation on the Danish side. The debate has continued unabated ever since. The expeditions of both countries alternately dismantle the flags and monuments of the enemy and build their own. But they do not lose their sense of humor and leave gifts.