Sitting on the Kennedy Canal in the Nares Strait between the northwest coast of Greenland Denmark and Ellesmere Island in Canada, the uninhabited half mile Hans Island has no mineral resources or many other attractions unless you are visiting by sea. Muffin-shaped and surrounded by cliffs, it has been a Inuit hunting ground for centuries. Criticism, however, has been at the heart of a long-running border dispute between Canada and Denmark – through the Greenlandic government – with Copenhagen claiming geological evidence suggests Hans Island is part of Greenland – a claim rejected by Ottawa. . Aerial view of Hans Island. Photo: Gallo Images / Getty Images Canada and Denmark agreed in 1973 to establish a border via the Nares Strait, halfway between Greenland and Canada. But they could not agree on which country would rule Hans Island, which is about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) south of the North Pole. In the end, they decided to settle the property issue later. This has largely led to well-intentioned advocacy between the two parties, including ads posted on Google promoting their claims, and flag-raising stunts. The reference to the “whiskey war” came when the Danish Minister for Greenland raised a Danish flag on the island in 1984, buried a bottle of Danish snap at the base of the flagpole and left a note saying: “Welcome to the island. Denmark “. The Canadians then planted their own flag and left a bottle of Canadian brandy. Since then, the countries in turn have raised their flags and left bottles of various alcoholic beverages in title moves. In 2002, Nana Flensburg was a member of a Danish military crew that stood on the cliff to perform a flag-raising ceremony. The Politiken newspaper reported on Tuesday that it said in its diary that “there were many bottles, glasses, etc. between the stones in the barrels. with documents informing about previous visits to the island “. At the height of the rivalry, both sides began buying Google ads to make their claim, after Denmark said it would send a letter of protest for a visit by then-Canadian Defense Secretary Bill Graham in 2005. Graham had stated that Canada had always had the island, leading Denmark to respond: “Hans Island is our island.” Some Canadians, in turn, have proposed a boycott of Danish pastries in response to the way some Americans rejected “french fries” when France refused to join coalition forces in Iraq. Now this friction ends with the two countries agreeing to share the tiny island with each other under an agreement to be signed later on Tuesday. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST “It sends a clear message that border disputes can be resolved … in a realistic and peaceful way, where all parties become winners,” said Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod. He said it was “an important message now that there is a lot of war and unrest in the world”. The agreement enters into force after the completion of the internal procedures of the two countries. In Denmark, parliament must first give its consent to the agreement.
