The following is a guest post by Michael Chalupovitsch, a foreign law specialist with the Law Library’s Global Legal Research Directorate covering Canada.
On June 14, 2022, peace was brokered between two longstanding NATO allies, Canada and Denmark. A ceremonial exchange of liquor bottles signaled the end of the long running “Whisky War” between the two nations. Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, and Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte B. Egede exchanged bottles of Canadian maple whiskey Sortilège and Danish bitter Gammel Dansk to celebrate the agreement to divide Hans Island between the two countries, leading to the establishment of the first land border between Canada and Denmark, much to the delight of trivia enthusiasts everywhere.
yes but through Hans Island which is part of Greenland which is an overseas territory of Denmark and the caveat says overseas territories not included in this quiz and specifically mentions Hans Island so please delete this comment
The instructions at the top say "Not counting overseas territories", and with Gibraltar being a British Overseas Territory, it means that it is not included in this quiz (like any other quiz on Jetpunk).
49% of people in the comments are being sarcastic. Another 49% don't know that they are being sarcastic. The remaining 2% have never been online before.
I think you are overestimating people ;) I think 99% if the people here are serious. I noticed you were sarcastic though and that indeed even in the obvious cases some didnt realize that.
Gibraltar is not part of the UK proper, it's an overseas territory, which you know full well JetPunk does not include in virtually every quiz like this.
Also, a lot of people forget that there is a border in Ireland. Internationally, most people refer to the island of Ireland as Ireland rather than Northern Ireland and/or Republic of Ireland. These are normally only used by non-Irish or British people in official dealings or news reports etc.
a2: Only visible above sea levels borders (The Oresund bridge would count Denmak out but the Johor–Singapore Causeway would add Singapre to the list and the King Fahd Causeway would add Bahrain to the list. Qatar out but Singapore and Bahrain in. In the future, the proposed Quatar-Bahrain bridge might kick both countries out of the list.)
a3: Bridges and tunnels accepted as border. Kicks UK out of the list.
b1: Overseas territories not taken into account.
b2: Overseas territories counted as separate countries. As an example, this would add Gibraltar to the list.
b3: Overseas territories counted as a part of the mother country. This makes Gibraltar a part of the UK, dropping them from the list.
(Incorporated overseas areas of France an the Netherlands do not affect the list of countries bordering a single country, so we don't have to make a b4.)
c1) De facto independent countries with limited recognition not included.
c2) De facto indepent countires recognized. This only affects the split of Cyprus. (Interacts with the b1/b2/b3 (like Gibraltar) as the UK owns the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, the latter bordering both parts of split-up Cyprus.
d2) disputed islands count as borders. This brings the focus on Hans Island between Greenland and Canda. That defenatly kicks Canda of the list, but it depends on how you treat overseat territories whether is also kicks Denmark out of the list or adds Greenland to it as a seperate state.
e1) Military bases and other leased land not taken in account.
e2) Military bases with border control counted as borders. This would add Cuba to the list at Guantanamo bay and probably a lot of other borders around the world as well.
With three options for a) and b) while two options for c), d), e) and f), you have 3*3*2*2*2*2 = 144 possible solutions (many of the though giving similar results). Have fun compiling the list :) The end.
When you wrote this comment in 2019, this island was not an officially agreed border. It is today however, and counts as a land border between Canada and Denmark. The quiz is out of date.
I need to learn to read. "Not including overseas territories" thought I was being a clever clogs right up until the last minute because of the Gibraltar border with Spain.
Have you considered doing another quiz on country pairs with manmade border links (eg Sweden-Denmark, UK-France)? If you already haven't.
Sigh... From my previous comments, I missed Papau New Guinea, and also missed something that makes me feel like a COMPLETE idiot and needs to get me demoted to level -10: Canada
And Unkojack, If you haven't read previous comments (which tell the answer like 20 times), Singapore is an island, not a peninsula on a peninsula (doesn't border Malaysia).
There are so many comments here about Gibraltar (etc) giving the UK more than one border.... and there are many sensible people pointing out that the quiz clearly says it doesn't include overseas territories. Even if it did, the British Overseas Territories are NOT part of the UK anyway. They belong to the UK but aren't part of it. It's a complicated distinction and I'm not surprised people get it wrong, but it means that Spain definitely does not border the UK. Spain borders a piece of land which the UK has responsibility for.
Think of it like a person touching your pet dog. They're touching something which belongs to you, and is part of your "family", but they're not touching you.
"Middle Island" is half owned by Bahrain and half by Saudi Arabia. But, I'm not sure if it should count, since it is not connected to the main island of Bahrain, nor mainland Saudi Arabia. So , is it an "overseas territory?" This example is maybe a little tricky, but, ultimately, I guess it could go either way.
hans island is split between denmark and canada period it doesnt matter if you dont recognize greenland as danish clay that still means canada borders greenland
The Hans Island dispute has been solved. Canada should be removed, and Denmark too possibly. When this quiz is next updated, this should be changed or a caveat added. I have not done enough research to be able to say whether or not the change has taken place yet or not.
Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953, when it was redefined as a district of Denmark. In addition to its own local government, Greenland has two representatives in the Danish Parliament, the Folketing.
Canada and Denmark are wrong because Canada share an island with Greenland and Greenland is part of Denmark and both of the countries borders one other country so no canada or denmark
If we are getting technical, I believe we should add Moldova. Moldova borders both Ukraine and Romania. However, the border with Romania follows a river over its full length. Therefore, Moldova and Romania only border through bridges, which is excluded by the quiz description.
Maybe we should change ‘border by bridges’ in the description into ‘border by sea bridges’?
The problem is that many countries and other politically defined geographic regions use natural formations like rivers to define borders (i.e. Rio Grande serves as border between Texas and Mexico, Congo River serves as part of border between DRC and Rep. of Congo, etc.) These count as land borders because, well, a river isn't like a sea. They're not really deep or wide enough to classify as an ocean border, because they're rivers. While the countries may be connected by bridges, a river for all intents and purposes (at least on this quiz) counts as a land border.
Moldova is the only one I could find that forms a problem for this quiz, though. Mexico’s border with the US doesn’t follow a rubber in the West, and Congo borders both Uganda and Zambia without a river.
Anyway, that’s why I proposed to change the definition to sea bridges rather than bridges in general.
Except I didn't say it was a full border. I was simply providing examples where a river border is used as at least some part of a border and counts as a land border. The point is that a river classifies as a land border, regardless of how much of a nation's border it makes up.
The following is a guest post by Michael Chalupovitsch, a foreign law specialist with the Law Library’s Global Legal Research Directorate covering Canada.
On June 14, 2022, peace was brokered between two longstanding NATO allies, Canada and Denmark. A ceremonial exchange of liquor bottles signaled the end of the long running “Whisky War” between the two nations. Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, and Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte B. Egede exchanged bottles of Canadian maple whiskey Sortilège and Danish bitter Gammel Dansk to celebrate the agreement to divide Hans Island between the two countries, leading to the establishment of the first land border between Canada and Denmark, much to the delight of trivia enthusiasts everywhere.
a1: No man made bodrer
a2: Only visible above sea levels borders (The Oresund bridge would count Denmak out but the Johor–Singapore Causeway would add Singapre to the list and the King Fahd Causeway would add Bahrain to the list. Qatar out but Singapore and Bahrain in. In the future, the proposed Quatar-Bahrain bridge might kick both countries out of the list.)
a3: Bridges and tunnels accepted as border. Kicks UK out of the list.
b1: Overseas territories not taken into account.
b2: Overseas territories counted as separate countries. As an example, this would add Gibraltar to the list.
b3: Overseas territories counted as a part of the mother country. This makes Gibraltar a part of the UK, dropping them from the list.
(Incorporated overseas areas of France an the Netherlands do not affect the list of countries bordering a single country, so we don't have to make a b4.)
... to be continued
c2) De facto indepent countires recognized. This only affects the split of Cyprus. (Interacts with the b1/b2/b3 (like Gibraltar) as the UK owns the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, the latter bordering both parts of split-up Cyprus.
... to be continued
d2) disputed islands count as borders. This brings the focus on Hans Island between Greenland and Canda. That defenatly kicks Canda of the list, but it depends on how you treat overseat territories whether is also kicks Denmark out of the list or adds Greenland to it as a seperate state.
... to be continued
e2) Military bases with border control counted as borders. This would add Cuba to the list at Guantanamo bay and probably a lot of other borders around the world as well.
... to be continued.
*facepalm*
Have you considered doing another quiz on country pairs with manmade border links (eg Sweden-Denmark, UK-France)? If you already haven't.
Think of it like a person touching your pet dog. They're touching something which belongs to you, and is part of your "family", but they're not touching you.
Borders in one island
Country Borders-India
Eswatini borders Mozambique in the east and South Africa with the rest of its body
Eswatini borders Mozambique in the east and South Africa with the rest of its body
easier to remember the one border countries anyway :)
It is part of Denmark - fix the quiz.
Like one tiny island that is half Canada, half Greenland.
Dunno if this should really count tho.
Maybe we should change ‘border by bridges’ in the description into ‘border by sea bridges’?
Anyway, that’s why I proposed to change the definition to sea bridges rather than bridges in general.