Europe’s island that swaps nationalities
In Roman occasions, the island was known as “Pausoa”, the Basque phrase for passage or phase. Then the French translated this as “Paysans”, which means peasant, prior to transposing it as “Faisans”, for pheasant. Around time, the name Île des Faisans stuck.
The humble island finally arrived into prominence in 1648, following a ceasefire at the end of the Thirty Years’ War in between France and Spain, when it was chosen as a neutral room to demarcate the new borderlands. In actuality, 24 summits took location, with armed service escorts on standby should really talks breakdown. Eleven several years afterwards, the Treaty of the Pyrenees peace accord was struck.
To honour the situation, a royal wedding day was mooted, and, in 1660, French King Louis XIV married the daughter of King Philip IV, Maria Theresa of Spain, on the place of the declaration. Wooden bridges have been created to simplicity passage, royal functions arrived in condition barges and carriages, and tapestries and paintings were being commissioned. Diego Velázquez, courtroom painter to Philip and whose magnum opus continues to be Las Meninas (a portrait of Maria Theresa with her maids of honour) was place in charge of arranging a great deal of the festivities.
So symbolic was Pheasant Island as a metaphor of peace, in reality, that it was decided each countries would have joint custody of the territory. Spain would maintain stewardship from 1 February to 31 July every calendar year, although Pheasant Island would turn into an formal element of France for the other six months. In that minute, the world’s smallest condominium was born.
By definition, condominiums are locations decided by the existence of at least much more than just one sovereign point out. The feeling is derived from Latin, with “com” implying “together” and “dominium” meaning “correct of ownership”. And more than the hundreds of years, various countries have turn into embroiled in geographic tug o’ wars in excess of condominiums, with governments spending decades fortunately arguing the finer details of who owns what and why. Most aren’t centres of empire, but rather experimental, geopolitical addendums.