Pheasant Island (French:Île des Faisans/Île de la Conférence,Spanish:Isla de los Faisanes,Basque:Konpantzia,Faisaien UharteaKonferentziako Uhartea) is an uninhabitedriver island located in theBidasoa river, located betweenFrance andSpain, whose administration alternates between the two nations every six months.
There are nopheasants on the island. The name could be a misinterpretation of some French word related to "passing" or "toll".[2]The "Conference" name could come from the international meetings held there.
The island is acondominium,[3] the world's smallest,[4] under jointsovereignty of Spain and France;[5] for alternating periods of six months, it is officially under the governance of the naval commander ofSan Sebastián, Spain (1 February – 31 July) and of a French viceroy (1 August – 31 January).
Currently, the French position of "deputy director for the sea and coast of the Atlantic Pyrenees and Landes departments" carries the title of "viceroy of Pheasant Island", an unusual name in the French Republic.[6][7]One of the French officers with this title was Julien Viaud, better known as the writerPierre Loti.[8]In practice, it is administered in turn by the mayors ofIrun (inGipuzkoa, Spain) andHendaye (in thePyrénées-Atlantiques, France).[9]
As of January 2018[update], the island was approximately 200 metres (660 ft) long and 40 metres (130 ft) wide, and it was eroding.[9]
Since the Franco-Spanish boundary line follows thethalweg of the Bidasoa river's main course, which is located on the northern shore of the islet, the whole territory of Pheasant Island is anenclave located within the borders of Spain.[10]
The island can sometimes be reached on foot from the Spanish side at low tide.[9] It is uninhabited, and access is forbidden,[11] except very occasionally on heritage open days.[9] Other than that, employees of the municipal government of Irun or Hendaye may access the island once every six months for cleaning and gardening,[12] and members of the Naval Commands of San Sebastián (Spain) and Bayonne (France), responsible for monitoring the island, land on it every five days.[12]
^Wullms, Jannie (2012)."La edición"(PDF).Propuesta de una edición crítica de José de Butrón y Mújica,Relación panegírica de la jornada de los señores, señor don Luis Méndez de Haro y señor cardenal Julio de Mazarino, a la conferencia de los Tratados de la Paz entre el Católico Felipe Cuarto el Grande de España, y el Cristianísimo Luis Catorce de Francia (MA) (in Spanish).Universidad Complutense de Madrid. pp. 59–83. Docket 17363. Retrieved3 December 2015.
^"International Condominium" (Xavier Henry Mermoz M. du Pré-Maillard, International Boundaries Review, 2013) :The German-Luxembourgish condominium constitutes a common territory under common sovereignty of the two adjacent States and does not form part of the national territory of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, nor that of the Federal Republic of Germany, as recalled by Luxembourg law (2012). The same is true of the Franco-Spanish condominium: the Ile des Faisans, which once belonged entirely to Irun but which was divided into one French and one Spanish parts during the negotiations for peace between France and Spain (1659), became undivided between the two crowns by the Treaty of Bayonne (1856) and its current administration is governed by an agreement signed between the two countries in 1901; since the entry into force of the latter (1902), the exercise of sovereign prerogatives (defense and police as well as justice for foreigners to the two nations) by each State alternates every six months, a viceroy representing each of them. This alternate jurisdiction only concerns the exercise of sovereign power, not the co-sovereignty in itself over this common territory, an undivided sovereignty which remains permanent throughout the year.
^"International Condominium" (Xavier Henry Mermoz M. du Pré-Maillard, International Boundaries Review, 2013) :This territorial possession is a dependency of both the French Republic and the Kingdom of Spain and is currently located as an enclave within Spain for - as per the 1856 treaty - the border with France is right in the middle of the main channel of the Bidasoa river.
^"Caneta and Pheasant Island".Hendaye Tourism. Retrieved23 October 2021.Currently, the island cannot be visited but it can easily be seen from the Joncaux bank, on the Bay Path.
Media related toPheasant Island at Wikimedia Commons