copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-14): - P.J. Akeeagok, Premier of Nunavut "I am pleased to be part of the formal ceremony resolving boundary issues between Canada and Greenland concerning Tartupaluk/Hans Island. For Inuit, our lands, waters and ice form a singular homeland that we used, crossed and inhabited freely before formal boundaries were created by political jurisdictions. Our use of these areas underlie claims to sovereignty by nation states. It is an honour to join Inuit leadership and government representatives on this historic occasion." [...] The new agreement between Canada and the Kingdom of Denmark, together with Greenland, resolves the long-standing dispute over sovereignty of Tartupaluk/Hans Island by creating a land boundary. It also modernizes the 1973 boundary within 200 nautical miles and establishes the maritime boundary in the Lincoln Sea. It further establishes a boundary on the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in the Labrador Sea. See the map below. [...] The island known as Tartupaluk in Greenlandic and Hans Island in English is situated in the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait between Greenland and Canada. The island is approximately 1.2 km² and is uninhabited and without vegetation or wildlife. However, the island has a traditional, symbolic and historic significance to the local population.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-03): Background [edit]Hans Island (known as Tartupaluk in Greenlandic) is in the middle of the Kennedy Channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. Hans Island is approximately 1.3 km2 in size and is barren. Hans Island is not inhabited, although, through the 19th century, it was used by indigenous Inuit populations in the area.[5] The Canadian claim to the island arose from the 1880 purchase of Hudson's Bay Company land to Canadian Government territory. The Danish argument was that Hans Island was vital to their indigenous populations for fishing, creating an integral part of the nearby Greenlandic area.[6] [...] - February 2019 – Canadian geologist John Robins is granted a minerals exploration claim for Hans Island by the Canadian government as part of efforts to help the cause of Canada's sovereignty claim.[37] [...] - ^ "Canada has claim to Hans Island: Pettigrew". CTV.ca. August 20, 2005. Archived from the original on December 6, 2005. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-22): Both countries claimed Hans Island for themselves. Canada claimed that the island was part of the 1880 transfer of Hudson Bay Company lands to Canadian sovereignty. Denmark claimed that the island is an integral part of Greenland and was used by Greenlandic Inuit for hunting purposes. Danish sovereignty over northern Greenland was recognized when the United States abandoned all claims to the region as part of purchase of the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917. Interestingly, the island lies along the route taken by Commander Robert E. Peary and Matthew Henson on their 1902 expedition in the High Arctic. [...] We acknowledge that we hold very different views on the question of the sovereignty of Hans Island. This is a territorial dispute which has persisted since the early 1970s, when agreement was reached on the maritime boundary between Canada and Greenland. We underscore that this issue relates only to the island as such, and has no impact on that agreement. Firmly committed as we are to the peaceful resolution of disputes, including territorial disputes, we consistently support this principle here at the United Nations, and around the world. To this end, we will continue our efforts to reach a long-term solution to the Hans Island dispute. Our officials will meet again in the near future to discuss ways to resolve the matter, and will report back to Ministers on their progress.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-15): Hundreds of miles north of the Arctic Circle, between Nunavut and Greenland, there's a tiny island that's been fought over the years. Well, to say it's been fought over is a bit of an exaggeration—and at 1.2 square kilometres, Hans Island isn't even much of an island. Nevertheless, both Canada and Denmark have staked claims to it. [...] Hans Island remained no man's land through the decades of the Cold War. In 1973, Canada and Denmark worked together to survey and agree to boundaries around the region of Hans Island, but Hans Island wasn't included in the new maps of either territory. [...] In 2015, a proposal was put forth that the two nations could share the island, under an arrangement known as a condominium. For now, the status of Hans Island is more Arctic trivia than international dispute, with an occasional toast between friendly neighbours.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-14): Nevertheless, for some five decades, Canada and Denmark have squabbled — mostly, but not always, politely — over the not-very-exciting Hans Island, a 0.5-square-mile mass in the Kennedy Channel of the Nares Strait that’s home to neither vegetation nor wildlife. The craggy outcropping — Tartupaluk in Inuit — lies between Canada’s Ellesmere Island and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. [...] The dispute dates back to 1973, when Canadian and Danish diplomats were drawing up a maritime boundary in the Arctic. The line cut straight through Hans Island. The diplomats left the question of what to do about it unresolved. [...] Lawmakers in Canada have occasionally pointed to the dispute over Hans Island as an example of the government of the day doing little to defend its interests in the Arctic.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-10-24): Canada claims that this rocky, uninhabited piece of rock is 100 percent Canadian. Denmark says that every grumpy inch of it is part of Greenland and that the entirety therefore belongs to the Danish Kingdom. I cannot imagine many purposes for which Hans Island, or Tartupaluk in Greenlandic, would be useful for a government at all. It is extremely remote, provides no shelter, no decent landing for any vessels, no oil or gas reserves are known to hide in its vicinity, no mineral deposits in its core, it is ice-encapsulated and dangerously windswept most of the year. Perhaps in a distant ice-free future a bit of very high-Arctic traffic might pass by, but it would still most likely have no reason to dwell here. [...] Hans Island, all 1.3 square kilometers of it, is worth keeping in mind for several reasons. For one, so that we may reflect more deeply over our own ways when we come across calls for increased sovereignty in Scotland, Greenland, Nunavut, the Faroe Islands, Catalonia or elsewhere. These are deep-rooted sentiments that one cannot meet only with simplistic counter-arguments.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2002-01-01): Out of interest, has anyone here visited Hans Island? It's a small (1.3 sq km) barren rock between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. Apparently, the Danes and the Canadians both claim the island and the military from each country visit it from time to time. The Canadians take down the Danish flag that's there, raise their own flag and then drink the schnapps left there by the Danes. They then leave some whisky and toddle off back to Ottawa. Some time later, the Danish military land, take down the Canadian flag, raise the Danish flag, drink the whisky left by the Canadians and then leave some schnapps before heading off back to Copenhagen. This has to be the most civilised territorial dispute ever! And it's been going on for some time. [...] Having a quick Google it doesn't seem there is any tourism to Hans Island. To be honest from the pictures there doesn't seem like there is much to see I think if either country started to run tours to the island it would probably escalate the conflict. Planting flags and leaving bottles of alcohol is all a bit of fun but if one country starts to financially benefit from the disputed territory that will probably start stirring up real animosity
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-01-10): According to World Atlas, Hans Island is located in the middle of the 22-mile wide Nares Strait, which separates Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, from Canada. Due to international law, all countries have the right to claim territory within 12 miles of their shore. As such, Hans Island is technically located in both Danish and Canadian waters. World Atlas notes that the island was decided to be Danish territory by the Permanent Court of International Justice of the League of Nations in 1933. [...] Currently, a plan is in the works that could turn Hans Island into a shared territory that would be jointly managed by the Canadian and Danish municipalities bordering it.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-10-10): But what distinguishes this small island from the many others in the area? Well, Hans Island is peculiarly situated midway through the 35 km (21.7 mi) wide Nares Strait, which separates Nunavut, Canada, from Greenland. This poses a great interrogative since international law states that countries have control over territorial waters extending 22.2 km (12 mi) from their shores. So, Hans Island falls within both the Danish and Canadian 12-mile national waters, with both claiming the island as theirs. [...] After the colonization of the New World, Hans Island was left undiscovered for centuries. Then, Danish explorers ventured deep into the High Arctic region to discover the unknown, pioneering the tiny island. Due to the English territory transfer to the newly created Canada, Hans Island was claimed by both Canada and Denmark. International law did not help assign ownership to either due to the close proximity to both their shores. After a light-hearted conflict that lasted nearly 50 years, the "Whisky War" came to an end with the historical 2022 agreement that divided Hans Island between the two litigants to settle the decade-old dispute. Today, the territorial division on this inhabited island creates more than a few hassles for the local Inuit natives, who once roamed free on the island to hunt and now have to face two unforeseen ruling powers.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-05-26): Also known as Tartupaluk in Greenlandic, (in Inuktitut, ᑕᕐᑐᐸᓗᒃ), Hans Island is a 1.3km2 rock lying between Canada’s Ellesmere Island (Nunavut) and Greenland in the narrow Nares Strait, and claimed by both Canada and Denmark/Greenland as part of their sovereign territory. [...] The Hans Island question first came to the forefront when the maritime border between Canada and Greenland in the Arctic was being determined in the 1970s. A 1973 agreement [pdf] on the continental shelf clarified the maritime boundary in the region, but the placement of the island directly on the border left that issue unresolved. An upgraded bilateral maritime demarcation agreement, completed in November 2012, also omitted a Hans Island solution. [...] Actions taken by Canada and Denmark to demonstrate their claims over Hans Island have been more akin to theatre as opposed to hard political pressure. This led some commentators to label the dispute a ‘whisky war’, as in 1984 a note advising that Hans Island was Danish territory was left on the rock, reportedly along with a bottle of schnapps. This was followed up by the placing of a bottle of Canadian Club whisky on the island by a Canadian expedition and the subsequent planting of Canadian and Danish flags. Although both Copenhagen and Ottawa pledged their support for a diplomatic solution, and have so far been content with an ‘agree-to-disagree’ status, arriving at a final agreement has remained difficult given the large amount of potential economic goods involved.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-02-15): Hans Island (Tartupaluk) looking toward the west with Ellesmere Island in the background. The newly established international border runs approximately from the top left to the lower right, with Denmark/Greenland on the left and Canada on the right. Photo: Toubletap [...] The dispute over Hans Island began about 50 years ago when Canada and Denmark initiated negotiations to demarcate a 1,450-nm-long continental shelf boundary between Canada and Greenland without reaching an agreement concerning the title over Hans Island which lies midway between the two States. Thus, the 1973 Delimitation Agreement deliberately left without a determined boundary the area between the geodetic points 122 and 123 where Hans Island is located. The decades following the 1973 delimitation treaty triggered a rather political pseudo-confrontation regarding sovereignty over the island,4) with Canada and Denmark provoking each other by planting flags on the island, pursuing annual military visits, and exchanging bottles of whiskey and schnapps.5) Within these political debates, the Danish side often invoked the historical Inughuit presence on the island, mainly through the Danish Minister for Greenland, a post which was laid down in 1987.6) Similar arguments have been also echoed by the Canadian side, which often attributes Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic to the historical Inuit use and occupancy of the entire Canadian archipelago.7)
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-16): Sitting in the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait between the north-western coast of the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland and Canada’s Ellesmere Island, the uninhabited half-mile-square Hans Island has no mineral resources nor much else of interest unless you are a visiting seabird. Shaped like a muffin and surrounded by cliffs, it was for centuries an Inuit hunting ground. Crucially, however, it has been at the centre of a long-running border dispute between Canada and Denmark – via Greenland’s home rule government – with Copenhagen claiming that geological evidence points to Hans Island being part of Greenland – a claim rejected by Ottawa. [...] Graham stated Canada had always owned the island, prompting Denmark to respond: "Hans Island is our island." Some Canadians in turn proposed a boycott of Danish pastries, in an echo of the way some Americans rejected "french fries" when France declined to join coalition forces in Iraq.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-14): Known in the local Inuit languages as Tartupaluk (and in Danish as Hans Ø), Hans Island is a small (half a square mile, or 1.3 km2), barren, and uninhabited rock at 80° North, in the frigid waters of the Kennedy Channel, halfway between Ellesmere Island and Greenland. [...] Hans Island’s immediate value is as a hunting ground for locals. But possession of an island comes with rights to its territorial waters, as well as to the hydrocarbons and other potential riches beneath those waves — hence, the obstinacy exhibited by both the Canadian and Danish governments when it comes to the official deed to Hans Island. [...] It all started in 1984, when Canadians left a Canadian flag and a bottle of Canada Club whisky on the island, as a way of marking Hans Island as their territory. The same year, a Danish minister reciprocated, leaving a Danish flag, a bottle of Gammel Dansk schnapps, and a message reading, "Welcome to the Danish island." In the years since, visiting officials and military personnel of both sides have kept up the tradition, leaving behind a flag, a message, and a bottle of liquor for the other side.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-15): Under the agreement, a border will be drawn across the half-square-mile Hans Island in the waterway between the northwestern coast of the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland and Canada’s Ellesmere Island. The rock has no known mineral reserves of value. [...] Canada and Denmark agreed in 1973 to create a border through Nares Strait, halfway between Greenland and Canada. But they were unable to agree which country would have sovereignty over Hans Island, which lies about 680 miles south of the North Pole. In the end, they decided to work out the question of ownership later. [...] The settlement also gives indigenous access and rights of use to Hans island.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-06-13): Article by Fanney Ingvadóttir: Hans Island, also known as Tartupaluk in Greenlandic, is a small (1.2km2), barren island situated in the middle of the Kennedy Channel between Greenland and Canada’s Ellesmere Island. Despite its unassuming appearance and lack of valuable mineral reserves, Hans Island has been the subject of a unique and prolonged border dispute between Denmark and Canada that lasted from 1973 to 2022. This territorial disagreement, known humorously as the Whisky War or Liquor Wars, never escalated to violence, instead being characterized by good-natured exchanges of flags and alcoholic beverages. The origins of the dispute date back to 1973 when Denmark and Canada created a border through the Nares Strait but could not agree on the sovereignty of Hans Island. The Canadian claim was based on the 1880 purchase of Hudson's Bay Company land, which included the island, while Denmark argued that Hans Island was integral to the local Greenlandic Inuit populations for fishing.
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-14): The question of the ownership of Hans Island first arose in 1973 when Canada and the Kingdom of Denmark delimited the continental shelf between Ellesmere Island and Greenland. The two sides could not agree on the status of the island, which fell right on the maritime boundary line dividing the continental shelf between the two countries, so they chose to set aside the question of the island itself. The shelf surrounding the island was delimited, with the maritime boundary stopping at the low-water mark on the island’s south side and starting again from the low-water mark on the north side.4 Accordingly, and despite popular misconceptions, the dispute had no significant impact on the status of the waters, seabed resources, or navigation rights around Hans Island itself. [...] For its part, Canada claims that the entire region was transferred to its control by a British order-in-council in 1880 that incorporated "all British Territories and possessions in North America, not already included in the Dominion of Canada, and all islands adjacent to any such territories or possessions." When Canada looked into the question of sovereignty over Hans Island in 1953, its then-current political map placed Hans Island closer to Ellesmere Island (a distance of 8 or 9 miles) than to Greenland (a distance of 14 or 15 miles).
Claim: Hans Island is a territory of Canada (Hans Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-15): On June 14, representatives of Canada, Denmark and Greenland gathered at 50 Sussex Drive, the Ottawa headquarters of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society to sign a treaty settling a longstanding territorial dispute over Hans Island, a small uninhabited island in the Nares Strait between Ellesmere Island and northern Greenland. The bloodless conflict became known as the "Whiskey War" because, beginning in the 1980s, Canada and Denmark took turns staking their claim to the island by planting flags and bottles of liquor — whiskey from Canada, schnapps from Denmark. [...] It’s also a symbolic rebuke of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Both Joly and Kofod said the peaceful resolution of the Hans Island dispute is proof that diplomacy works and that territorial disputes can be resolved through the rule of law instead of violence. [...] The dispute over Hans Island (Tartupaluk in Inuktitut and Greenlandic) began in 1973 when Canada and Denmark attempted to draw a boundary through the Nares Strait and found both countries could credibly lay claim to the island, which is roughly equidistant to both Canada and Greenland. But the question of Canada’s Arctic sovereignty has an even longer history.
Claim: Matthew and Hunter Islands is a territory of France (Matthew and Hunter Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-03): Hunter Island and Matthew Island are two small and uninhabited volcanic islands in the South Pacific, located 300 kilometres (190 mi) east of New Caledonia and south-east of Vanuatu archipelago. Hunter Island and Matthew Island, 70 km (43 mi) apart, are claimed by Vanuatu as part of Tafea Province, and considered by the people of Aneityum part of their custom ownership, and as of 2007[update] were claimed by France as part of New Caledonia.[1] [...] - Song, Lily & Mosses, Morsen: "Revisiting Ocean Boundary Disputes in the South Pacific in Light of the South China Sea Arbitration: A Legal Perspective", The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 33 (2018): 768 - 798 - Lili Song, Morsen Mosses & Geraldine Giraudeau (2023): The Ambiguous History of Matthew and Hunter Islands: Tracing the Roots of Vanuatu and French Claims, The Journal of Pacific History, DOI: 10.1080/00223344.2022.2146577
Claim: Matthew and Hunter Islands is a territory of France (Matthew and Hunter Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-03-08): Vanuatu has not lost faith in negotiations over the disputed Matthew and Hunter Islands, despite recent moves by France, a Vanuatu MP says. [...] The MP represents the island of Tanna, whose chiefs had historically visited Matthew and Hunter for rituals and other ceremonial activities.
Claim: Matthew and Hunter Islands is a territory of France (Matthew and Hunter Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-08-01): Ishmael Kalsakau made the statement over two southern islands - Matthew and Hunter - during the visit last week of the French President Emmanual Macron. [...] They said that for many decades Matthew and Hunter islands have been integral to Vanuatu and therefore cannot understand why France has claimed them. [...] "Matthew and Hunter islands are the rightful inheritance of the people of Vanuatu. But France is depriving them of their patrimony," they said.
Claim: Matthew and Hunter Islands is a territory of France (Matthew and Hunter Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-07-03): The Ambiguous History of Matthew and Hunter Islands: Tracing the Roots of Vanuatu and French Claims - Description: - Matthew and Hunter Islands (MHIs) are two small uninhabited islands located between Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Both Vanuatu and France claim sovereignty over the MHIs and vast maritime zones around them. This article examines the history of sovereignty claims to the MHIs. Although existing literature often refers to an annexation of the MHIs by France in 1929 and a 1976 transfer of the MHIs fro...
Claim: Matthew and Hunter Islands is a territory of France (Matthew and Hunter Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-06-01): The boundary with New Caledonia is to the southwest of Fiji and consists of one maritime straight-line segment defined by two specific points. For purposes of drawing the border, the treaty assumes that France has sovereignty over Matthew and Hunter Islands, but since Vanuatu also claims sovereignty over the islands, the treaty states that the treaty is "without prejudice to the sovereign rights of any neighbouring State".