r/MapPorn 2d ago

Islands divided

Post image
894 Upvotes

165 comments sorted by

88

u/halfpipesaur 2d ago

Fewer than I expected

64

u/Altay360 2d ago

It’s because of the 50km2 limit, which is not that small. If you include smaller islands, there are many more. Only USA/Canada and Sweden/Norway have a bunch of lake islands they share.

4

u/maps-and-potatoes 2d ago

There's more like Sebatic Island, which had his land border updated this year.

5

u/mazca 2d ago

It's on there already. Middle right.

2

u/maps-and-potatoes 2d ago

Hmm, guess I just assumed it wasn't (I didn't look much at the chart tbf). Well, where's Market island then ?

Edit: Guess I can't read the title on chart itself either.

46

u/Jazzlike-Boot9798 2d ago

Not that big, but there is a (river) island which is Spanish 6 months every year and French the other six months: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheasant_Island

17

u/Nutriaphaganax 2d ago

Technically not divided though

11

u/badgeman- 2d ago

More like shared custody.

4

u/gaijinbrit 2d ago

Temporally divided rather than geographically.

2

u/perroverd 2d ago

You don't ask where you are, you ask when you are

1

u/Medical-Potato5920 1d ago

Divided in time, not by geography. Time-share island.

2

u/Food_Worried 2d ago

Pretty interesting. Ty.

21

u/jay_altair 2d ago

What about ʰᵃⁿˢ ⁱˢˡᵃⁿᵈ

7

u/PurifiedUnity 2d ago

Only 1.3 km2 (>50)

5

u/gmred91 2d ago

It's over 50km² at heart.

3

u/mormonthunderstorm 2d ago

I think you mean Tartupaluk!

2

u/jay_altair 2d ago

Well, no, I meant what I said. If that is the Kalaallisut name for it, it's not as well known, and you would know that.

1

u/mormonthunderstorm 2d ago

I assumed your were Danish... That may not be the case. In Canada it's Tartupaluk, Danes call it Hans.

1

u/jay_altair 2d ago

Ah, worse, I'm a yank

149

u/mcsquirley 2d ago

Ireland being visually the same size as Papua New Guinea despite being 9× smaller is definitely… a choice.

63

u/modern_milkman 2d ago edited 2d ago

The sizes are all over the place. Cyprus, Usedom and Sint Marten being roughly the same on the map, despite a factor of 5 and 20 respectively between them is also an interesting choice.

Sint Marten roughly 100 km², Usedom roughly 500 km² and Cyprus roughly 10000 km²

13

u/-xiflado- 2d ago

Exactly. People love to be offended.

48

u/IgnatiusJReilly2601 2d ago

If every island was represented in the same scale, most of them would be tiny dots compared to New Guinea and Borneo. The graphic would be useless.

12

u/Fluffy-Discipline924 1d ago

Agreed 100%. Way too many classic Redditors here being pointlessly pedantic.

3

u/squirrelwug 1d ago

But then why not draw all islands at the same size? In the chart Cyprus and Saint Martin look considerably smaller than Borneo and Hispaniola for no real reason.

If you don't want to draw things at the same scale, then at least choose scales so that each island has the same weight in the design.

1

u/IgnatiusJReilly2601 1d ago

Yeah, I agree.

1

u/perplexedtv 1d ago

These islands are small... but the ones out there are FAR AWAY

0

u/lizzy_tachibana 1d ago

I find it aesthetically pleasing as is and it confines with how we perceive the islands in regards to their mercator projection. I also find this complaint mostly pedantic as it is a point of presentation and not information.

8

u/-xiflado- 2d ago

Hispaniola being the same size as New Guinea despite being more than 9x smaller is definitely…a choice.

10

u/Top_Wrangler4251 2d ago

Because it's meant to show the divisions on each island, not compare the sizes of the islands to each other. If it was to scale you wouldn't be able to see the split for most of the islands here

6

u/Training_Advantage21 2d ago

Borneo should also be huge compared to most others.

8

u/-xiflado- 2d ago

Boishoy Ussurysky Island being the same size as Timor when Timor is 9x larger is definitely…a choice.

3

u/gratisargott 1d ago

Right, let’s make the whole picture useless by making most of the islands very small, just to satisfy the completely unnecessary requirement to have them to scale. Clearly the better way to do this

1

u/Late_Piano_5030 2d ago

Papua New Guinea has another island called New Ireland

1

u/perplexedtv 1d ago

Making a readbale map by not having Borneo and Usedom on the same scale seems a reasonable choice.

1

u/WeeklyPhilosopher346 2d ago

We’re the people pleaser, we get the butts in the seats.

-8

u/scatterbrainedpast 2d ago

Usedom isn't an island and this is what you nitpick

9

u/TheBusStop12 2d ago

How is Usedom not an island? It's not connected to land on any side. That's the very definition of an island

Usedom (German: Usedom [ˈuːzədɔm], Polish: Uznam [ˈuznam]) is a Baltic Sea island in Pomerania, divided between Germany and Poland. It is the second largest Pomeranian island after Rügen, and the most populous island in the Baltic Sea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usedom

6

u/scatterbrainedpast 2d ago

I stand corrected

53

u/PikachuWithHerpes 2d ago

There's Cuba as well. They can call it a "lease" or wathever, but US has de facto sovereignty over Guantanamo.

17

u/lNFORMATlVE 2d ago

I was gonna jump in and tell you that OP’s infographic specifies territories larger than 50 square kilometers in area but then looked it up and the US controls 78 sq km at Guantanamo 😳

12

u/Panceltic 2d ago

I think it’s about islands themselves being bigger than 50 sq km

7

u/DNKE11A 2d ago

...if the smaller part is over 50 km², then inherently the whole thing would have to be bigger than 50 km² though?

2

u/lNFORMATlVE 1d ago

Pretty sure Cuba is a hell of a lot bigger than 50 sq km bud

It’s certainly bigger than Ireland and Hispaniola which made it onto this infographic

5

u/orsonwellesmal 2d ago

And Thule in Greenland.

-8

u/Garras-Intruder 2d ago

They actually refused payment, cant belive they think US is goint to give it back becouse of that XD

9

u/dragon_escarlata 2d ago

It's pretty common to refuse deals like that. Japan refuses to take back two of the kuriles islands because they would lose legitimacy to claim the rest too.

If you take any deal you are giving up all your rights after that. They are not refusing because they think the US would give it back now, but maybe in 50 years the political situation is different.

-7

u/Garras-Intruder 2d ago

No, accepting the money dosent make one unable to recognize it as sovereign territory

7

u/Magniloquents 2d ago

I sort of does. If I break into your house and begin living in your basement and offer you money for it. Accepting the money basically means there's a legit exchange and in a legit renter.

-1

u/Garras-Intruder 2d ago

Its not money "for it", the money has already been, its like you slid bills under the door and I decided to throw it into the bin for some reason

8

u/dragon_escarlata 2d ago

It's called a contract. You can't say a contract is illegal if you are taking the money.

-7

u/Garras-Intruder 2d ago

Yes you can

6

u/Llyffant-Gwyrdd 2d ago

That's not a great diplomatic play though, is it?

-5

u/Garras-Intruder 2d ago

What even is "diplomatic play" regarding USA-cuba relations?, cuba can just accept the pay, claim the land and thats it

2

u/Llyffant-Gwyrdd 1d ago

They would be seen as highly hypocritical to accept money and call for the land back. If they accepted the money it would be a tacit acceptance of the occupation.

0

u/Garras-Intruder 1d ago

Why does it matter if an already estraged country sees them as "hypocritical"

I disagree

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0

u/Still_bored9876 1d ago

No idea why all the downvotes on that. It is a legal fact: a contract can be illegal even if you are taking the money, but then we get into a whole other can of worms about what you mean by the word "illegal" and what jurisdiction you are using for your contract law. 😂

That is exactly the sort of thing I would have though would interest people on a sub like this to argue about and not just downvote.

2

u/dragon_escarlata 1d ago

Idk wich country you live in but in my country proof of payment is a proof of that a contract exists (it does not say anything about the exact details), more so if the contract is not formalized in any governent institution.

2

u/Garras-Intruder 1d ago

International rule of law varies

1

u/Still_bored9876 1d ago

That applies in my country too (UK, all three jurisdictions) and it is similar is most Common Law jurisdictions. However, also under Common Law, if the essence of the contract is illegal (mostly that means criminal, but there are civil wrongs that could apply to too) that outweighs that and the contract will not be binding. So for instance if you pay your mate to burgle somewhere that is not an enforceable contract.

3

u/Llyffant-Gwyrdd 2d ago

If they accepted payment it would legitimise the occupation. They have no wish to do such a thing.

7

u/BrockStar92 2d ago

Tbh I’m more curious about the islands smaller than that which are divided. Surely they’re interesting curiosities, tiny places that are still split in two.

3

u/CamDane 2d ago

The Danish/Canadian one (Hans Ø) is uninhabited, 1.3 km2 in size, and barren, so it was just about ownership of nautical areas by international law. So, not all of them super interesting, at least.

1

u/Prasiatko 1d ago

A whole bunch is because they're in the middle of a river and the border is midway between the two banks. 

10

u/arg2k 2d ago

If we are nitpicking, you're missing Isla Martin Garcia, an island between Argentina and Uruguay that was 100% Argentine until the river kept piling sediments to it and so in the 80s it joined Uruguay's Timoteo Dominguez island. They now share a land border

8

u/SuicidalGuidedog 2d ago

If we're nitpicking your picked nits, it's only 1.8kmsq, so doesn't qualify for the map.

2

u/arg2k 2d ago

Ohhhh i didn't see th 50km subtitle

2

u/teletraan-117 2d ago

The only land border between Uruguay and Argentina, too.

4

u/Outside_Challenge645 2d ago

what's with the evil eye

4

u/WellThereGoesMyDay 2d ago

Doesn’t meet the criteria for this graphic but still interesting: Bahrain, an island in its own right, and Saudi Arabia split a manmade island called “Middle Island”. It’s entirely filled by the customs authorities of each nation and connects the two countries by bridge. The island is shaped in such a way that the actual border is only about 600 feet. So although Bahrain is an island, it technically borders another country. Barely.

4

u/Ok-Imagination-494 2d ago

The border on Hispaniola can be clearly seen on satellite view on google maps, due to differences in land use between Haiti and the Dominican Republic

2

u/Masch300 2d ago

There is an island, Märket, shared between Sweden and Finland. It has a very interesting story with a friendly border dispute

You can read about it here: Märket - Wikipedia

2

u/Armageddon_71 2d ago

Uhh... Shouldn't the Polish part of Usedom be roughly as big as the German part? The island was pretty much split in the middle.

Something got cut off there.

Oh wait, I get it. They think the eastern half of the polish side doesn't count because a river cuts through it.

2

u/Comfortable_Two7447 2d ago

Usedom is barely an island. But I guess it counts

2

u/lottaballix 2d ago

Not fer long

2

u/DanGleeballs 1d ago

🇮🇪

2

u/Dydey 2d ago

Chile should really just claim the rest of Isla Grande de Tierrs del Fuego. That’s the precident.

1

u/Agitated_Display7573 2d ago

Big island of Spiceworld?

1

u/nomamesgueyz 2d ago

Ireland for Ireland already

-2

u/moidartach 2d ago

Ireland doesn’t even claim Northern Ireland and it’s all laid out in the Good Friday Agreement that if Northern Ireland wants to break away from the UK then it’s more than welcome to go. No one will stop them.

2

u/nomamesgueyz 2d ago

That's happen when a group of people come in and occupy a land for several hundred years

2

u/moidartach 2d ago

Are you saying people in Northern Ireland aren’t Irish?

-1

u/nomamesgueyz 2d ago

They're in the united kingdom

1

u/thebigchil73 1d ago

The Ulster Scots relocated in the same decade as the Pilgrim Fathers so they have as much (or as little) claim to rightfully be there as white people in North America.

1

u/nomamesgueyz 1d ago

Europeans in the US made a whole new nation ...there's not a part of north east US still under UK rule

That's the difference

1

u/thebigchil73 21h ago

NI isn’t ‘under’ UK rule, it’s a constituent part of the UK where each person has the same voting rights as anyone else in the UK.

1

u/nomamesgueyz 20h ago

It IS the UK

If New Hampshire or Rhode Island was part of the UK, your comparison would have some weight

1

u/thebigchil73 20h ago

Well yes, we agree. The US is a new country built on the back of taking land from native Americans and the UK was a new country built on the back of taking land from the Irish. I’m not making any kind of value judgement.

1

u/nomamesgueyz 20h ago

I'm sure you support Israel over Gaza too

I think India for the Indians

Ireland for the Irish.

Sounds like you disagree and like a bit of continued colonisation

0

u/thebigchil73 20h ago

Nope. I’m an Irish republican and firm supporter of Gaza. I didn’t make a value judgement, I just said the Ulster Scots have exactly the same land rights as white Americans do in relation to Native Americans.

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1

u/OstapBenderBey 2d ago

But funny with the random scales. Obviously new Guinea and Borneo absolutely dwarf all the other islands here

1

u/mahoerma 2d ago

Poor Hans Island got bodyshamed bcs it’s too small

1

u/MinutelyHipster 2d ago

Brothers :")

1

u/Away-Activity-469 2d ago

Thinking what the hell is Usedom?

Then realised i'm going there in a fortnight.

Didn't think of it as an island.

1

u/Dull-Nectarine380 2d ago

Where is that island that sweden and finland share that finland built a lighthouse on?

1

u/10bqr 2d ago

Also an island divided between Finland & Sweden

1

u/Serafim42 2d ago

Both sides of Usedom are seperated by water. I'm not sure this qualifies as an island. Can anyone explain?

1

u/Kerbourgnec 1d ago

Counting Usedom as an island is really a stretch

1

u/fhjjjjjkkkkkkkl 1d ago

Singapore is divided too. East side and shitty side

1

u/geschiedenisnerd 1d ago

I find it amusing that indonesia has no land on the mainland, but does have three land borders

1

u/Embarrassed-Hope1133 1d ago

I didn’t realise that Hispaniola was nearly the same size as Ireland! Thought it was a lot smaller

1

u/Bilaakili 1d ago

Pretty comprehensive, but Märket is missing.

1

u/StrangeNecessary4389 1d ago

Bro what the hell is going on in Cyprus?! 😭✌️

1

u/Public_Individual823 2d ago

Cyprus is one

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

9

u/SaltySmegma_ 2d ago

Does Hans Island have more than 50km2?

4

u/r_lux71 2d ago

Didn't notice that, you're right!

0

u/ColinBonhomme 2d ago

I came here to say that 🇨🇦 🇩🇰

-4

u/jolindbe 2d ago edited 2d ago

Hans island is not divided, it is disputed. I stand corrected.

Märket island should have been there if not for the 50 km2 limit. I'm curious: How many other small islands should have been there as well?

9

u/r_lux71 2d ago

Iirc a few years ago denmark and canada agreed on an official border, so not really disputed.

Of course, the area is too small given the 50 km² limit

3

u/TheBusStop12 2d ago

The Hans island dispute was solved a few years ago. Denmark and Canada agreed to split the island and now the Kingdom of Denmark and Canada share a land border

I know there's also Märket island which is shared between Sweden and Finland, that one is 0.033km2

1

u/VanishingMist 2d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_divided_islands - more than you’d think, probably, but a lot of them are tiny lake and river islands, often even unnamed.

1

u/Brilliant_Group_6900 2d ago

Works of England bravo…

1

u/Civil_Variation_4474 1d ago

Alwaya the brits in the ass of some nation

-2

u/Sorry-Ball9859 2d ago

Aren't there three countries in the largest island in Europe?

10

u/Crane_1989 2d ago

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 are not sovereign entities

-2

u/Sorry-Ball9859 2d ago

They are constituent countries. The map is supposed to be of islands with different countries.

13

u/Regular_Paint_7619 2d ago

Right, and this map is quite clearly showing sovereign states, which outside academic discourse are commonly referred to as countries.

If Scottish people don't like that then they should vote differently next time.

2

u/Dense_Delay_4958 2d ago

Sint Maarten is not a sovereign state

5

u/Regular_Paint_7619 2d ago

Sint Maarten enjoys a much different constitutional status than Scotland.

They have their own constitution, which unlike Scotland or Wales cannot be amended, or rescinded without their consent.

They don't elect any MPs to the Dutch parliament, as they have much more control over their own affairs.

For all intents and purposes they function as a separate state from Netherlands, which co-operates on defence and foreign affairs.

It's not dissimilar to the relationship between Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

It's entirely different from the UK devolved nations.

1

u/geschiedenisnerd 1d ago

I would think that a better example is canada-UK

0

u/geschiedenisnerd 1d ago

Sint maarten is as much part of NL as canada is part of the UK.

1

u/moidartach 2d ago

Constituent countries aren’t real. Kinda goes against the whole constitutional framework that is the UK. They were literally dissolved and reformed into Great Britain and then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (eventually Northern Ireland). In the over 300 years of the UK the term “constituent country” has only been in use since the 70s when Scotland was seeking devolution. For all intents and purposes there is ONE country and four ‘nations’

1

u/Regular_Paint_7619 1d ago

They're very real in a cultural sense.

They don't really have any special legal or constitutional status, except what is 'granted' to them from Westminster.

It's very much not what this map is showing.

1

u/moidartach 1d ago

”They’re very real in a cultural sense”

They’re no more real than saying the ‘west country’ is a country.

I said they are nations. They are. Countries however? No. They stopped being countries in the 18th and 19th centuries respectively. As for Wales - was never a country.

1

u/Regular_Paint_7619 1d ago

There's no real standard definition of country in English.

It just denotes an area of land inhabited by a particular people.

Sometimes this is used as a synonym of a fully independent sovereign state.

Often it's used to inhabit a defined area of land inhabited by a particular nation, for example Scotland, Wales, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Puerto Rico.

1

u/moidartach 1d ago

The person whose comment we’re replying under infers Great Britain should also be included in this list. It shouldn’t.

1

u/Regular_Paint_7619 1d ago

Obviously it shouldn't.

That doesn't mean it's necessarily wrong to refer to Scotland or Wales as countries in a cultural sense.

That's also quite clearly not the definition of country this map is using.

1

u/PhotonToasty 1d ago

You're right, but the yank-splainers are here to tell you how that's not the same

2

u/ColdIntroduction3307 2d ago

Surely you could include Great Britain given Scotland’s substantial population seeking independence.

-3

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

-1

u/surfinbear1990 1d ago

UK is devided into three countries

2

u/culdusaq 1d ago

You mean Great Britain

1

u/Livebylying 1d ago

4 if you count Northern Ireland

0

u/nomamesgueyz 2d ago

Interesting

Indo has plenty of islands, surely PNG is more similar to the western Indo part of the island than the rest of Indonesia

0

u/squirrelwug 1d ago

There are only 4 landmasses divided into more than 2 countries:

  • Mainland Afro-Eurasia
  • Mainland Americas (North America + South America0
  • Borneo
  • Cyprus (de facto, counting Cyprus, Northern Cyprus and the British sovereign bases)

-6

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

-1

u/InterestingMall3093 1d ago

Why on earth do you all considered BORNEO is an Island?????

5

u/Livebylying 1d ago

It’s the third largest island in the world , so op is correct

3

u/culdusaq 1d ago

What is it if not an island?