Pheasant Island is found on the border between Spain and France
The River Bidasoa, rising in the Navarra Pyrenees as the río Baztán and running for almost 70 kilometres before it flows into the Cantabrian Sea between the Basque town of Hondarribia and Hendaye in France, is home to one of Europe’s last remaining condominiums.
While the term may, these days, be more closely associated with a type of housing which is mainly found in North America, its meaning in international law refers similarly to joint rights: a territory over which two or more states share sovereignty.
Pheasant Island , Isla de los Faisanes in Spanish, (Île des Faisans, de l’hôpital or de la Conférence in French), lies on the border between Spain and France and is under the joint sovereignty of the two countries. It is administered from Irun, in Spain, and Hendaye, France, for alternating periods of six months.
The island, which, today, is artificially protected from the currents of the Bidasoa, covers an area of 2,000 m2 and has seen numerous important events in its history. The most important was in 1659, when the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed there to end the Thirty Years’ War. A monolith was later erected in the centre of the island to commemorate the signing of the treaty. The treaty was personally ratified there in June 1660 by Louis XIV of France and Spain’s Felipe IV.
Included as part of the treaty was the marriage contracted between Louis XIV and the Infanta María Teresa of Spain, the daughter of Felipe IV.
It was also here, on Pheasant Island in 1615, that Louis XIV’s parents met, Louis XIII and his Spanish bride, Ana of Austria. Her brother, the future Felipe IV, met his French bride, Louis XIII’s sister, Elisabeth of France, at the same time.
There were other exchanges over the years. Marie Louise d’Orléans was formally handed over to Carlos II of Spain as his future bride in 1679, as was the Infanta Mariana Victoria in 1721 as the intended bride of the young French king, Louis XV. The marriage never went ahead, and the Infanta later became Queen of Portugal as the wife of King José I.
Even further back in history, was a meeting in 1463 between Louis XI and Enrique IV, King of Castilla, and in 1526, Francis I of France, who had been the prisoner of the Spanish since the Battle of Pavia the previous year, was freed on Pheasant Island and exchanged for his two sons, who remained under Spanish arrest for four years.
Under a treaty signed between France and Spain in 1856, sovereignty over Pheasant Island passed to the two countries jointly. They have both exercised their rights to sovereignty for alternating periods of six months since 1901.
The River Bidasoa, rising in the Navarra Pyrenees as the río Baztán and running for almost 70 kilometres before it flows into the Cantabrian Sea between the Basque town of Hondarribia and Hendaye in France, is home to one of Europe’s last remaining condominiums.
While the term may, these days, be more closely associated with a type of housing which is mainly found in North America, its meaning in international law refers similarly to joint rights: a territory over which two or more states share sovereignty.
Pheasant Island , Isla de los Faisanes in Spanish, (Île des Faisans, de l’hôpital or de la Conférence in French), lies on the border between Spain and France and is under the joint sovereignty of the two countries. It is administered from Irun, in Spain, and Hendaye, France, for alternating periods of six months.
The island, which, today, is artificially protected from the currents of the Bidasoa, covers an area of 2,000 m2 and has seen numerous important events in its history. The most important was in 1659, when the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed there to end the Thirty Years’ War. A monolith was later erected in the centre of the island to commemorate the signing of the treaty. The treaty was personally ratified there in June 1660 by Louis XIV of France and Spain’s Felipe IV.
Included as part of the treaty was the marriage contracted between Louis XIV and the Infanta María Teresa of Spain, the daughter of Felipe IV.
It was also here, on Pheasant Island in 1615, that Louis XIV’s parents met, Louis XIII and his Spanish bride, Ana of Austria. Her brother, the future Felipe IV, met his French bride, Louis XIII’s sister, Elisabeth of France, at the same time.
There were other exchanges over the years. Marie Louise d’Orléans was formally handed over to Carlos II of Spain as his future bride in 1679, as was the Infanta Mariana Victoria in 1721 as the intended bride of the young French king, Louis XV. The marriage never went ahead, and the Infanta later became Queen of Portugal as the wife of King José I.
Even further back in history, was a meeting in 1463 between Louis XI and Enrique IV, King of Castilla, and in 1526, Francis I of France, who had been the prisoner of the Spanish since the Battle of Pavia the previous year, was freed on Pheasant Island and exchanged for his two sons, who remained under Spanish arrest for four years.
Under a treaty signed between France and Spain in 1856, sovereignty over Pheasant Island passed to the two countries jointly. They have both exercised their rights to sovereignty for alternating periods of six months since 1901.