Märket is a lump of rock between Sweden and Finland. It’s only 3.3 hectares in size and there’s really nothing there apart from a lighthouse. Originally, no-one claimed the island as their territory, and so Finland built a lighthouse on there back in 1885. They built it on the highest bit of the island, which was the logical thing to do.
However, when the island was divided between the two countries (because everything has to be owned by someone, right?), the lighthouse ended up on the Swedish side – basically the Western half of the island.
But it was a Finnish lighthouse. Built by Finland and operated by Finland.
So in 1985, the border was moved the reposition the lighthouse back onto Finnish territory.
But you can’t just give up land merely because there’s some other country’s lighthouse on it.
Thus, the adjustment was carried out such that no net transfer of territory occurred, and the ownership of the coastline was unchanged so as not to interfere with each country’s fishing rights.
Which means that the border now looks like this:
The interlocking idea does stop the two countries drifting apart. Which is nice.
And in real life:
Åland (representing Finland here) being the autonomous, demilitarized region of Finland located in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland. It lies just to the east of Märket and they speak Swedish there, even though it’s actually Finnish territory.
The border is regularly resurveyed every 25 years by officials representing both countries. In case… it changes?!?
The last such joint inspection took place in August 2006. The border is marked by holes drilled into the rock, because the seasonal drift ice would shear off any protruding markers.
Because of the Nordic Passport Union and the Schengen Agreement, there have been no passport checks or other border formalities at the border since 1958, so intra-Nordic/intra-Schengen visitors may visit the island freely.
I’ve still not managed to find out why there is an additional county border on the Swedish side. This seems unnecessarily bureaucratic.
Despite the name, there are no shops on Märket. In fact, there really only is the lighthouse.
But that, and the crazy border, makes this a great place to learn about for the nerds that read this blog.
And you, obviously.