It sounds like the perfect trivia question. Which two countries share one island?
Did you know that there is more than one island shared by two countries in the world?
In fact, there is an island three countries share.Β
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New Guinea is the world’s second-largest island located north of Australia, and it is an island shared by two countries.
New Guinea is split almost equally, between Papua New Guinea to the east and Indonesia to the west.
English is the official language of Papua New Guinea. The official language of Indonesia is Bahasa. However, there are more than 700 native languages spoken in New Guinea by its indigenous population.
Papua New Guinea is one of the nine countries we are due to visit to complete our journey to every country. Which nine countries do we have left? And most importantly, why?
Find out more here 9 Countries remain to visit every country in the world!
The island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean is also where 2 countries share one island. Two very different countries. While the Dominican Republic is a popular tourist destination, only a few visitors visit Haiti.
But the border is easy to cross and this is how we travelled to Haiti.
How and why was this island split into two? And why is life in these two countries so different? Find out more in our blog about why Haiti and the Dominican Republic are so different.
The Island of Ireland is split between two countries, so yet another example where 2 countries share one island. Firstly, the Republic of Ireland (often just denoted as Ireland), is an independent sovereign state.
Secondly, Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom and it’s not a sovereign state,
The Republic of Ireland is in the south. The currency is Euro.
They are part of the European Union. And they use the metric system.
In the north is Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Therefore, the currency is the pound sterling.
In short, they are not part of the European Union and don’t use the metric system.
The Caribbean island of Saint Martin is divided into two different parts of European governance. In 1648 a treaty was signed to ensure peace. As a result, the north is French territory of Saint-Martin and Dutch Sint Maarten is in the south. On the other hand, this island is the smallest island in the world where 2 countries share one island (sovereign states).
The Princess Juliana International Airport and is a popular site for plane watchers and tourists.
They visit the nearby Mahe beach to watch aircraft on final approach landing at the airport. Because the beach is close to the landing strip, the power of the jet blows people into the water.
Of course, tourists come here to see if they can stand the jet blast.
Saint Martin uses Euros. However, Sint Maarten uses US Dollars and has more of an American influence. 2 countries share one island, yet use currencies of two countries far away (Euro and USD).
Planning a trip to the Caribbean? You might enjoy reading about how we planned our journey to go Island Hopping in the Caribbean.
There is only one island in the world like this. This is an island where not 2 countries share one island, but three countries share the island of Borneo. This is the largest island in Asia.
The southern part of Borneo belongs to Indonesia, while the northern part is part of Malaysia. And then there is the tiny country of Brunei. In short, an independent, oil-rich country wedged within the Malaysian part of Borneo.
If Brunei didn’t get its independence in 1984, Borneo would be another island shared by two countries.
Borneoβs rainforest is 130 million years old, older than the Amazon rainforest. Itβs also one of two places in the world where you can see Orangutans in the wild.
Credit: All map vector graphics are from Freevectormaps
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6 Comments. Leave new
Very nice topic to bring up!
Wikipedia has an article covering various other examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_divided_islands
Some other notable examples I would add:
Cyprus – Is arguably another island shared between 3 nations: Cyprus Republic (Greek mostly), Northern Turkish Cyprus and the UK (it was some overseas territories on this island, with some military bases)
Timor – Shared between Indonesia and Timor Leste (one of the youngest nations in the world)
Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego – Southernmost divided island, shared between Argentina and Chile.
Indonesia and Timor-Leste share the island of Timor. Indonesia is on this list a lot!
Great addition!:) We really enjoy our time in Timor-Leste.
Some amazing suggestions Austin. Cyprus is super unique.
Usedom is shared by Germany and Poland! π
And Market is shared between Finland and Sweden
Passport Island is shared between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia