Quadrangle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The geographic border point at which the borders of four neighboring states or countries meet is called the four-country corner . There is currently no real quadrangle in the world where the borders of four independent states meet. However, there are some quasi-quadrangle that are made up of two tri-border areas that are close to each other .

In some cases, the quadrangle was created through the planned drawing of borders along circles of longitude and latitude .

Quasi-quadrangle

There are some cases where two triangles are very close together so that they look like quadrangles on a small-scale map. The two closest three-country corners between independent states are in Africa:

Independent states

  • At the point where the Cuando and Zambezi rivers meet, the state borders of Botswana - Namibia - Zambia and Zambia - Zimbabwe - Botswana meet at a distance of about 150 meters. Apparently the four-country triangle Namibia - Zambia - Zimbabwe - Botswana is emerging. However, the demarcation is controversial - in one variant it is a real quadrangle.
  • The border between the Azerbaijani enclave Nakhichevan and Turkey is only about 15 kilometers long, the three-country corner with Armenia and Iran are separated by about 10 kilometers.
  • At the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba , the borders of Egypt , Israel , Jordan and Saudi Arabia come close to each other around 20 km, although there is no triangle here.
  • The border triangle Afghanistan-Tajikistan-China and Afghanistan-China-Pakistan are around 40 km apart between the Pamir and Karakoram mountains. The Wakhjir Pass, which connects Afghanistan and China, lies between the two points.
  • The triangle of Russia - Kazakhstan - China and Russia - China - Mongolia are around 50 kilometers apart in the Altai Mountains.
Croatia and the Republika Srpska only share a short border

Domestic territories or administrative units (mainly in combination with two sovereign states)

  • About 70 meters away is the triangle of Mārkalnes District ( Latvia ) - Pededze District (Latvia) - Estonia and Latvia - Russia - Estonia along the Pededze River . Apparently the four-country triangle District Mārkalnes (Latvia) - District Pededze (Latvia) - Russia - Estonia.
  • The three-country triangle Switzerland - Liechtenstein - Austria is located along the Rhine , near which there is another with Liechtenstein and the constituencies of Werdenberg and Rheintal , the Swiss canton of St. Gallen . These are only about 130 meters away and thus form the quasi-quadrangle Werdenberg (Switzerland) - Rhine Valley (Switzerland) - Liechtenstein - Austria.
  • The triangle of the Republika Srpska and the Brčko district (both in Bosnia-Herzegovina ) with Croatia is only about 1 kilometer from the triangle of Bosnia-Herzegovina - Serbia - Croatia. Thus apparently the four-country triangle Brčko district (Bosnia-Herzegovina) - Republika Srpska (Bosnia-Herzegovina) - Serbia - Croatia.
  • Near the Romanian Insula Cailor and the Moldovan city of Giurgiuleşti and the confluence of the Danube and Prut rivers , the triangle of Romania - Ukraine - Moldova and Ukraine - Galați - Tulcea (two districts in Romania) meet about 1 kilometer away. Apparently the four-country triangle Galați (Romania) - Tulcea (Romania) - Ukraine - Moldova is emerging.
The two “parts” of the French occupation zone are only thinly connected, as are the two districts of Rastatt and Germersheim today
  • The Rastatt district in Baden-Württemberg and the Germersheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate are connected by a border of just 2.5 kilometers along the Rhine. Thus, the four-country triangle of France - Rastatt district (Baden-Württemberg) - Karlsruhe district (Baden-Württemberg) - Germersheim district (Rhineland-Palatinate) appears, this is particularly clear on the map of the French occupation zone . In addition, the area of ​​the city of Karlsruhe begins 1.5 km further along the Rhine , so that it could also be a quasi-five-country corner.
  • A quasi-quadrangle between German federal states existed from 1990 to 1992: The border points of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania were only about 3 km apart. The state treaty between the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg changed the course of the border between the two states in the area of ​​the city of Lenzen and some neighboring communities that came to Brandenburg, making the quasi-four-country corner disappear.
  • The two border triangles of Horodnja Raion ( Ukraine ) - Snowsk Raion (Ukraine) - Russia and Ukraine - Russia - Belarus are only about 3 kilometers away . The quasi-quadrangle of Horodnja Raion (Ukraine) - Snowsk Raion (Ukraine) - Russia - Belarus is formed.
  • The three-country corner of Mistelbach District - Gänserndorf District - Czech Republic and Austria - Slovakia - Czech Republic are only 4 kilometers along the Thaya (2.5 kilometers as the crow flies). Apparently the four-country triangle District Mistelbach - District Gänserndorf - Slovakia - Czech Republic.
  • Near the Hungarian city of Záhony, along the course of the Tisza, the borders of Hungary - Ukraine - Slovakia and Slovakia - Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén - Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg (two counties in Hungary) meet in about 4 kilometers as the crow flies and about 5 Kilometers along the course of the river. Apparently the four-country triangle Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén - Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg - Ukraine - Slovakia is emerging.
  • The Chadian region of Borkou borders the Niger with only 27 kilometers , thus creating the quasi-quadrangle Niger - Kanem - Borkou - Tibesti .
Four Corners Monument:
Vierländereck Arizona - Colorado - New Mexico - Utah

Real quadrangle

Real four-country corners currently only exist between different internal territories or administrative units without sovereignty under international law (but also in combination with two sovereign states on the external border, as in the case of Poland). Examples are:

Quadrangle through the neutral zone Saudi Arabia / Iraq 1990

Former quadrangle

Special case at the Vaalserberg border point

The triangle of Belgium , Germany and the Netherlands on the Vaalserberg near Aachen is sometimes referred to as the four-country triangle for the period from 1839 to 1919 when the then neutral area Neutral-Moresnet is included. Today it is a real quadrangle at the level of the member states.

Postcard from 1905 with the quadrangle

Being on the Congress of Vienna , the boundaries were reorganized in Central Europe in 1815, was between the Kingdom of Prussia and the newly formed United Kingdom of the Netherlands failed to agree on an allocation of calamine -Gruben be achieved in Aachen. A small, neutral area was created on the Prussian-Dutch border southwest of Aachen, roughly in the shape of a narrow triangle tapering to the north with a length of 5 km and a maximum width of 1.3 km and around 3.4 km² was great. At the northern and southern ends of this neutral area called Neutral-Moresnet there was a three border point between the Netherlands, Prussia and Neutral-Moresnet. When the southern provinces broke away from the United Netherlands in the Belgian Revolution of 1830 and the new Kingdom of Belgium was formed, the new border between the Netherlands and Belgium initially branched off a little further north from the border with Prussia, so that now a Neutral Moresnet neutral territory between Belgium and Prussia. In 1839 Belgium ceded the municipality of Vaals, which was located immediately north of the neutral area, to the Netherlands, and thus the Belgian-Dutch border now branched off from the border with Prussia directly at the northern border point of Neutral-Moresnet. So this point, located on the Vaalserberg , became a four- border point at which the three kingdoms of Belgium, the Netherlands and Prussia as well as Neutral Moresnet collided. In 1871 Prussia was replaced by the German Empire . After the First World War , Neutral Moresnet, as well as an area east of it, until then German territory, was awarded to the Belgian state by the Peace Treaty of Versailles of 1919 without a vote. Neutral Moresnet became the Belgian municipality of Kelmis , and the border point on the Vaalserberg was from now on just a simple triangle between Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

The border point on the Vaalserberg, known in Dutch as Drielandenpunt , was a border point between four territories in the geometric sense, but not a real quadrangle in the legal sense, since Neutral Moresnet was not an independent state according to international law. The area was always administered jointly by Belgium and Germany - or their predecessor states; it never had a government, a parliament, let alone a head of state. At the Belgian-Prussian border stone of the triangle on the Vaalserberg, the wedge-shaped "convergence" of the three state borders is illustrated by differences in the paving. A discreetly differently paved wedge on the Belgian side still indicates the former Neutral Moresnet.

At the level of the member states, however, the border point on the Vaalserberg is again a point where four areas meet. With the federal reorganization of Belgium into three communities separated by language , the western boundary of the German-speaking Kelmis, which is identical to the western boundary of the former Neutral Moresnet and continues to run towards the triangle on the Vaalserberg, became the northernmost section of the border between the French and the German-speaking community . Thus, the three-country corner on the Vaalserberg is at the same time a four-country corner between the German-speaking and French communities of Belgium, the Netherlands and the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia . At the municipal level, the four communities Kelmis (B), Plombières (B), Vaals (NL) and Aachen (D) come together here.

Exclaves with point contact

Exclaves with point contact border the heartland in a four-country corner , in which, however, only two or three regional authorities are involved.

Communities Liesberg (BL) - Kleinlützel (SO) - Roggenburg (BL) - Soyhières (JU)
Municipalities Seehof BE (BE) - Aedermannsdorf (SO) - Schelten (BE) - Vermes (JU)

Both "square corners" were created when the cantons of Jura and the Laufental split off from the canton of Bern; the German-speaking communities Schelten and Roggenburg did not convert to the French-speaking canton of Jura; Schelten stayed with Bern, Roggenburg moved with the crossing of the Laufental to the canton of Basel-Landschaft.

  • The Austrian municipality of Jungholz is completely surrounded by Germany, on the summit of the Sorgschrofen the national borders of both countries cross one another, so that Jungholz touches the Austrian municipality of Schattwald at this point, making Jungholz an exclave. At the municipal level, four municipalities meet at the Sorgschrofengipfel ( Bad Hindelang and Pfronten in Germany ). At the state level, the two states involved alternate when walking around this point in four sectors.

Five (and multi) country corner

An even rarer special case is a five-country corner. It practically only occurs at the municipal level:

Germany

United States

The boundaries of five counties meet at one point in western Lake Okeechobee in the US state of Florida : Okeechobee County , Martin County , Palm Beach County , Hendry County and Glades County .

Switzerland

The Siebenzwingstein , a border point in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland , is a special curiosity . Seven municipalities, districts and Zwinge used to meet here.

Others

With regard to the five parishes of the island of Nevis , Nevis Peak is a five-country corner at the municipal level. On the island of Niue with a total of 14 communities, four communities meet at one point and five at one point.

Quadrilateral and multi-country corner in literature and film

In the episode Bob next door to the Simpsons , Tingeltangel-Bob kidnaps Bart Simpson in order to kill him at the "five state corner". He believes that the murder will then be committed outside the jurisdiction of any police force. But Bart thwarted his plan and wasted time until Chief Wiggum with Eddie and Lou as well as police troops from the other four countries arrive to arrest Bob together, which is also possible in the area of ​​responsibility of the fifth state.

In the episode The Eerie Amusement Park , the five Simpsons stand on a five-country corner that is (as a replica) in the Itchy-and-Scratchy-Land amusement park . The representation is very reminiscent of the Four Corners Monument, but with five corners. In the short scene Lisa asks: "Haven't we been in five states long enough?" Homer: "No!"

See also

Web links

Commons : International tripoints  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Limits of what is adjacent. In: Badische Zeitung , February 9, 2008.
  2. ↑ According to Google Maps, as of 2010.
  3. ↑ In addition, river boundaries can constantly change due to natural shifts in the river bed.
  4. ↑ Quadrangle with special status: Altai.
  5. ^ Nikolaus Trenz: market whispers: Siebenbannstein. In: Badische-Zeitung.de. September 8, 2009, accessed August 19, 2018 .
  6. ↑ In the middle of a fairytale forest. In: Rheinpfalz.de. Accessed January 2, 2020 .