The World's Only Country-Swapping Island

If you are born on the island at midnight on 31 Jan or 31 Jul, what nationality do you have?

A truly LAME ending.

Why didn't Tom Scott actually GO to the flippin' island?!

From the looks of it, it's like a 30-second row.

Then he could have been on-island at midnight, and forever more legimately be able to claim that he had once travelled from Spain to France without having moved one inch!

A story one could dine out on for years...

Again, LAME!

did google maps also flip?

A matter for the Navy? Now I want to invade that island. Just to see what they send.

One iskand with two countries.

it’s like a different parent watches over it every few months

I think I could take pheasant island

IM THE QUEEN OF THE PRINCIPALITY OF PHEASANT ISLAND HAHA

Now, does this make enough of a difference that they should change the area of the country?

So technically this Island was part time occupied by ze Boches during WW II?

I love the idea of someone landing on Pheasant Island in a rubber dinghy and immediately getting shelled and hit with depth charges by the French or Spanish Navy

Anti-climactic border change here. Why isn't there a delivery driver delivering the official island change letter at exactly this time with all the pomp and circumstance that can be mustered?

Love it when historic figures have Zoom meetings! Good thing you found those recordings.

Is it really big deal?? Just 600 km, area!!!

Free movement between France and Spain?

A unique story with a documentary done well, actually quite entertaining. Lots of interesting and educational material on this channel!

The main idea of keeping the island as a condominium between the two nation was to celebrate the common history of France and Spain. I do wish we'd have actual baton-passing events every 6 months, because that's quite an endearing tradition, and testifies of the long history between our two wonderful nations.

Also, I am glad Fran is just as Spanish as you are French. Truly we couldn't have hoped for better representatives.

After my last stop on the little "pedant tour" (Llívia), I am now on the other side of the border, Pheasant Island (which should be Spanish at the moment 🇪🇸)!

Thanks for sharing all these little known places. I really enjoy learning about them and also visiting them when possible!

Very interesting

Typical of government doing idiotic stuff. It's all government does is stupid, dangerous and illegal stuff.

Nothing is celebrated because local population wouldn't like it, both sides are basque, we speak the same language, some of us are even family, or either we've studied in the same school. It's like we don't give a fck about who is legally "controling" the island

Isn't there also the one that switches between Denmark and Canada?

Its weird neither town decided to have some festivities around this, possibly attracting tourists? Kind of an open day for the island, with ferries going there from both sides? Maybe this is a cautionary tale to not have the navy run your cultural sites.

You've inadvertently reminded me that there are clips from the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on this platform. Thank you!

“Maybe someone should tell the King, ‘why don’t you just let go of the island and forget about marrying your double first cousin?’”
🤷‍♂️
“You just don’t get it, that’s not how things are done around here!”

The island with joint custody.

The fisher price tune that suddenly plays made me laugh

I actually looked up Maria Theresa's life after this video and wow she truly did live miserably. An awful time to be a princess.

What about the island between Canada and Denmark?

It would be fantastic if the island also was in a different time zone based on what country it belonged to at the time.

Spot on with the Craig Ferguson theme song!

Why not make bridges and a restaurant, and make it an attraction site?

I thought the world was full of flippin' borders.

According to your description of the history, the border does not flip. What flips is the administrative responsibility. The island is always a part of both France and Spain.

Which bit of spain? Manchester. LOL 😂

Does this invalidate the EU requirement of stable borders?

Super nice:-) You are, however, totally wrong about the main point, sorry 😂🤣 The border is not flipping, ever, the island IS the border. It is both Spanish AND French at all time. It’s a very rare legal situation known as condominium, when a piece of land is owned by two sovereign states (there have been only a few in history and I think there’s another one currently in the middle-east).

What is flipping every six months is the operational responsibility over the island, but the border doesn’t move.

Imho even weirder and cooler than a flipping border:-)

Love the Craig Ferguson theme XD

I sm not going to cross the border illegally. I am just going to sit here and wait for the border to cross me.

All borders are divided by time. But with different frequencies and patterns.

Other countries that have border disputes over islands 🏝 should do the same thing that Spain 🇪🇸 and France 🇫🇷 do with Pheasant Island.

Sounds sensible.