Pheasant Island

Updated on Dec 23, 2023

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Location Bidasoa Region Aquitaine Autonomous community Basque Country Area 6,820 m² Province Gipuzkoa		Highest elevation 6 m (20 ft) Département Pyrénées-Atlantiques Population 0 Elevation 6 m

Similar Bidasoa, Bay of Txingudi, Perejil Island, Château d'Abbadie, Musée Basque

Pheasant Island (Spanish: Isla de los Faisanes, French: Île des Faisans, Basque: Konpantzia) is a river island in the Bidasoa river.

Map of Pheasant Island

GeographyEdit

The island is a condominium established by the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, under joint sovereignty of Spain and France, and is administered by Irun (in Gipuzkoa, Spain) and Hendaye (in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France), which have sovereignty on the island for alternating periods of six months. The island has an area of 6,820 square metres (73,410 square feet) and has been artificially protected from the currents of the river.

EtymologyEdit

In French, the island is also known as Île de l’hôpital and Île de la Conférence.

HistoryEdit

The most important historical event that took place on the island was the meeting place for the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees. It was the climax to a series of 24 conferences held between Luis de Haro, a Grandee of Spain and Chief minister of France, Cardinal Mazarin in 1659 following the end of the Thirty Years' War. A monolith was built in the centre of the island to commemorate the meeting.

The island has also been used for several other royal meetings:

1615 – Louis XIII met his Spanish bride, Anne of Austria, here at the same time that her brother, Philip IV, met his bride, Elisabeth of France (1602–1644), Louis' sister.

1659 – Louis XIV met his future wife Maria Theresa of Spain (1638–1683); they were the parents of le Grand Dauphin; a year later - at the Meeting on the Isle of Pheasants - she said farewell to her father, Philip IV of Spain and much of the Spanish court, before crossing into France to become the consort of Louis XIV.

1679 – Charles II of Spain met his first bride here, the great beauty Marie Louise d'Orléans (1662–1689);

1721 – Louis XV met his intended bride Mariana Victoria of Spain (1718–1781); the two never married; Louis instead married Marie Leszczyńska and Mariana the future Joseph I of Portugal.

AccessEdit

No visitors are allowed on the island.

References

Pheasant Island Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA