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Märket ("The Mark", (:ˈmærkə(t))) is a small uninhabited skerry in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland (in the area of the autonomous Åland Islands), which has been divided between two sovereignties since the Treaty of Fredrikshamn of 1809 defined the border between Sweden and the Russian Empire as going through the middle of the island. The westernmost land point of Finland is on Märket. The Finnish side of the island is part of the Municipality of Hammarland.〔(citizen's Map Site – National Land Survey of Finland )〕 The Swedish part of the island is itself divided by two counties of Sweden: Uppsala County (Östhammar Municipality) and Stockholm County (Norrtälje Municipality). ==Geography and history== The ''Understen–Märket Passage'' links the Bothnian Sea to the Baltic proper. The skerry is roughly long by wide, and its area is about . It is the smallest sea island shared by two countries.〔(World island superlatives )〕 The name ''Märket'' ('the Mark') probably comes from its usefulness as a navigation mark before there were lighthouses. The route between Sweden and Åland has a passage of about (17 mi) length over open sea, and the island may have been used as a way point. Märket is detached from the main Åland archipelago, with the closest island more than 10 km away, and the closest harbor, Berghamn, 23 km away in Eckerö. There are small, barely surfacing rocks northwest of Märket, called Märketshällor ("stones of Märket"), which are too small to sustain vegetation. There is a lighthouse on the Finnish side of the current border, which has been unmanned and automated since 1979. When it was built by the Russians and Finns in 1885, the island was considered a no man's land, so it was simply built on the highest point on the island. However, this meant it was built on the Swedish part of the island. As a result, the border was adjusted in 1985 so that the lighthouse is now located on Finnish territory.〔(''Märket – a remarkable island'' ) by Joakim Ekman, Lars-Gunnar Bråvander, Gabriel Ekmand, and Ebbe Zachrisson includes a map of the island〕 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. This resulted in an unusual shape for the international border which satisfied both Finnish and Swedish interests. The adjusted border takes the form of an inverted 'S', and the lighthouse is connected to the rest of Finland only by a short stretch of land. The border is regularly resurveyed every 25 years by officials representing both countries. The last such joint inspection took place in August 2006.〔Shifting Territories: Märket Reef, (Hidden Europe Magazine ), 11 (November 2006), pp. 26–29.〕 Due to 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. Both sides are officially monolingually Swedish-speaking, the Finnish side as a part of Åland. The lighthouse is in urgent need of maintenance, and a Finnish interest group is trying to raise funds for its preservation. The lighthouse has been automatic since 1979 and the surrounding buildings are no longer used. The increasing general availability of GPS has made its primary function redundant. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Märket」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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