Last modified: 2006-12-23 by ivan sache
Keywords: pyrenees-atlantiques | aquitaine | pheasants' island |
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Code: 64
Region: Aquitaine
Traditional provinces:
Béarn,
Guyenne-et-Gascogne
Bordering departments: Gers,
Landes,
Hautes-Pyrénées
Bordering country: Spain (Autonomous
Community of Aragon [province of
Huesca], Autonomous Community of
Navarra, and Autonomous Community of
Basque Country [province of
Guipuzcoa])
Area: 7,645 km2
Population (1995): 592,200 inhabitants
Préfecture: Pau
Sous-préfectures: Bayonne, Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Subdivisions: 3 arrondissements, 52 cantons, 539 communes.
The department is named after the Pyrénées
mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.
It was formerly named Basses-Pyrénées
(Lower-Pyrénées), and was renamed
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
(Atlantic Pyrénées) because Basses was regarded
as derogatory by the inhabitants of the department.
Pheasants' Island (Ile aux Faisans) aka Conference Island (Ile de la
Conférence) is a small island located in the border city of Hendaye, in
the middle of the river Bidassoa, which marks the border between Spain
and France. The mouth of Bidassoa is limited in the south by Cabo
Higuer (the Figtree's Cape).
Today a small wooded island threatened by the waves, the island was in
the past a famous place of diplomatic meetings between France and
Spain. Louis XI met there Enrique IV of Castilie in 1463; in 1526,
François I, captured by the Spaniards in Pavia, was exchanged there
against his two sons; in 1615, Elisabeth, Louis XIII's sister, to be
married with the Infant of Spain (later Felpie IV) and Ann of Austria,
the Infant's sister, to be married with Louis XIII, met there.
The most famous event involving the island was the Treaty of Pyrénées, signed in 1659. Mazarin signed for France, whereas Luis Méndez de Haro signed for Spain, ending the Franco-Spanish war that had broken out in 1635. Spain ceded to France the provinces of Roussillon and Artois, as well as several fortified cities in the north. The Treaty further stated that Louis XIV would marry Maria-Theresia, Philip IV's daughter. She would abandoned her rights on the Spanish throne for a dowry of 500,000 golden crowns. The island was revamped for the marriage, celebrated in spring 1560. The marriage pavilion was decorated by the painter Vélasquez, who caught a cold and died a few weeks later. Since the King of Spain was protocally not allowed to leave the Spanish soil, the pavilion was divided by an imaginary line into a Spanish and a French half. The negociation lasted from 4 to 7 June.
The border treaty signed in 1856 by France and Spain stated that the
island would belong jointly to the two countries. Since then, the
International Commission of the Pyrénées solves all the problems
related with this odd status. The rights of fishing on the Bidassoa and
in the Bay of Higueroa are granted in turn to the French and Spanish
fishers. Since 1901, police and watch are exerted in turn by France (1
August - 31 January) and Spain (1 February - 31 July).
Nothing is said about flag hoisting over the island.
Source: Guide Vert Pyrénées Aquitaine Côte Basque
Ivan Sache, 10 January 2006