List of areas disputed by Canada and the United States

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Map all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap

Canada and the United States have one land dispute over Machias Seal Island (off the coast of Maine), and four other maritime disputes in the Arctic and Pacific. Although they share the longest international border in the world, the two countries have a long history of disputes about the border's demarcation (see Canada–United States border). [1]

Contents

Current disputes

Maps of the Dixon Entrance showing the A-B Line of 1903 (left) and the boundary currently claimed by the U.S. (right). Dixon entrance boundary dispute.jpg
Maps of the Dixon Entrance showing the A-B Line of 1903 (left) and the boundary currently claimed by the U.S. (right).

Historical disputes

Coordinates

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strait of Juan de Fuca</span> Strait between Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula

The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a body of water about 96 miles long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre of the Strait.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Canada</span> Region of Canada

Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada, variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This area covers about 48 per cent of Canada's total land area, but has less than 0.5 per cent of Canada's population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaufort Sea</span> Marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska

The Beaufort Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, and west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after Sir Francis Beaufort, a hydrographer. The Mackenzie River, the longest in Canada, empties into the Canadian part of the Beaufort Sea west of Tuktoyaktuk, which is one of the few permanent settlements on the sea's shores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strait of Georgia</span> Waterway between Vancouver Island and mainland North America

The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada, and the extreme northwestern mainland coast of Washington, United States. It is approximately 240 kilometres (150 mi) long and varies in width from 20 to 58 kilometres. Along with the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, it is a constituent part of the Salish Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada–United States border</span> International border

The Canada–United States border is the longest international border in the world. The boundary is 8,891 km (5,525 mi) long. The land border has two sections: Canada's border with the contiguous United States to its south, and with the U.S. state of Alaska to its west. The bi-national International Boundary Commission deals with matters relating to marking and maintaining the boundary, and the International Joint Commission deals with issues concerning boundary waters. The agencies responsible for facilitating legal passage through the international boundary are the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Machias Seal Island</span> Disputed island in the Gulf of Maine

Machias Seal Island is an island in disputed water between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy, about 16 km (10 mi) southeast from Cutler, Maine, and 19 km (12 mi) southwest of Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. Sovereignty of the island is disputed by the United States and Canada. The Canadian Coast Guard continues to staff a lighthouse on the island; the first lighthouse was constructed there in 1832.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exclusive economic zone</span> Adjacent sea zone in which a state has special rights

An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind. EEZ does not define the ownership of any maritime features within the EEZ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dixon Entrance</span> Strait on the western Canada–United States border

The Dixon Entrance is a strait about 80 kilometers (50 mi) long and wide in the Pacific Ocean at the Canada–United States border, between the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia in Canada. The Dixon Entrance is part of the Inside Passage shipping route. It forms part of the maritime boundary between the U.S. and Canada, although the location of that boundary here is disputed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dall Island</span> Island off the southeast coast of Alaska, US

Dall Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago off the southeast coast of Alaska, just west of Prince of Wales Island and north of Canadian waters. Its peak elevation is 2,443 feet above sea level. Its land area is 254.0 square miles (657.9 km2), making it the 28th largest island in the United States. Dall is used economically for fishing and limestone quarrying.

Border irregularities of the United States, particularly panhandles and highway incursions into other jurisdictions, are shown here. Often they are a result of borders which do not conform to geological features such as changes in the course of a river that previously marked a border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1825)</span> 1825 treaty between Russia and the United Kingdom

The Treaty of Saint Petersburg of 1825 or the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1825, officially the Convention Concerning the Limits of Their Respective Possessions on the Northwest Coast of America and the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean, defined the boundaries between Russian America and British claims and possessions of the Pacific Coast, and the later Yukon and Arctic regions of North America. It was agreed that along the coast at the southern tip of Prince of Wales island northward to the 56 parallel, with the island wholly belonging to Russia, then to 10 marine leagues (56 km) inland going north and west to the 141st meridian west and then north to the "Frozen Ocean", the current Alaska/Canadian Yukon boundary, would be the boundary. The coastal limit had, the year before, been established as the limit of overlapping American claims in the parallel Russo-American Treaty of 1824. The Russian sphere in the region was later sold to the United States, eventually becoming the State of Alaska, while the British claim, along the coast to the south of parallel 54°40′ is now the coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and for inland regions it defined the western limit of what became the modern day Canadian territory of Yukon. It also defined associated rights and obligations concerning waters and ports in the region. The treaty, in establishing a vague division of coastal Russian interests and inland British interests between 56 and 60 degrees north latitude, led to conflicting interpretations of the meaning of the treaty's wording which later manifested in the Alaska Boundary Dispute between the United States on the one hand, and Canada on the other.

The United States has land borders with only Canada and Mexico, both of them long. Its has maritime boundaries with many countries due to its extensive exclusive economic zone (EEZ). All of its maritime borders with Canada are at least partially disputed, and its territorial claims on three Caribbean islands are disputed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Territorial claims in the Arctic</span>

The Arctic consists of land, internal waters, territorial seas, exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and international waters above the Arctic Circle. All land, internal waters, territorial seas and EEZs in the Arctic are under the jurisdiction of one of the eight Arctic coastal states: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. International law regulates this area as with other portions of Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borders of Canada</span>

The borders of Canada include:

The Coastal Waters of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia is a marine area designated by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada–France Maritime Boundary Case</span> 1992 arbitration of Exclusive Economic Zone dispute

The Canada–France Maritime Boundary Case was a dispute between Canada and France that was decided in 1992 by an arbitral tribunal created by the parties to resolve the dispute. The decision established the extent of the Exclusive Economic Zone of the French territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exclusive economic zone of North Korea</span> North Korean maritime boundary

The exclusive economic zone of North Korea stretches 200 nautical miles from its basepoints in both the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan. The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) was declared in 1977 after North Korea had contested the validity of the Northern Limit Lines (NLL) set up after the Korean War as maritime borders. The EEZ has not been codified in law and North Korea has never specified its coordinates, making it difficult to determine its specific scope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exclusive economic zone of Thailand</span>

Thailand has the world's 64th largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ), with an area of 299,397 km2 (115,598 sq mi). It claims an EEZ of 200 nmi from its shores, which has long coastlines with the Andaman Sea and Strait of Malacca to the west and the Gulf of Thailand to the east, although all of its EEZ is limited by maritime boundaries with neighbouring countries.

The United States has the world's second largest exclusive economic zone. The total size is 11,351,000 km2 (4,383,000 sq mi)2. Areas of its EEZ are located in three oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. Most notable areas are Alaska, Hawaii, the East Coast, West Coast and Gulf Coast of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exclusive economic zone of Canada</span>

The exclusive economic zone of Canada is the area of the sea in which Canada has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

References

  1. McRae, Donald Malcolm; Munro, Gordon Ross (1989). Canadian oceans policy: national strategies and the new law of the sea. University of British Columbia Press. p. 50. ISBN   0-7748-0339-8 . Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  2. Kelly, Stephen R. (26 Nov 2012). "Good Neighbors, Bad Border". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Gray, David H. (Autumn 1997). "Canada's Unresolved Maritime Boundaries" (PDF). IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin. pp. 61–66. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  4. US-Canada Arctic border dispute key to maritime riches, BBC News, 2 August 2010
  5. "International Boundary Commission definition of the Canada/US boundary in the NAD83 CSRS reference frame" . Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  6. 1 2 White, James (1914). Boundary Disputes and Treaties. Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Company. pp. 936–958.
  7. 1 2 Davidson, George (1903). The Alaska Boundary. San Francisco: Alaska Packers Association. pp. 79–81, 129–134, 177–179, 229.
  8. The Alaska Boundary Dispute, Tony Fogarassy, Clark Wilson LLP Archived December 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  9. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. "NOAA Shoreline Data Explorer" . Retrieved 2015-04-10.
  10. "Dixon Entrance (USGS, 1959)" . Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  11. "Dixon Entrance (USGS, 1985)" . Retrieved 2016-03-03.