The Quill #6: Nerd Zone #1

May 7, 2025

Wandering Wikipedia: The Whisky War

This week, I was feeling a little silly, so I pulled up an article on one of the silliest wars in history: the Whisky War. (Note: The beverage’s spelling depends on its country of origin; American-produced
varieties such as Bourbon, rye, and Tennessee, as well as Irish spirits utilize the “whiskey”
spelling, whereas spirits from Scotland, Canada, and Japan utilize the “whisky” spelling.)

This was a lighthearted conflict in which no casualties were incurred. The conflict itself arose from an agreement all the way back in December of 1973 between Canada and Denmark to place a border on the continental shelf between Greenland and Canada. Unfortunately, an island by the name of Hans Island was split almost directly in half by this border. At the time, however, they agreed to settle the territorial dispute of Hans Island at a later date.

Jump to 11 years later, in 1984. Canadian soldiers visited Hans island, planting a Canadian flag, and left a bottle of Canadian Whisky. Later the same year, the Danish minister of Greenland affairs came to the island with the Danish flag, which he carefully and respectfully used to replace the Canadian flag, before leaving a bottle of Danish Schnapps and a letter saying “Welcome to the Danish island.” Thus began the almost 40-year-long Whisky War. This war was entirely peaceful, and simply involved countries arriving on Hans island, replacing their flags with all due respect, and leaving behind various items of significance, such as Danish stone cairns, Inuit cairns called Inukshuk, or bottles of liquor. (Pictured above: Cdr. Per Starklint hoists the Danish flag on Hans Island in 2003 during the Whiskey War.)

The war came to an end in June of 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The two countries came to a peaceful agreement, where they simply divided the island between the two. This was meant to show other nations, namely Russia, that disputes can be settled peacefully.

And that’s all the random knowledge we’ve got for you this week. Tune in next week for the next edition of Wandering Wikipedia.