The Three-Country Cairn ( fi, Kolmen valtakunnan rajapyykki, se, Golmma riikka urna, no, Treriksrøysa, sv, Treriksröset) is the point at which the international borders of Sweden,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

meet, and the name of the monument that marks the point. It is an example of a geographical feature known as a

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

. It is the northernmost international tripoint in the world. The border between Norway and Sweden including Finland was decided in the Strömstad Treaty of 1751 and marked with cairns the following years, including cairn 294 which is located on a hill 150 meters east of today's Three-Country Cairn. When Sweden ceded Finland to Russia in 1809, it was decided that the new

Finland–Sweden border The Finland–Sweden border (or Finnish–Swedish border) is the border between the countries of Finland and Sweden. Almost the entire border runs through water: along the Tornio River and its tributaries, and in the Gulf of Bothnia. Only a few ...

should follow the rivers. But actually two rivers crosses the Norwegian border and the northern river was originally used and then the tripoint was at . The tripoint had no mark for several years. It was decided in 1887 by the governments of

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

(which was administering

at the time) that the southern river was now larger. A monument of stones was erected on the site by them in 1897. The Swedish could not agree on a boundary commission with the Norwegians and did not contribute their stone until 1901. This is Sweden's most northerly point and it is the westernmost point of the Finnish mainland (the most westerly point of Finland is on the island

Märket Märket ("The Mark", ) is a small uninhabited skerry in the Baltic Sea shared by Sweden and Finland (in the area of the autonomous region Åland), with a lighthouse as its salient humanmade feature. Märket has been divided between the two cou ...

). The current tripoint monument was built in 1926 and is a beige, conical

frustum In geometry, a (from the Latin for "morsel"; plural: ''frusta'' or ''frustums'') is the portion of a solid (normally a pyramid or a cone) that lies between two parallel planes cutting this solid. In the case of a pyramid, the base faces are ...

made of concrete, located about out in Lake Goldajärvi (also known as Koltajärvi in Finnish, Golddajávri in Sami or Koltajaure in Sweden). It is located at above sea level. The size is about with diameter of about . As an artificial island, it is sometimes mentioned as the world's smallest island divided by a border. This is a matter of definition. For example, in

Haparanda Haparanda (; fi, Haaparanta, , aspen shore or bank) is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland. Haparanda had a population of 4,856 in 2010, out of a municipal total of ...

Tornio Tornio (; sv, Torneå; sme, Duortnus ; smn, Tuárnus) is a city and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is wa ...

there are poles in water marking the border. It may be reached by walking from Kilpisjärvi in Finland along a hiking trail in the

Malla Strict Nature Reserve Malla Strict Nature Reserve (''Mallan luonnonpuisto'') is a strict nature reserve located in Lapland, Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It sh ...

. In summertime, it can be reached by public boat from Kilpisjärvi plus a walk. It can also be reached from Norway, preferably from a hiking trail starting at road E8 near the border. It is much more difficult to reach from inside Sweden, requiring at least a 70 km hike each way with river crossings.

Climate

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Treriksroset Geographical points of Finland Extreme points of Sweden Geography of Norrbotten County Finland–Sweden border Finland–Norway border Norway–Sweden border Border tripoints International islands Storfjord Geography of Lapland (Finland) Artificial islands of Sweden Artificial islands of Finland Artificial islands of Norway

Climate

See also

References