The Whisky War: Hans Island and the Bottles Two Countries Swapped

The Whisky War was a sovereignty dispute over Tartupaluk, also called Hans Island, remembered for Canadian whisky, Danish schnapps and competing flags rather than armed conflict. Canada and the Kingdom of Denmark, together with Greenland, signed a boundary agreement on 14 June 2022, but the bottle most clearly documented at the beginning of the tradition was cognac. [1][6][8][9]

In short

• The 1973 continental shelf agreement left the boundary through the island undefined. [4][6]
• The later agreement follows a natural ravine and also addresses maritime boundaries. [2][3]
• The agreement's entry into force date is not reliably established in the sources checked. [4][5]

A small island with more than one name

Tartupaluk sits in the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait, between Greenland and Canada. Both governments describe it as an uninhabited rocky island of approximately 1.2 km². Other published measurements include 1.25 km² in a Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland paper and 1.3 km² in the Library of Congress account, so the governments’ figure is the one used here. [2][4][6][7]

The geological survey records that the island was charted in 1871 and named after Greenlander Hans Hendrik. Tartupaluk is the name used by the indigenous population of North West Greenland; the Danish Foreign Ministry also records that hunters formerly used the island, including as a landmark. Its history therefore reaches beyond the flags planted by visiting officials. [4][7]

Canada and Denmark first told each other in 1971 that both claimed sovereignty. Their continental shelf agreement of 17 December 1973 left the boundary through Hans Island undefined, while the agreed line stopped short of the Lincoln Sea. The small island remained an unresolved part of a much larger boundary question. [2][4][6]

The cognac behind the Whisky War

The strongest named account of the early bottle episode comes from Tom Høyem, Denmark’s Greenland minister in 1984. Speaking to TV2 in 2022, he recalled travelling to the island by helicopter that July, raising the Danish flag and leaving cognac in a cairn. The Library of Congress likewise identifies his 1984 offering as cognac, not schnapps. [6][8]

Story box: A bottle with an invitation

Høyem’s account contains a detail that later summaries easily lose: Foreign Minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen had suggested Rémy Martin, but the bottle taken was Baron Otard Napoleon. The message accompanying it included “også canadiere”, meaning “Canadians too”. The gesture asserted a claim while extending an invitation to the people contesting it. [8]

That does not settle who began every part of the ritual. Disputed: the Library of Congress and TV2 place Høyem’s cognac at the beginning, while other accounts put Canadian soldiers and whisky first in 1984. The supplied research found no primary record establishing that Canadian bottle, so the Danish episode should not become a definitive claim about who struck first. [6][8]

Flags, whisky and schnapps

In the later tradition, Canadian visitors left whisky and Danish visitors left schnapps. Nunatsiaq News records military personnel removing each other’s flags, while TV2 also describes the exchange of spirits. These accounts support the familiar outline, but not an uninterrupted inventory of every bottle deposited or removed. [8][9]

Disputed: describing the Danish contribution simply as schnapps collapses two different parts of the story. Cognac is the drink named in Høyem’s account of July 1984; schnapps belongs to accounts of the later practice. Keeping those episodes separate makes the story more precise without losing its character. [6][8][9]

The nickname also needs proportion. This was not a war in the military sense: flags, bottles and diplomatic protests accompanied a territorial dispute eventually addressed through negotiation and an agreement. For a different history of armed conflict, see whisky in the world wars. “Whisky War” appears in the Library of Congress blog and press coverage, rather than in the government announcements cited here. [1][2][3][6][10]

The dispute could still produce a formal response. In July 2005, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Graham visited the island, and Denmark said it would send a letter of protest. An Associated Press report that month also recorded competing Google advertisements, including the Danish-leaning argument: “Does Hans sound Canadian? Danish name, Danish island”. [10]

From competing claims to negotiations

The flags made memorable pictures; the settlement required sustained discussion. In 2005, the two sides jointly accepted that sovereignty was disputed and should be resolved through negotiation, according to the Danish Foreign Ministry’s parliamentary account. A joint task force followed in 2018. [4]

That account describes several meetings in person, 70 to 80 virtual meetings during COVID-19, discussions with local people in northern Greenland and Canada, and final talks in Iceland. The agreement was not simply the result of deciding where to draw a line on one isolated rock. [4]

Greenland was central to the signing, not merely the setting for a Danish claim. The signatories were Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod and Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte B. Egede. Egede said the boundary would mark “the very close ties between our countries, people and culture”. [1]

What the 2022 agreement actually covered

The agreement sets out a land boundary following the natural ravine running along Tartupaluk. Article 4 assigns the area east of the line to Greenland and the area west to Canada. The Danish ministry describes the island’s land border as 1.2 km long. The date the agreement entered into force is not reliably established in the sources checked. [2][4]

Disputed: published summaries describe the allocation differently. The Library of Congress gives roughly 60% to Denmark, while Nunatsiaq News says each country took half. The official documents cited here define the ravine line rather than an area percentage, so neither numerical split is adopted. [2][4][6][9]

The wider agreement also addressed a single maritime boundary within 200 nautical miles, including the Lincoln Sea, and continental shelf boundaries beyond 200 nautical miles in the Labrador Sea. The joint statement gives the maritime boundary as 3,962 km; Canada’s backgrounder describes the boundary within 200 nautical miles as “almost 3,000 km”. Those descriptions have different stated scopes and should not be treated as interchangeable measurements. [1][2][3][4]

Continued Inuit access mattered alongside sovereignty. Canada’s backgrounder says access for hunting and fishing is maintained for Inuit and local people. In a 2023 parliamentary answer, Canada also said Inuit access to and freedom of movement across the entire island would be maintained. [2][5]

Signature must also be distinguished from entry into force. Article 6 provides for an exchange of diplomatic notes confirming completion of internal procedures; Greenland’s parliament unanimously approved the agreement on 31 May 2023. Neither event alone establishes the date on which the agreement entered into force. [4]

The bottles at the signing

The closing exchange was not simply whisky for schnapps. The Library of Congress records that Joly, Kofod and Egede exchanged Sortilège, which it describes as “Canadian maple whiskey”, and Gammel Dansk, described as a “Danish bitter”. Those are the source’s descriptions of the drinks marking the signing. [6]

The distinction gives the story its proper ending: cognac in the documented 1984 episode, whisky and schnapps in the later tradition, then maple whiskey and bitter at the negotiating table. The bottles supplied the memorable thread; the agreement addressed boundaries, sovereignty and access. [1][2][6][8][9]

Where to go next

• A History of Whisky: From Early Distilling to Global Spirit: place this unusual episode within whisky’s wider history.
• Shackleton's Whisky: The Bottles Found Under His Antarctic Hut: follow another bottle story connected with a remote place.
• Whisky in the World Wars: Rationing, Bombs and Exports: turn from a diplomatic nickname to whisky’s history during armed conflict.

Sources

1. Global Affairs Canada. Canada and the Kingdom of Denmark, together with Greenland, reach historic agreement on long-standing boundary disputes. News release, 14 June 2022. https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2022/06/canada-and-the-kingdom-of-denmark-together-with-greenland-reach-historic-agreement-on-long-standing-boundary-disputes.html

2. Global Affairs Canada. Boundary dispute. Backgrounder, 14 June 2022. https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2022/06/boundary-dispute.html

3. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Permanent Mission to the UN in New York. Statement on behalf of Canada and the Kingdom of Denmark at the 32nd meeting of SPLOS. 14 June 2022. https://um.dk/fnnewyork/en/statements/statement-on-behalf-of-canada-and-the-kingdom-of-denmark-at-the-32nd-meeting-of-splos/

4. Udenrigsministeriet, via Retsinformation. 2023/1 BSF 14, Forslag til folketingsbeslutning om Danmarks indgåelse af overenskomst af 14. juni 2022 ... om maritim afgrænsning og landeafgrænsning i området mellem Grønland og Canada. Parliamentary consent proposal, tabled 5 October 2023, including agreement text. https://retsinformation.dk/api/pdf/239124

5. House of Commons of Canada, Hansard via openparliament.ca. Answer to Question No. 1320. 3 May 2023. https://openparliament.ca/debates/2023/5/3/rob-oliphant-6/only/

6. Library of Congress, In Custodia Legis. Michael Chalupovitsch. The Hans Island Peace Agreement Between Canada, Denmark, and Greenland. Guest post, 22 June 2022. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/06/the-hans-island-peace-agreement-between-canada-denmark-and-greenland/

7. Dawes, P. R. and Tukiainen, T. Hans Ø, celebrated island of Nares Strait between Greenland and Canada: From dog-sledge to satellite mapping. Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 15, pages 77 to 80, 2008. https://pub.geus.dk/en/publications/hans-%C3%B8-celebrated-island-of-nares-strait-between-greenland-and-ca/

8. TV2 Nyheder. Peter Møller. Verdens fredeligste grænsestrid blev indledt med en flaske cognac. 14 June 2022. https://nyheder.tv2.dk/politik/2022-06-14-verdens-fredeligste-graensestrid-blev-indledt-med-en-flaske-cognac-nu-er-der

9. Nunatsiaq News. David Lochead. Canada, Denmark make peace in 'Whisky War'. 14 June 2022. https://nunatsiaq.com/?p=145591

10. Taipei Times, from Associated Press. Canada, Denmark bring diplomatic row to the Internet. 30 July 2005. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/07/30/2003265662

This article is desk research based on verified fact sheet TOP-A709, separating government records, retrospective testimony and press accounts.

Last checked: November 2026