Quadripoint
As the quadrangle of the geographical boundary point is called, the meeting point of the borders of four neighboring states or countries. There is currently not a real world where four countries meet, the meeting point of the borders of four independent states. However, there are some quasi- four-country corner, which is composed of two closely spaced three countries corners.
Four countries corner caused usually by artificial boundaries along latitude circles.
Quasi - quadrangle
There are some cases in which there are two Dreiländerecke very close together so that they look on a small-scale map as four-country corner. The two nearest border triangle between independent states can be found in Africa:
- Botswana - Namibia - Zambia - Zimbabwe and Zambia - Botswana with about 100 feet away, apparently thus a quadrangle Namibia - Zambia - Zimbabwe - Botswana. However, the demarcation is controversial - in one variant, it is a real quadrangle.
- The Dreiländerecke Russia - Kazakhstan - China and Russia - China - Mongolia are located 50 miles apart in the Altai Mountains.
- The Dreiländerecke Afghanistan - Tajikistan - Afghanistan - China and China - Pakistan are 40 km apart from each other between the Pamir and Karakoram mountains. Between these two points lies the Wakhjir pass, Afghanistan and China together.
- Former quadrangle between Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Neutral Zone and Iraq.
- At the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba to the borders of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia 20 km come close to here but no Dreiländerecke occur.
- A quasi - quadrangle between German states existed from 1990 to 1992: The boundary points of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania, Saxony -Anhalt and Brandenburg, Saxony -Anhalt, Mecklenburg- Vorpommern were only about 3 km apart. By treaty between the states of Mecklenburg -Western Pomerania and Brandenburg, the border between the two countries in the field of city Lenzen and adjoining communities who came to Brandenburg changed. Thus, the quasi- four-country corner disappeared.
True four-country corner
True four-country corner, there are currently only between different territories without international legal sovereignty, that is, between administrative units within a state. Here are some examples
- Arizona - Colorado - New Mexico - Utah, Southwest USA - see Four Corners
- Nunavut - Northwest Territories - Manitoba - Saskatchewan, in the north of Canada - Four Corners (Canada)
- Podlaskie - Warmian -Masurian - Kaliningrad - Lithuania
Special case boundary point Vaalserberg
The triangle of Belgium - Germany - Netherlands on the Vaalserberg at Aachen is sometimes referred to, for the period 1839 to 1919 with the inclusion of the former neutral territory neutral Moresnet as a quadrangle. Today it is a real quadrangle at the level of member states.
When the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the boundaries were re-organized in Central Europe could be no agreement on allocation of calamine mines near Aachen between the Kingdom of Prussia and the newly formed United Kingdom of the Netherlands. This resulted in the Prussian- Dutch border southwest of Aachen, a small neutral territory, which had approximately the shape of a narrow, north pointed triangle with a length of 5 km and a maximum width of 1.3 km and 3.4 km ² was great. At the northern and southern end of the neutral zone with the name Neutral Moresnet there was in each case a three- point boundaries between the Netherlands, Prussia and Neutral Moresnet. Being located in the Belgian revoluion of 1830 the southern provinces broke of the United Netherlands, forming the new Kingdom of Belgium, so now Neutral Moresnet chain initially a little further north of the border with Prussia from the new border between the Netherlands and Belgium, a neutral territory between Belgium and Prussia. 1839 joined the Belgium just north of the neutral territory lying to the municipality of Vaals Netherlands from, and thus chain the Belgian- Dutch border is now right on the northern border point of neutral Moresnet from the border with Prussia from. So this point was located on the Vaalserberg to a four boundaries point at which the three kingdoms Belgium, the Netherlands and Prussia, neutral Moresnet abutted each other. 1871 joined the German Empire in the place of Prussia. After the First World War Neutral Moresnet was awarded as well as a lying east of it, until then German strip of territory by the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, without a vote of the Belgian State. From Neutral Moresnet was the Belgian municipality of La Calamine and the limit point on the Vaalserberg was from now on only a simple three countries of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
The cut-off point on the Vaalserberg, referred to as Dutch Drielandenpunt was indeed in the geometric sense, a boundary point between four territories, but no real quadrangle in the constitutional sense, since neutral Moresnet according to international legal opinion was not an independent state. The area was always jointly by Belgium and Germany - or its predecessor states - managed; it never had a government, a parliament, let alone a head of state. At the landmark of the border triangle on the Vaalserberg is the wedge-shaped " convergence " illustrating three state borders by differences in the paving. A subtly different paved wedge on the Belgian side, still point to the former Neutral Moresnet.
At the regional level, however, is the limit point on the Vaalserberg again today a point at which meet four areas. In the federal reorganization of Belgium in three separate according to language communities was the western boundary of the municipality of the German- Calamine, which is identical to the western boundary of the former Neutral Moresnet and still running towards the border triangle on the Vaalserberg, the northernmost section of the border between the French and the German-speaking Community. Thus, the triangle on the Vaalserberg is also at the regional level, a quadrangle between the German and the French Community of Belgium, the Dutch province of Limburg and the German state of North Rhine -Westphalia. At local level, here come the four municipalities Calamine (B ), Plombières (B ), Vaals (NL ) and Aachen (D) together.
Enclaves with point contact
Enclaves with point contact boundaries in a quadrangle in the heartland, where only two or three authorities are involved.
- Canton of Basel-Land - Canton Solothurn - Canton of Basel-Land - Canton Jura in Laufental
- Canton of Berne Canton of Solothurn canton Bern- Jura in Scheltenpass in the Jura
Both "Four Canton Corner" arose with the spin-off of the Canton of Jura and Laufen the Canton of Berne; German-speaking communities rebuke and Rye Castle did not occur over the French-speaking canton of Jura; Rebuke remained near Bern, rye castle changed with the passage of the Laufen in the canton of Basel-Landschaft.
- The Austrian community of young wood is completely surrounded by Germany, on the summit of Sorgschrofen run the state borders of both countries crosswise over each other, so that young wood touches the Austrian community Schattwald at this point, is thus an exclave of young wood. At the community level four bodies touch each other on the Sorgschrofengipfel ( in Germany Bad Hindelang and Pfronten ). On a state level meet two bodies, each from two different sides, each other.
Five ( More ) Country Corner
An even rarer special case is a five -border region. It occurs only at the local level.
One example is the five municipalities Wurmlingen, Tuttlingen (district Nendingen ), Mülheim an der Donau, Dürbheim and Riet -Weilheim in the district of Tuttlingen, which meet at the important medieval source of Ursentalbaches.
In the Palatinate the five local churches Schweisweiler and Höringen meet ( municipality Winnweiler ) and Gehrweiler, Gundersweiler and Imsweiler ( municipality Rockhausen ) together at one point.
At Great Dreiherrenstein am Rennsteig in the Thuringian Forest, the areas of the five municipalities Stuetzerbach, Long Meadows, Neustadt am Rennsteig, lock reason and woman meet forest. The name was the point of an earlier tri-border region, initially between Henneberg, Schwarzburg and ernestinischem Saxony and last ( until the establishment of Thuringia 1920) between Sachsen -Weimar- Eisenach, Schwarzburg- Sondershausen and Prussia.
On High Bannstein in the district Breisgau- Black Forest, the five municipalities Bollschweil, Ebringen, honor churches, Pfaffenweiler and sound city meet in a point.
Okeechobee County, Martin County, Palm Beach County, Hendry County and Glades County: At one point in the Western Lake Okeechobee in the U.S. state of Florida, the boundaries of five counties meet.
Concerning the five parishes of Nevis Island of Nevis Peak is a five -border region at the local level. On the island of Niue with a total of 14 municipalities encounter at a point four and one count each other five municipalities.
As a special curiosity of Siebenzwingstein, a boundary point in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland counts. Here formerly met seven municipalities, districts or clamp together.
Another example of a meeting of seven partly historical districts, the "Seven Bannstein " in the district of Lörrach dar.