The Three-Country Cairn (, , , ) is the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

at which the international borders of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

meet, and the name of the monument that marks the point. It is the northernmost international tripoint in the world. Kolmen valtakunnan rajapyykki 27

The border between Norway and Sweden including Finland was decided in the Strömstad Treaty of 1751 and marked with

cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

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

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

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

frustum In geometry, a ; (: frusta or frustums) is the portion of a polyhedron, solid (normally a pyramid (geometry), pyramid or a cone (geometry), cone) that lies between two parallel planes cutting the solid. In the case of a pyramid, the base faces a ...

made of concrete, located about out in Lake Goldajärvi (also known as Koltajärvi in Finnish, Golddajávri in Northern 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 (; Meänkieli and Finnish: ''Haaparanta'', ) is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland. Haparanda has a population of 9,166 inhabitants (2024). Haparanda is ...

Tornio Tornio (; ; ; ) is a city and municipalities of Finland, municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border Twin cities, twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is wat ...

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. 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

The climate is very cold (border between '' ET'' and '' Dfc''), with subarctic winters and tundra-like summers. The average temperature is below freezing.

References

{{reflist Extreme 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 Cairns (stone mounds) Kiruna Municipality

Climate

See also

References