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== Märket ==
Märket ("The Mark") is a small 3.3-hectare (8.2-acre) uninhabited skerry in the Baltic Sea between [[Country:Sweden|Sweden]] and [[Country:Finland|Finland]] (in the area of the autonomous [[Region:Åland|Åland Islands]]), with a lighthouse as its salient manmade feature. Märket has been divided between the two countries since the Treaty of Fredrikshamn of 1809 defined the border between [[Country:Sweden|Sweden]] and the [[Russia|Russian]] Empire as going through the middle of the island. The Finnish side of the island is part of the [[Municipality]] of [[Hammarland, Åland|Hammarland]] and is the westernmost land point of [[Country:Finland|Finland]]. The [[Sweden|Swedish]] part of the island is itself divided by two counties of [[Country:Sweden|Sweden]]: Uppsala County ([[Östhammar, Uppsala|Östhammar]] Municipality) and Stockholm County ([[Norrtälje, Stockholm|Norrtälje]] Municipality).
The name Märket ('the Mark') probably comes from its usefulness as a navigation mark before there were lighthouses. The route between [[Country:Sweden|Sweden]] and [[Region:Åland|Åland]] has a passage about 27 kilometres (15 NM) (17 mi) long over open sea. Before the lighthouse was erected, the island and its shallows were dangerous navigational hazards, which seafarers tried desperately to avoid. In 1873, as many as 23 ships were grounded on the Swedish coast and its archipelago trying to avoid Märket, and eight of them were shipwrecked. Märket is detached from the main Åland archipelago, with the closest island more than 10 km (6.2 mi) away, and the closest harbor, Berghamn, 23 km (14 mi) away in [[Eckerö, Åland|Eckerö]]. There is no deep harbor; the island can only be reached with boats. There are small, barely surfacing rocks northwest of Märket, called Märketshällor ("stones of Märket"), which are too small to sustain vegetation.
