I expect this map to change over the next few days as it is the best representation I could make after reading many stories and reviewing a bunch of maps on the Internet.

Uganda and Kenya have been arguing over who owns the small island, barely visible at the center of the map above. The dispute has been brewing over the last few years and has finally led to a joint survey that is being conducted this week by both countries with results expected as soon as this week (May 15th). As far as I can tell, the dispute comes down to whether the islands are East or West of the Western tip of Pyramid Island just to the South. Pyramid Island is referenced in the constitutions of both countries. From the Western shore of Pyramid Island, the border line continues North to another island. If the shores of Migingo Island are West of that line then the island is in Uganda, otherwise, they are in Kenya.

I have drawn the islands as being just barely in Kenya as the most recent press and other descriptions seem to be leaning towards a situation where the island is in Kenya but the water just West of the Island is in Uganda. This would be ironic because the source of the dispute is fishing rights over the dwindling Nile Perch that are still in abundance around the island.

The island was uninhabited until at least 1991 when two Kenyan fisherman say they set up residence. Uganda says that a Ugandan fisherman started living on the island in 2004 and had found the island abandoned. The island is about half the size of a football field and barely above water. It may have even been below water in previous years when the waters of Lake Victoria were higher. It is amazing to see the island itself because it is basically a large rock with a bunch of tin hacks that house the islands 1000 or so residents. There is barely any open space on the island.

I plan to update the map once the surveyors complete theirs. Apologies in advance for any inaccuracies but I wanted to get the story out while it is still unfolding.

There are many historians and economists who say that the battles of the future will be fought over water not oil. Though only a battle of words, one is already occurring between Georgia and Tennessee.

The original border between the two states was supposed to be drawn along the 35th Parallel. The actual border that was staked out was about a mile south of the where it was supposed to be. Stories differ as to why this happened. One postulates that the line where the border should have been drawn was difficult terrain so the survey crew marked the line on more navigable land. I love stories of human error so this is the story I want to believe but this can't be the first time a crew had to mark a line across challenging terrain. The other theory attributes the mistake to a simple matter of instrument accuracy. Whatever the case, the border was staked out and a map was drawn with the border more or less where it lies today.

The error was eventually caught but by then the wrong border had been around long enough that it had become the accepted state line. The border issue is being raised now because Georgia has a water shortage. If the border had been drawn accurately, a small part of the Tennessee River would lie inside Georgia, giving it access to much more water than it has today. Atlanta is sometimes called, "The Las Vegas of the American Southeast" for its habit of living beyond its means when it comes to water.

Georgia politicians have made numerous attempts to resolve the border issue with Tennessee ("in the 1890s, 1905, 1915, 1922, 1941, 1947, 1971" and 2008 according to one source). But such a change would require approval from Congress and Tennessee... something that's unlikely to happen. Moving the border would solve Georgia's problems but would create new ones. A Washington Post article reported on two issues that Georgia does not seem to bring up in its proposal, "Not only would Georgia get a chunk of Chattanooga, but Mississippi would get a slice of Memphis."

Perhaps the best quote on the border issue came from a contemporary Georgia surveyor, Bart Crattle who said, "It's correct -- no matter how wrong it is."

Sources: Wikipedia , Washington Post , NY Times