What Does trifinium Mean
The Latin word trifinium came to Spanish as trifinium . This is the name of the place where the boundaries of three territorial divisions or jurisdictions converge .
An international point
Three national or internal borders , therefore, come together in a trifinium. Many times these points are marked with milestones that allow them to be identified and that highlight their particularity.
Brazil (photo), Paraguay and Argentina converge in the trifinio «Triple Border»
There are more than a hundred international trifiniums , although at first glance the concept may seem peculiar. While it is true that many countries simply do not meet the geographic requirements to be part of such a convergence, we can point to more than one example.
Triple Frontier
One of the best known of the American continent is the Triple Frontier , or Tríplice Fronteira in Portuguese. This trifinio is a popular tourist attraction as it is located close to the waterfalls of Iguazu .
In the Triple Border the borders of Paraguay , Brazil and Argentina converge . The limits are marked by the Paraná and Iguazú rivers .
One of the elements that stands out in this trifinium is the obelisk: there is one for each country, suitably decorated with the colors of the national flag. We can also talk about the Three Borders Milestone , located in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina. It is a tourist space that, in its park, houses a monument in which you can see the flags and coats of arms of the three countries.
It is worth mentioning that in 2019 an American film titled Triple Frontier was published that has no relationship with this trifinio. It was directed by JC Chandor and starred by Ben Affleck, Adria Arjona and Garrett Hedlund , among other actors.
Trifinio-Fraternity
Also in America is the Trifinio-Fraternidad transboundary biosphere reserve . In this protected area , which has an area of 221 square kilometers, the borders of Honduras , Guatemala and El Salvador meet . The trifinium is located in the Montecristo massif .
The creation of this trifinium took place in 1987 with the aim of providing protection to the cloud forest of the Montecristo massif , where the three countries converge, to preserve both its fauna and its flora. There we can find laurel and oak trees whose height reaches 30 meters, as well as rare wild species , such as the long-eared owl, the pygmy anthill, the spider monkeys and the Central American agouti.
Kolmen valtakunnan vajapyykki
The crossing of the borders of Finland , Norway and Sweden , meanwhile, occurs in a trifinium marked with a stone monument. The name of this point varies according to the language : Kolmen valtakunnan vajapyykki for Finns; Treriksrøysa in Norwegian; and Treriksröset (Swedish).
With respect to its striking name, we can translate it as "mound of the three nations", although its original meaning has nuances that are impossible to express in our language with so few words. The term mound refers precisely to one of the stones that Russia and Norway erected there in 1897, when it was under the administration of Finland.
In «Treriksröset» Sweden (photo), Finland and Norway converge
The tri-state area
In the United States , on the other hand, we speak of a tri-state area to refer to the regions formed by the relationship established by three contiguous states. There are cases where these areas also represent a trifinium, as in Colorado-Kansas-Oklahoma and Indiana-Michigan-Ohio , with different monuments and signs that indicate the confluence .
Cabe señalar que en Estados Unidos hay 62 puntos en los cuales solamente tres estados se juntan: 27 de ellos están en el agua y el resto, en tierra firme. En el primer grupo encontramos, entre muchos otros: Arizona, California y Nevada; Delaware, Nueva Jersey y Pensilvania; Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin; Ohio, Pensilvania y Virginia del Oeste. Los trifinios de tierra firme incluyen los siguientes: Alabama, Florida y Georgia; Arizona, Nevada y Utah; California, Nevada y Oregón; Connecticut, Massachusetts y Rhode Island.