Hi, guys!
It’s Samantha!
From an island full of miniature deer to a place where residents have to carry gas masks
everywhere they go, here are the most interesting islands on Earth!
13.
Tashirojima
Also known as “Cat Island,” this little landmass is located in the Pacific Ocean.
The island is inhabited but only by about one hundred people, which decreased from about
one thousand people in the 1950s.
You probably guessed this already, but it got the nickname “Cat Island” by its significant
population of stray cats.
The felines were originally kept to chase mice away from the silk-worms used to make
textiles in the Edo Period.
Since the cats weren’t neutered, they kept multiplying; there are far more cats on the
island nowadays than there are people.
They allegedly outnumber their human counterparts six to one.
The locals take care of the furry creatures because they believe that feeding them will
result in good fortune and wealth, and they even built a shrine dedicated to the felines
in the center of the island.
Over eighty percent of the human inhabitants on the island are considered elderly; so,
the villages on the island are called “terminal’ because the population is threatened.
12.
Santa Cruz Del Islote
This man-made island is in the San Bernardo Archipelago off the coast of Bolivar in Colombia.
It is called the Holy Cross Islet or Santa Cruz Islet in English.
It is one of the most densely populated islands on the planet due to its minuscule size and
large number of inhabitants.
It is about seven hundred feet long and three hundred ninety feet wide.
About eighteen families live here in just under one hundred houses.
There is only one school on the island and a single teacher.
There is also only one restaurant that doubles as a port, and a cross in the center of the
island is what gives it its name.
The island’s inhabitants make their livings by fishing, cleaning, cooking, and tourism.
Where do visitors stay, you ask?
In hotels on islands nearby.
The majority of the population is made up of young people, and they all seem very happy
and full of life.
According to an article in The Guardian, they don’t have to worry about violence or crimes,
and there are seemingly endless parties nearly every night.
However, as opposed to their elders, much of the younger generation on Santa Cruz del
Islote plans to leave the island and move to the mainland.
11.
Miyake-Jima
This island is in the Philippine Sea about one hundred ten miles southeast of Japan.
Miyake-Jima is a stratovolcano, meaning it’s made of several layers of solidified lava
that date all the way back to the Pleistocene, which was about fifteen thousand years ago.
The entire coastline of the island is around twenty-four miles, and its average diameter
is approximately five miles.
In the span of five hundred years, the volcano, Mount Oyama, has erupted thirteen times.
The most recent eruption was in 2000, and the islanders were forced to leave until February
2005 after emissions had stopped.
However, since this explosion, a continual flow of sulfur dioxide comes out of Mount
Oyama; so, the locals always have to carry gas masks.
But, they only have to wear them if the toxic gas levels increase, in which case the alarms
are sounded.
10.
Thilafushi
Thilafushi is a man-made island in the Maldives west of Male, the capital.
It started as a lagoon that was about four miles long and six hundred fifty feet wide.
It became an island after people came up with a solution to the garbage disposal issues
of Male city in the 1990s.
In 1992, Thilafushi became an official dump and received its first load of trash, which
led to its nickname, “Rubbish Island.”
Four about twenty years, almost 330 tons of garbage was brought to the area every day,
and its daily growth was about ten square feet.
Nowadays, Thilafushi is over four and a half million square feet.
In 1997, the government started leasing the land to entrepreneurs who could use it for
industrial reasons, including cement packing, manufacturing boats, and bottling methane
gas.
But, despite its usefulness for factories, the garbage has created tremendous environmental
problems.
The trash contains things like lead, asbestos, and other hazardous materials that are leaking
into the water.
The ecological campaign of the Maldives, called Bluepeace, described Thilafushi as a “toxic
bomb,” and BBC said the island was “apocalyptic” in 2012.
9.
Snake Island
This fascinating place is in the Atlantic Ocean about twenty-one miles off the coast
of Brazil.
It is about one hundred ten acres in area.
As you might have guessed by its name, this island is full of snakes, specifically the
golden lancehead pit viper.
These serpents got stuck on the landmass when sea levels began rising and enveloped the
area that attached it to the mainland.
Estimates suggest that there is about one snake to every ten square feet, and a 2015
Discovery Channel documentary said that there are between two to four thousand golden lanceheads
on the island.
8.
No Man’s Land Fort
This island is also just called No Man’s Fort and is near Portsmouth, England.
Construction on the fort started in 1865 and ended in 1880.
The original purpose of the structure was to help protect against the threat of French
invasion by sea; however, by the time it was finished being built, the danger had passed.
Later on, the structure was used similarly to a hotel for high-paying visitors.
It is very private, being completely isolated.
In 2004, it was closed down due to the presence of bacteria in the water system, which can
cause illness.
In 2005, they tried to sell the structure before the company fell apart, and in 2008,
Harmesh Pooni, the alleged owner, locked himself inside to protest the KPMG service company,
which ultimately sold the property in 2009.
The new owner, Clarenco, converted it into an official hotel, which opened in 2015.
7.
Big Major Cay
Also known as Pig Island, this unique place is located in Exuma, the Bahamas.
In case you didn’t get the clue from this island’s nickname, it happens to be populated
by wild pigs.
In fact, the pigs are the only ones who live on this island; no people reside there.
Nobody knows exactly why these animals live on the island because they aren’t native.
However, there are theories as to why they’re there.
The most common story is that they were left on Major Cay by soldiers who had actually
planned on going back for some bacon later on… but, the seamen never returned.
So, the little piggies ate food that other vessels would throw on the island.
Another theory is that the animals survived a shipwreck and swam to shore.
Some people even think that the pigs were put on the island to increase tourism and
make money… and if that’s the case, then their plan worked.
6.
No Name Key
This island is in the lower part of the Florida Keys in the United States.
It is located about three miles away from U.S. Highway 1.
It was originally known for not being connected to any commercial electricity source, and
residents used solar, gas, and diesel to power their homes.
But, that issue ended in 2013 when they were finally able to plug into the primary power
source in Monroe County.
No Name Key only has forty-three houses and is also home to the Key Deer, and endangered
species.
This creature is endemic to the Florida Keys and is a member of the white-tailed deer family.
It is the smallest deer in North America, only reaching forty-four to seventy-five pounds
and standing up to thirty inches tall at the shoulders.
5.
Skorpios
This private island is located in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Greece.
Skorpios is about four thousand nine hundred feet long and three thousand three hundred
feet across, but, it is abnormally shaped.
The island is covered in about two hundred different types of trees, which were initially
imported by Onassis, a late shipping billionaire, when the land was bare.
This landmass is most prominently known as Onassis’ private island, and he married
Jackie Kennedy there in 1968.
The couple hosted parties on Skorpios, and Jackie had a house built there so she could
escape the stresses of daily life.
She was once photographed completely naked on this island by the paparazzi.
The island passed to daughter, Christina, after he passed away and then to her daughter,
Athina, in 1988.
In 2013, Athina sold Skorpios to Ekaterina Rybolovleva, the daughter of a Russian billionaire.
The new owner allegedly plans to make the island into a retreat, and is currently off
limits to tourists.
4.
Uros Islands
This is a group of seventy islands that were all artificially constructed out of totora
reeds.
They’re found on Lake Titicaca in Peru.
The people of the Uros tribe inhabit the islands, and their history goes further back than the
Inca civilization.
The islands vary in size; the bigger ones can hold about ten different families, and
only two to three families can live on the smaller ones, which are about a hundred feet
wide.
The islands are held in place via ropes that are attached to sticks stuck in the lakebed.
The people have had to add reeds to the top of each island consistently because the bottom
ones deteriorate semi-quickly in the water and even faster in the rainy season.
The inhabitants have to work even harder nowadays to keep up with the maintenance of their islands
because so many tourists visit them.
However, they profit from tourism as well.
Only about three hundred still have homes on the islands as most of them have moved
over to the mainland.
3.
Oku-no-shima
This island is located in Takehara, Hiroshima Prefecture in the Inland Sea of Japan.
It is also known as “Rabbit Island” because it has a vast population of… you guessed
it… rabbits!
These fuzzballs have inhabited the island since after World War II.
They were released on purpose when the landmass was converted into a park after the conflict
ended.
Visitors are forbidden from hunting the bunnies, and people can’t bring their dogs or cats
on the island.
However, Okunoshima’s history is also a significant reason people like to visit it.
In 1925, the Institute of Science and Technology of the Imperial Japanese Army started a top
secret program to make chemical armament.
They built a plant on the island from 1927 to 1929 to carry out these plans.
They even erased Okunoshima from maps to hide the factory’s construction because Japan
had signed the Geneva Protocol in 1925, which banned the use of these weapons.
The island’s fish processing area even transformed into a “toxic gas reactor.”
Many people suffered from the effects of the gases.
Today, there is a Poison Gas Museum that was built in 1988 to spread knowledge about these
dangerous gases.
2.
Assateague
This unique island is in the Atlantic Ocean off of the east coast of the Delmarva peninsula
in the United States.
It is a barrier island, which means it’s a landform made by the waves and tides near
the seashore.
Assateague has changed, like all barrier islands, over time, and once was connected to Fenwick
Island.
But, after the Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane in 1993, the islands were separated.
They are now over half a mile apart.
Assateague is now owned by three different organizations, including the United States
Fish and Wildlife Service, NPS, and Maryland State Parks.
A large part of the island is the Assateague Island National Seashore, which was established
to provide a habitat for snow geese and other migratory birds.
People aren’t allowed to bring their pets on this island, but there are camping areas
available.
Plus, people normally go kayaking to take in the wildlife.
There are over three hundred twenty types of birds that live on Assateague, including
the great blue heron, snowy egret, and American oystercatcher.
This landmass is also very well-known for its population of wild horses.
The animals were originally domesticated; a legend states that the present horses’
ancestors were survivors of a shipwreck.
1.
The Island Of The Dolls
This haunting place is in the middle of Mexico City between the Xochimilco canals.
The small island was initially owned by Don Julian Santana.
It got its name in the 1950s when he started hanging dolls in the trees to protect himself
from evil spirits.
A legend states that a young lady got trapped by the lilies in the canal and drowned.
After the girl passed away, Santana started experiencing strange events, which scared
him.
He thought that the worn dolls would frighten the soul of the woman who drowned.
He also hung a doll that he believed she had owned.
Then, Don Julian began hearing footsteps, wailing, and whispers in the dark.
So, he continued hanging up the dolls for fifty years to satisfy the woman’s spirit.
Over time, the island has become a huge tourist attraction and has been featured various times
on television channels like ABC News, Travel Channel, and The Huffington Post.
The allure of the supernatural place makes it number one on our list of interesting islands.
Today’s featured comment is from Elizabeth on our “Why You Don’t Hear About Caitlyn
Jenner Anymore” video!
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