30 Interesting Facts about Islands

There is a small island in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts that doesn't belong to anyone in particular. One local man is crusading to name it Busta Rhymes Island. When asked why, he said it was because the island had “rope-swinging, blueberries, and . . . stuff Busta would enjoy.”

2. On an island named South Sulawesi in Indonesia, if a child dies before he has started teething, the baby is placed inside the trunk of a growing tree. The hole is then sealed and as the tree begins to heal, the child is believed to be absorbed. Dozens of babies may be interred within a single tree.

3. On La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, there is a whistled language that all its inhabitants understand. It was developed so that people could talk at distances of up to 5km, and although it was dying out, it is currently making a comeback.

4. New Zealand's two main islands (the North Island and the South Island) didn't have official names until 2009.

5. The Norwegian Archipelago of Svalbard is an entirely Visa-free zone. Anybody can live and work in Svalbard indefinitely regardless of country of citizenship.

Treasure Island is an island located within Lake Mindemoya, which is a lake located on Manitoulin Island, which is located within Lake Huron. It is said to be the world’s largest island in a lake on an island in a lake.

7. There is an island called Just Enough Room in Thousand Islands where there is just enough room for a tree and a house.

8. Catalina Island (a small island of the coast of Los Angeles) has a population of non-native buffalo that were brought over for a silent film. After the movie was over they left the buffalo and after nearly a century the population has grown to more than 150.

9. Japan's Okinawa Island has more than 400 people living above the age of 100 and is known as the healthiest place on Earth.

10. In 1917, most of the population of Clipperton Island died. The island was left with one man, 15 women and children. He proceeded to call himself king and began an orgy of rape and murder, before being killed by one of the women. Immediately after his death, the survivors were rescued by the US Navy.

Rockall is an uninhabited granite islet situated in the North Atlantic Ocean at not less than 400 km of distance from any continent, but a man named Nick Hancock lived there and the longest continuous stay by an individual is currently 45 days.

12. There is an island named Eigg in the Scottish Hebrides that is owned entirely by its people. With a population of 83, the Isle of Eigg has been owned by its community since being bought in 1997, after decades of issues with absentee landlords. The island generates 100% of its electricity using renewable energy.

13. There is a beach named Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday islands of the coast of Australia with sand that is 98% pure silica giving it a stunning white appearance.

14. The indigenous people of Bougainville Island successfully carried out the world’s first "eco-revolution" closing down one of the world’s largest mines, driving away private security and in turn the Papua New Guinea and Australian army using home-made weapons and running vehicles on coconut oil.

15. There is a small island named Gili Trawangan near Bali that openly sells and embraces magic mushrooms. It seems to be a large part of its local economy.

Greenland has a university named the University of Greenland, with 14 staff and 150 students. It is so small because the Government pays for students to have a free university education anywhere in Europe or North America.

17. The island of Socotra off the coast of Yemen has an alien-like landscape that is found nowhere else on earth. It has an umbrella-shaped plant called the “dragon's blood tree” by traders who believed that its red sap was actual dragon’s blood with healing properties.

18. The Cook Islands currency features a naked woman riding a shark.

19. In the Cayman Islands, there is a place called Hell that people aren't allowed in.

20. The island of Mauritius has multi-colored sand dunes called the Seven Coloured Earths that seemingly never erode, "creating an effect of earthen meringue."

There is a hilltop shrine named Gunung Kemukus in Java where thousands of Muslims regularly attend a ritual that involves seeking blessing through having sex with a stranger.

22. In Tahiti, it was a traditional practice to raise the eldest son as a girl and treated as a third sex called Mahu who would possess the best qualities of both genders. Each village apparently had at least one Mahu because it was seen as good luck.

23. The Faroe Islands have a Minecraft like Climate - "The climate varies greatly over small distances, due to the altitude, ocean currents, topography, and winds. It is not uncommon to witness rain falling in one area, and snow falling a surprisingly small distance away..."

24. In 2011, in Cyprus, the military left 98 containers of explosives in the sun for 2 years. This resulted in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever registered.

25. A community in Sulawesi, Indonesia keeps the dead bodies of their family members at home because they believe that one's death does not occur until the body leaves the home.