Top 5 Strangest Islands
5. Hashima Island
The Japanese developed Hashima when coal was discovered in the rock beneath the island and surrounding seafloor. Once considered the most densely populated place in the world with 334 people per acre (835 per hectare), this island mining community now stands completely abandoned in the waters of the East China Sea. Parts of the James Bond Movie 'Skyfall' were filmed on the island!
4. Alcatraz Island
A small, rocky outpost in the middle of San Francisco Bay, California. Spanish explorer Lt. Juan Manuel de Ayala first mapped the island in 1775 and gave it the name "Isla de los Alcatraces" (Island of the Pelicans) because of the large number of the seabirds that roosted there. It was later home to what is probably the most famous prison in the world and can still be visited today.
3. North Sentinel Island
North Sentinel Island lies some 20 miles west of Smith Island, in the Bay of Bengal. It is about 28 square miles and is completely forested, with the exception of the thin strips of beach that encircle most of it. It is populated by one of the few remaining "uncontacted tribes" in the world. The Sentinels are highly xenophobic and resist virtually all attempts at contact, frequently firing arrows at boats and helicopters that come too close to the island...
2. Snake Island
Ilha de Queimada Grande, nicknamed Snake Island, is a 110-acre island off the coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is home to a species of fer-de-lance, the Golden Lancehead Viper, which is one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Local legend claims there are almost five snakes to every square yard... It is dangerous and forbidden by law to set foot on the island.
1. Easter Island
Giant stone statues, up to three stories tall, don't carve and move themselves. How, then, did the original inhabitants of Easter Island, whose only tools were stone, bone and coral, manage to accomplish such a monumental task? This question has plagued the Western world since the Dutch sea captain Jacob Roggeveen landed on the island on Easter Day, April 5, 1772..
