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#798469 - Thu May 31 2012 01:52 PM Most remote inhabited single island
marge729 Offline
Learning the ropes...

Registered: Thu May 31 2012
Posts: 3
Loc: California USA
What is the most remote inhabited single island in the world?

By this I mean a landmass that is inhabited year-round and that is the furthest away from any other landmass, inhabited or not, island or continent.

For example, Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic is the most remote island in the world (furthest away from any other landmass), although it is uninhabited so it does not answer the question.

I think the candidates are:

1) Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, but Inaccessible Island and Gouge Island are part of the archipelago and within 100 km (although uninhabited).
2) Pitcairn Island is also very remote and inhabited, but it is part of an archipelago that includes uninhabited islands such as Henderson Island that are on the order of 100 km away.
3) Easter Island: Inhabited year-round and very remote, and the closest landmass is Isla Salas y Gomez 415 km (uninhabited).
4) St. Helena: Inhabited year round. I cannot find any islands within 500 km, and the closest land is probably Angola around 2000 km away.

Is the answer St. Helena?


Edited by marge729 (Thu May 31 2012 01:53 PM)

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#798516 - Thu May 31 2012 04:11 PM Re: Most remote inhabited single island
ozzz2002 Online   FT-cool
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Registered: Mon Dec 03 2001
Posts: 20911
Loc: Sydney
NSW Australia
Macquarie Island is a possibility, too. It is between Tasmania and Antarctica, and the nearest neighbours are the equally remote Auckland Islands.
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#798607 - Thu May 31 2012 09:27 PM Re: Most remote inhabited single island
marge729 Offline
Learning the ropes...

Registered: Thu May 31 2012
Posts: 3
Loc: California USA
Using an online distance calculator based on Google Maps, Macquarie Island is about 650 km away from the Auckland Islands.

It also does not look like Macquarie Island is permanently inhabited.

I think the closest landmass to St. Helena is Ascension Island -- 1300 km away. The closest landmass to Ascension, other than St. Helena is the west coast of Africa 1600 km away, while the closest landmass to St. Helena is the Angola coast on Africa nearly 2000 km away, so it looks like St. Helena might be it unless there are other islands I am not aware of.

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