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Surprisingly on-time, the following week of Google Sightseeing
will be dedicated to our Second Annual Island
Week.

Following on from the success of
last year’s Island Week, we’ll be posting sights related to
small pieces of land that are surrounded completely by water.

Island Week 2006 featured:

Iwo Jima

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Cockburn Island

Island
of the Dead

James Island

Wake Island

Republic of the Marshall Islands

Low Isles

Tags: , Annual, google, Island, Second, Sightseeing, week

(It’s
Island Week 2 here at GSS, which means we’ll mostly be posting
about Islands. For about a week.)

The Pitcairns are a group of four islands:
Pitcairn,
Henderson,
Ducie, and
Oeno, which are all located near New Zealand in the Pacific
Ocean.

The islands are classed as a British overseas territory and have
an official population of just 48, making them the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density
least populated jurisdiction in the world.

src='http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/pit1.jpg'
width='160' height='120' >
src='http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/hend.jpg'
width='160' height='120' >
src='http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/ducie.jpg'
width='160' height='120' >
src='http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/oneo.jpg'
width='160' height='120' >

All 48 of the islands’ inhabitants, who are just 9 different
families, live in
Adamstown on the main island of Pitcairn. Adamstown is
therefore unchallenged as the capital city, and with that title
earns the record for World’s smallest capital
city.

The population is unlikely to rise anytime soon; the islanders
mostly descend from British mutineers of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty HMAV
Bounty and only two children have been born in the
last 21 years.

src='http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/pit2.jpg'
width='160' height='120' >

Wikipedia Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_Islands Pitcairn
Islands and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamstown,_Pitcairn_Island Adamstown.

Thanks: koen & http://www.gearthhacks.com/dlfile19190/worlds-smallest-official-capital-city.htm
tizerst

Tags: , Island, Islands, Pitcairn, week

(It’s
Island Week 2 here at GSS, which means we’ll mostly be posting
about Islands. For about a week.)

On the mighty Mississippi River, Memphis, Tennessee, is
Mud Island, which is home to a steamboat museum, restaurants,
an
outdoor amphitheatre and some nice
large type.

src="http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/mudislandtype1.jpg"
alt="">

Okay, technically Mud Island isn’t actually an island,
but rather a
small peninsula. However, it does contain a
hydraulic scale model of the lower Mississippi
recreated in miniature all the way from
Cairo, Illinois south to
New Orleans!

alt="">
alt="">

Which probably makes this the world’s only model of a river on
an island (that’s actually a peninsula) in the river that the model
is a model of…

Or something. src='http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif'
>

Read more about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_Island,_Memphis Mud Island
at Wikipedia. Thanks to dedHED and Nat Case.

Tags: , Island, Mud, week

(It’s
Island Week 2 here at GSS, which means we’ll mostly be posting
about Islands. For about a week.)

Located in the south eastern Pacific Ocean, almost four thousand
kilometers from continental Chile, Easter Island - or locally
Rapa Nui - is one of the world’s http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/Orthographic_projection_centred_over_Easter_Island.png
most isolated inhabited islands^{#fn:1″ rel=”footnote 1}, as well as one of the
world’s most fascinating archaeological sites.

http://mappic.org/fullsizePicture.php?pid=5705&r=GoogleEarth
alt="">
Photo of http://mappic.org/fullsizePicture.php?pid=5705&r=GoogleEarth
Rano Raraku Moai from http://mappic.org mappic.org

The human history of Easter Island probably began http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/53200?fulltext=true&print=yes#53362
somewhere between AD 300 and 1200 when people from the islands
west of here landed with the tools, animals and provisions to stay
for good. Although only http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=171 square kilometers in square miles&btnG=Search
171 km² in area, at the time Easter Island had
extensive forests, and the volcanic craters held drinking water -
which is an important feature on an island with no rivers.

alt="">

Rano Kau volcano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Osterinsel_Krater-Rano_Kao.jpg
Picture)

Somewhere between AD 1000 and 1500, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapanui Rapanui began a
period of frantic construction of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Paaseiland_Kempeneers.jpg
enormous stone statues - the Moai, for which
Easter Island is world famous today. These enigmatic figures
represented the islander’s deified ancestors, and were mostly
placed near the coast, with their backs to the sea.

alt="">

Moai of Ahu Nau Nau, Anakena Beach (http://mappic.org/fullsizePicture.php?pid=5720&r=GoogleEarth
Picture)

Moai are hewn from the island’s volcanic rock id="fnref:2">#fn:2″ rel=”footnote 2, and the
largest Moai erected was almost http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=10 metres in feet&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
10 metres high and weighed 75 tonnes; their production and
transportation is considered a remarkable accomplishment.

alt="">

Moai of Ahu Tongariki (http://mappic.org/fullsizePicture.php?pid=5714&r=GoogleEarth
Picture)

887 Moai have been identified to date, however only a quarter
ever made it to one of the coastal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island#Ahu Ahu
platforms - nearly half of all Moai remain at a single site called
Rano Raraku, the volcanic crater where 95% were originally carved.
The landscape is littered with
397 Moai - some half-finished, some semi-submerged in
the earth through erosion, and others never even detached from the
rock.^{#fn:3″
rel=”footnote 3}

alt="">
alt="">

Rano Raraku crater,
Rano Raraku Moai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rano_Raraku_quarry.jpg Picture)

By the time explorers arrived here in the 18th Century, the
forests of the island had completely disappeared.
It’s unknown whether or not the Rapanui had used all the trees in
the construction of the Moai, or if some other ecological factor
was involved, but either way the islanders were now trapped - there
was no longer any wood available for making seaworthy canoes.

After this things began to go rapidly downhill for the
inhabitants of Easter Island. There followed a period of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangata_manu tribal wars,
raids by Peruvian slavers, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island#Destruction_of_society_and_population
epidemics of European diseases, and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamson-Balfour_Company conversion
of the entire island into a sheep farm. During this period much
Rapa Nui culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rongorongo was lost
forever, nearly all of the Moai were deliberately
toppled (probably by warring tribal factions), and by the
late 19th century only 111 of the indigenous people remained
alive.

Somehow, against all the odds, today there are several thousand
descendants of the surviving 111 Rapanui living on Easter Island -
which now has
sustainable forestry and the
longest runway in Polynesia (having been extended to function
as an emergency landing place for the U.S. Space Shuttle). The Moai
have returned too - many have been re-erected on their Ahus around
the island and one has even been http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ahu_Tahai.jpg given new
eyes.

alt="">

Moai at Ahu Akivi, unusual in not being on the coast, and
facing towards the sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ahu-Akivi-1.JPG Picture)

Read more about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island Easter Island
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai Moai at
Wikipedia.

Thanks to Josh, Adam, Reinhold and Didier.

1. Featured earlier in the week, Easter Island’s nearest inhabited
   neighbour is
   Pitcairn Island - 1,931 kilometers west of here. #fnref:1″ rev=”footnote ↩

2. Whilst most Moai were carved from easily worked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuff tuff, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoa_Hakananai’a Hoa
   Hakananai’a is one of just ten Moai that were carved from much
   harder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt basalt. #fnref:2″ rev=”footnote ↩

3. The biggest Moai ever carved also remains on the slopes of Rano
   Raraku, which at 21.6 metres tall and around 270 tonnes was
   probably impossible for the Rapanui to move. #fnref:3″ rev=”footnote ↩

Tags: , Easter, Island, week

(It’s the last day of
Island Week 2 here at GSS, which means we’re almost done with
posting about islands. And it’s lasted about a week.)

Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada is
officially the world’s largest island that
is located within a lake.

alt="">

That’s pretty simple, but within the island there are an
additional 180 lakes…

Within one of those lakes,
Mindemoya Lake (to be precise), is the largest island
,in a lake, on an island, in a lake (in the world). Still
with me?

src="http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/mindemoya.jpg"
alt="">

But we’ve missed out a step! On the island of Sumatra in
Indonesia we find Lake Toba, and its principal island of
Samosir - which at http://www.google.com/search?q=630 square km in square miles
630 square km is easily the largest island, in a lake,
on a island.

src="http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/samosir.jpg"
alt="">

After Samosir, the second largest island within a lake is
Glover Island, which is in the Grand Lake on the island of
Newfoundland.

src="http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/glover2.jpg"
alt="">

However, Glover Island’s largest lake also has many islands, of
which the largest is about http://www.google.com/search?q=2 acres in square miles 2
acres. This
tiny, unnamed island is therefore the largest island,
in a lake, on an island, in a lake, on an island!

src="http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/glover.jpg"
alt="">

Unfortunately, it has no lakes in which we might find further
islands. src='http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif'
>

Seeing as it’s island week, we’ve left out many additional facts
about the largest lakes found on islands (some of
which are larger that the lakes containing islands we’ve mentioned
here) but I think this post has been confusing enough!

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitoulin_Island Manitoulin
Island, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosir Samosir & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glover_Island Glover
Island

Thanks to Dee, kejoad, Daryl, Chris W, http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/26/the-largest-island-o.html
Boing boing, http://www.elbruz.org/islands/Islands and Lakes.htm Elbruz.org
and http://worldislandinfo.com/blog/index.php/2007/07/26/the-real-largest-island-in-a-lake-on-an-island-in-a-lake-on-an-island/
World Island Info.

Tags: , Island, Lake, Recursion, week

(It’s
Island Week 2 here at GSS, which means we’ll mostly be posting
about Islands. For about a week.)

Pollepel Island is located in the Hudson River, New York. A
characterless lump of rock, it would have been completely
uninteresting had Francis Bannerman not decided to build a castle
on the island, and then fill it with weapons…

This was in the late 1800s and Bannerman, a Scottish immigrant,
and the world’s largest buyer of surplus military equipment was
doing a roaring trade in munitions. When he purchased most of the
captured goods from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_American_War Spanish
American war he needed somewhere to store it all, preferably
somewhere where large amounts of gunpowder would be safe.

So he purchased Pollepel Island and set about building an
imitation Scottish castle of his own design, complete with lookout
turrets and a moat. The buildings took 17 years to complete and
feature giant concrete text across the side which reads
“Bannerman’s Island Arsenal”.

alt="">

Years later, the family sold the island back to New York State
who for a short time operated tours around the castle. Although all
the munitions had been removed, in 1969 a fire of “unknown origin”
destroyed the building’s interiors, making it too dangerous to
visit. Today, a trust group hope to stabilise the castle and
re-open it for tours.

More info on the castle at its http://www.bannermancastle.org official website, the http://www.hudsonriver.com/bannerman.htm Hudson river
site, and of course http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollepel_Island Wikipedia.

Thanks to Marc Cohen and Bill Parco.

Tags: , Island, Pollepel, week

Continuing the never-ending stream of “World’s largest…” we
present The World’s Largest Portrait, which adorns
the hills of
Erzincan in Turkey.

The massive http://www.google.com/search?q=7.5 square km in square miles
7.5 square km painting is of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Kemal_Atatürk Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk, the first president of Turkey until his death in
1938. Despite his passing some time ago, Atatürk’s face is still a
very popular image and is featured on banknotes, public buildings,
schools, and (in this case) mountains.

alt="">

The image was painted in 1982 by the order of the then-ruling
military junta and it took 3000 soldiers just under a month to
finish their handiwork.

Over the years the Turkish army have continued to write on the
country’s hills, more recently writing one of Ataturk’s favourite
sayings: “
Ne Mutlu Türküm Diyene!“.

With the second largest standing armed force in NATO (after the
much larger USA), perhaps the soldiers have spare time on their
hands?

Previously:
Portraits Paintings in Google Earth.

Thanks to http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Number/913629 ssaatci
and http://www.gearthhacks.com/dlfile26626/The-biggest-portrait-in-the-world.htm
baharbahar

Tags: , Largest, Portrait, world

12.5 metres (41 feet) in length, hyperspace capable, and with a
top speed of 5,025 mph in atmosphere, the X-wing is of course the
iconic starfighter first seen in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_IV:_A_New_Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, all the way back in ‘77.

Although why the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_Alliance Rebel
Alliance have left
this one smack bang in the middle of Disneyland Paris is a
complete mystery…

More on the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_wing X-wing
at Wikipedia. Thanks to http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/37841/ virtualglobetrotting.

Tags: , wing

Rather than the usual fare of flowerbeds, ponds or garden
gnomes, Lloyd “Tud” Krohn decorates his garden with
handmade aircraft.

src='http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/planes.jpg'
width='160' height='120' >

The 1/16 scale models include a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-22_Osprey V-22 Osprey, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-17_Flying_Fortress B-17
Flying Fortress, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_Lightning P-38
Lightning, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C130_Hercules C-130
Hercules and an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AH-64_Apache Apache
helicopter.

Mr Krohn (I’m afraid I can’t bring myself to call him “Tud”)
started building these odd garden ornaments over 17 years ago but,
so far, nobody has figured out exactly why…

More info from http://www.fox41.com/article/view/8681/?tf=wdrbarticleview.tpl
Fox41 and ground level pictures on http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?s=728f0ae7c0984cee301a8f74a571ca92&t=709188
RC Groups. Thanks to http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/985533/an//page//vc/1
sixftjafp.

Tags: , Airplane, Gnomes

Here at the King Khaled Airport in Saudi Arabia, a little way
away from the main terminal, there’s a mysterious and unexplained

outline of a plane marked out on the desert sand.

src="http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-content/planeoutlineinsaudi.jpg"
alt="">

The shape is similar in size and dimensions to the four-engine
Boeing 747; perhaps one was used as a fire
training aircraft and since removed? If so, then where did it
go, and how did they remove it without disturbing the outline?

Looking closer, is it possible that the plane shape is actually
marked by some sort of plant life? Perhaps the brown dots that
litter the landscape are shrubs and for some reason they have
sprouted up where a plane used to stand.

This was found by http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/994386/page/0/fpart/1/vc/1
diane9247 at the Keyhole forums - where despite extensive
discussion and an actual email to King Khaled Airport - they’re
still no closer to proving what this really is!

Anybody got any other suggestions?

Tags: , Mystery, Outline, Plane