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Islands

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For years, the triathlon occurred on the lake of a volacno crater, but now takes place on the ocean.
islands

The World’s Most Remote Triathlon Requires Bananas and Rafts

Tau’a Rapa Nui continues to fight for its place against shifting tides.
Charis McGowan April 18, 2024
Remains of whalers' wooden coffins and gravestones at Smeerenburg, in the northwest region of the Svalbard Archipelago.
cemeteries

Svalbard's Lonely Whaler Graves Included Burial Kits With Pieces of Distant Homes

For centuries, the cruel industry decimated entire whale species—and claimed countless human lives. Whalers arrived prepared for their own deaths.
Nicky Nielsen April 17, 2024
Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, September 2014
islands

Wonder Is Everywhere: A Giant Burger, a Missing Warhol, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.
April White April 12, 2024
Kent, Sierra Leone

Firing Point

On an idyllic island off the coast of Sierra Leone, remnants of the defense of the slave trade and its later abolition.
Duvauchelle, New Zealand

Ōnawe Peninsula

A peninsula on a peninsula that becomes an island at high tide.
Singapore

Tortoises of Kusu Island

Legend holds that a tortoise turned itself into this island to save two shipwrecked sailors.
Bonifacio, France

Escalier du roi d'Aragon (King of Aragon’s Stairs)

A breathtakingly steep set of stairs is carved directly into the face of the sea cliffs of Bonifacio.
All illustrations: John Mata for Atlas Obscura
islands

The Atlas Obscura Crossword: Beyond the Moai

AO Puzzles March 25, 2024
objects of intrigue

This New York City Map Is Full of Dutch Secrets

When Broadway was a broad way and Wall Street was a wall.
April White March 19, 2024
lighthouses

Podcast: The Lighthouse Keeper

Meet the woman behind the light in the dark.
The Podcast Team March 12, 2024
Pensacola, Florida

Johnson Beach

A pristine beach on the Gulf of Mexico with deep ties to Pensacola’s Black community.
islands

Podcast: World's Loneliest House

It looks the part, but it's kind of a misnomer.
The Podcast Team February 20, 2024
A New and Correct Map of AMERICA (London, 1752).
islands

For Hundreds of Years, People Thought California Was an Island

Dozens of maps show cartography's most persistent mistake.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think February 16, 2024
The Rongorongo tablets may be older than previously thought.
islands

Mysterious Writing System From Easter Island May Be Completely Unique

New radiocarbon dating reveals astonishing insights.
Colleen Kelly February 15, 2024
Skyros, Greece

Vrykolakonisia (Vampire Islands)

The alleged vampires after which these islets are named may have actually been plague victims.
El Nido, Philippines

Snake Island of Palawan

This unusual island has a winding sand bridge that only appears at low tide.
In the waters beyond La Palma's Cumbre Nueva mountains (shown here), San Borondón is said to appear to the west of the Canary Islands archipelago.
haunted

In the Canary Islands, a Mysterious Phantom Isle Haunts Local Imagination

The legend of San Borondón all started with an Irish saint.
Cat Rainsford February 9, 2024
An Arctic tern in flight; the seabirds were a critical source of food for the Beothuk people of Newfoundland, and also likely inspired some of their funerary traditions.
islands

In Newfoundland, a Bird Spirit May Have Guided a Lost Culture's Dead

For centuries, the Beothuk people relied on seabirds to survive—and likely to find their way to the afterlife.
Nicky Nielsen February 7, 2024