Our correspondent Waso has been living on islands for half a year now. Though calling it “island life” might be a stretch: traffic flows the usual way, grocery prices are the same as on the mainland, and getting to another island (Manhattan) via Roosevelt Island takes just five minutes by bike, even though he actually lives in Long Island City. In reality, this is everyday routine for most New Yorkers, so let’s zoom out and talk about islands in New York and the US more broadly.
We all learn in school that Manhattan is, in fact, a real island . What many people don’t realize is that Brooklyn and Queens — the city’s most populated boroughs — also sit on an island: Long Island.
Long Island is the most populated island in the United States, with about 8 million residents. The US itself ranks fifth in the world by number of islands (nearly 19,000), behind only Norway, Sweden, Canada, and Finland.
But back to New York, where about 83% of the population lives on islands. Only one borough — the Bronx — is located on the mainland, and even it comes with a few islands of its own.
Altogether, New York City has close to 40 islands. Here are five of the most unusual ones:
— The most famous small island in New York is Liberty Island, home to the Statue of Liberty.
— Rikers Island is a jail island, housing 10 correctional facilities.
— Swinburne Island is an artificial island built to quarantine immigrants.
— Roosevelt Island is an unusual place to live between Manhattan and Long Island City, but a fantastic spot for visitors, with sweeping views of the city. One of the best vantage points for the UN building is from here.
— Hog Island is a vanished island that once served as a resort destination, before being destroyed by a series of hurricanes at the end of the 20th century.
New Yorkers love islands so much that they even build island parks. Attached to this post are photos of Little Island — one of the newest and easily one of the coolest parks in the world.
