Vacant Mysterious Islands Around The World That Humans Don’t Call Home
They often say that there's nothing new under the Sun and with how closely monitored the Earth is by satellites and human eyes, it's nearly impossible for anything to remain undiscovered. The depths of the oceans remain largely unexplored, but anything on the surface can technically be seen at any time.
With this in mind, it's easy to assume that no part of the world is now untouched by human hands whether anyone likes that or not. However, that's not exactly true. Whether there's an explanation for it or not, some islands have absolutely no human inhabitants. And for many of them, it's been a long time since anyone passed through.
Fort Carroll, Maryland
According to Atlas Obscura, General Robert E. Lee commissioned an artificial island to act as a fort and protect Baltimore from naval attacks before the outbreak of the American Civil War. Yet, while its defenses were fortified during the Spanish-American War and it was briefly used as a firing range during World War II, it never saw any action.
Fort Carroll sat unused until 1958, when it was purchased by a Baltimore lawyer. However, he apparently couldn't do anything with it either, nor did he decide he wanted to live there. It's remained abandoned ever since, with vegetation overtaking the concrete fortress and and a wide variety of birds nesting there. However, the island has no human inhabitants and is only occasionally visited by urban explorers.
Bouvet Island
According to the CIA, this Antarctic island has always been difficult to traverse due to its near-total coverage by glaciers. It was named after the French naval officer who discovered it — Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier — in 1739 but went largely untouched until it was claimed by the British in 1825.
However, the government found little use for it either and waived their claim to Bouvet Island to Norway in 1929. Although Norwegian nationals inhabited it at the time, it has since been set aside as a nature preserve and remains uninhabited by humans. However, that's not to say it's ignored by them, as the Norwegian government has maintained a nearby research station in various forms since 1977.
North Brother Island, New York
According to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, North Brother Island was temporarily used for veteran housing from 1946 to 1951, and officials tried to establish an addiction rehabilitation center there that closed in 1964. But its longest-running and best-known use was as the site of the Riverside Hospital, which once housed the infamous "Typhoid Mary."
The hospital closed in 1943, and with the other attempted uses for the island having failed, it's been largely forbidden to humans in recent decades because it's now a nature preserve for various species of long-legged birds like herons and egrets. Visits are out of the question between March 21 and September 21 so as not to disturb the birds' breeding season, but they're also rare and require special permission throughout the rest of the year.
Ilha da Queimada Grande, Brazil
Also known as "Snake Island," this Brazilian island features an extremely dense population of snakes, which are both too venomous and too endangered to risk letting most humans anywhere near them. According to the Smithsonian Magazine, rising sea levels separated Ilha da Queimada Grande from mainland Brazil about 11,000 years ago, and in the time since, they've evolved to secrete an extremely potent venom that can easily claim a human life in under an hour.
Between 2,000 and 4,000 golden lancehead vipers live there, and they're one of the deadliest snakes in the world. Some estimates put the island's snake population at one for every 10 square feet, which has led to endangerment due to competition for food. Due to these circumstances and the clear dangers of contact with the snakes, the Brazilian government has outlawed access to the island to everyone except certain researchers and the Navy. But obviously, even they don't exactly want to hang around there.
Surtsey, Iceland
According to UNESCO, Surtsey didn't exist until it was formed by volcanic eruptions that took place off Iceland's southern coast between 1963 and 1967. Ever since it appeared, Iceland has restricted all human contact to the island to prevent any outside influence on the research that's been going on there since 1964.
Due to its uninhabited nature, Surtsey has had the unique honor of showing scientists how plant and animal species colonize barren lands firsthand. They've seen fungi, bacteria and moulds arrive, as well as at least ten species of plants due to seeds carried by ocean currents. The island has since fostered an ecosystem for 335 species of invertebrates and serves as a breeding ground for 89 species of birds.
Antipodes Islands, New Zealand
As New Zealand's Department of Conservation explained, the Antipodes Islands haven't always been untouched by humans because encroachment by American seal hunters was widespread in the early 1800s. More recently, the New Zealand government involved the islands in a widespread mouse extermination program in 2016.
However, the island is otherwise one of the least visited and remote islands in Oceania. Although this is partially due to strict environmental protections, it's also unwise to try and visit the island for long due to its punishing temperatures and generally harsh environment. Indeed, one of the only human structures seen there is a well-stocked Castaway Depot built in 1886, as the most common visitors have been people who accidentally shipwrecked there. As recently as 1999, these victims have been known to perish from exposure.
Devon Island, Canada
Located in Nunavut's Baffin Bay, Devon Island has the distinction of being the largest uninhabited island in the world. According to the National Post, it's a rocky desert with cold, dry conditions that make human habitation undesirable. As Mars Institute chairman Pascal Lee told the newspaper, "The unbelievable thing is that pretty much every step you take as soon as you are away from our camp, you're probably the first person to ever walk there."
Of course, the fact that he had a camp to reference suggests that the island hasn't been completely untouched by human hands. That's because its conditions are widely considered the closest that Earth can get to Mars's environment, which has made Devon Island the site of both research projects and astronaut training. However, those researchers and future astronauts are the only people with any reason to visit the cold, desolate island.
Heard Island
Although the Australian Antarctic Division noted that the government organization is responsible for managing and watching over this Antarctic Island, it's not a place that humans often visit. In fact, only 240 known visits to Heard Island have occurred since it was discovered in 1855.
Although the Australian government intends to keep the island biologically pristine and not interfere with the penguins, seals, and waterbirds who inhabit it, that's not the only reason it has no human inhabitants and rarely receives visitors. From a practical standpoint, its extreme isolation, harshly cold climate, and choppy sea conditions make it difficult to visit, even if one were so inclined.
Ile Saint Paul
After it was claimed by France in 1893, the CIA noted that the southern island of Ile Saint Paul was a significant center for the nation's fishing industry until 1914. It was also the site of a lobster cannery in 1928, but the island became uninhabited after the company that owned the cannery went bankrupt in 1931.
Nowadays, the only people who typically set foot on the island are researchers studying its native seabird populations from a designated cabin. However, their stays in the area are typically short. The only other regular visitors are fishing boats, whose crews have no reason to land on the island itself.
Poveglia Plague Island, Italy
According to Atlas Obscura, Poveglia is an artificial island built in 1793 by the Venetian government and spent much of its early life as a quarantine station during plague outbreaks. The island was also a weapons storage site for Napoleon and hosted an infamous mental hospital known for its cruelty between 1922 and 1968.
Given this sad history, the island is widely believed to be haunted and vegetation has been taking over the ruins of the mental hospital since its closure. Although the Italian government outlawed visits to the island, they also put it up for auction in 2014. However, it has remained uninhabited in the years since its sale.
Gruinard Island, Scotland
As the BBC reported, Scotland's Gruinard Island was the site of deeply unethical and destructive weapons testing in 1942. Apparently fearing that Germany was developing biological weapons at the time, Winston Churchill commissioned the creation of an anthrax explosive that was tested on the area's sheep. Although the project was considered a success, the weapon was never used, and the tests contaminated the island for decades.
For that reason, the British government prohibited access to the island, even if it didn't necessarily admit that Gruinard Island was poisoned by anthrax testing until the 1980s. Although the island was declared anthrax-free in 1990, it nonetheless remains uninhabited to the present day.
Lítla Dímun, Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an archipelago made up of 18 islands in the northern Atlantic Ocean, and all of them are Danish territory. However, only one of them is uninhabited. Lítla Dímun is the smallest of them, and according to Atlas Obscura, the rough weather around it and its steep cliffs make it hard to navigate.
But while it's considered too remote and isolated to inhabit realistically, it's nonetheless not without human visitors. Farmers have been traveling there to round up sheep and bring them to the larger islands nearby for centuries despite the treacherous terrain.
Jaco Island, East Timor
East Timor's Jaco Island is an unusual case in that anyone can visit it, but they're not allowed to live there. Moreover, Visit East Timor warned that it's illegal even to spend the night on the island. And it has nothing to do with any natural hazards, as the island is as idyllic as this photo suggests.
Instead, its uninhabited status is an official mark of respect to East Timor's indigenous population. That's because the island is considered sacred among them, so while fishing boats often bring tourists to the island, there are serious limitations on how long they're allowed to stay there.
Clipperton Island
According to the CIA, Clipperton is a remote atoll in the Pacific Ocean that was rumored to be a hideout for its namesake, an 18th-century pirate named John Clipperton. But while Clipperton was English, it was actually the French government who would end up claiming the island in 1855.
Interestingly, the United States and Mexico had competing claims to Clipperton Island but arbitration would see it officially transferred to the French by 1935. However, it's likely that these competing claims were exclusively motivated by fishing rights in the area, as Clipperton Island has remained uninhabited throughout the decades since the decision.
The South Sandwich Islands
Known for their proximity to Antarctica, the South Sandwich Islands are often politically lumped in with nearby South Georgia Island. Together, they've been under British control since 1908 despite a brief claim by the Argentinian government in 1982 due to their proximity to the Falkland Islands.
According to the CIA, the only permanent human habitation seen in the area comes in the form of a research station administered by the British Antarctic Survey. However, the South Sandwich Islands remain uninhabited by anyone aside from birds and seals due to common weather conditions that make them difficult to approach and the volcanic activity reported throughout the islands.
Isla de las Munecas, Mexico
According to the Australian Broadcasting Company, the legend of Isla de las Munecas — also called the Island of the Dolls — began in the 1950s when Don Julián Santana witnessed a girl drown while trying to rescue her. Both he and his nephew Javier, the island's current caretaker, believe that the island is haunted by both her and other spirits.
This convinced Santana to cover the island in dolls as a means of appeasing or warding off these spirits. However, the creepy decorations ended up making the island a popular tourist attraction, which has led to the dolls inhabiting the island numbering in the thousands. Still, with no running water, no electricity, and an outright ban on concrete structures, Isla de las Munecas remains uninhabited by any permanent human presence. That is, by any living ones.
Runit Island, Marshall Islands
In an ideal world, everyone would stay away from Runit Island. According to The Guardian, the Marshall Islands were the site of widespread and long-term nuclear weapons testing by the U.S. government over the course of 12 years during the Cold War. And while most of the islands remain contaminated by nuclear debris, the lion's share of the toxic waste is buried under a massive concrete dome on Runit Island.
Locals refer to this dome as "The Tomb" and judging by the half-life of the Plutonium-239 present, the area could be contaminated for over 24,000 years. But while Runit Island is hazardous enough that nobody lives on it, it does see visitors who are forced to make a living by salvaging scrap metal from the dangerous environment.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Although some islands remain uninhabited due to insurmountable environmental hazards, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch arguably works in reverse. It's an environmental hazard that's become large enough to make up a series of pseudo-islands. Since most of the contaminants that make them up consist of microplastics, most of the garbage patch isn't solid enough for anyone to stand on.
But while National Geographic described the areas in question as a "cloudy soup," they're both large and distinct enough to chart on a map. Instead of traditional islands, the Western Garbage Patch near Japan and the Eastern Garbage Patch near California consist of plastic vortexes known as gyres. These garbage collections feature calm waters when those brave enough to visit them are near their centers, but those waters get rougher the further into the margins a sailor goes. Although most people would never want to live here, it wouldn't be possible even if they somehow did.
Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands
Although Bikini Atoll isn't the only uninhabitable island among the Marshall Islands, it remains one of the most grim places among the beleaguered islands. It's famous for being the site of atomic testing, and the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists noted that its indigenous population was displaced by the U.S. government so that testing could take place.
However, there's no way they could realistically return to Bikini Atoll in its current state. Despite appearing idyllic in this aerial view, cesium-137 levels and gamma radiation have rendered the island completely unsafe. Both the soil and surrounding lagoon remain severely contaminated by radiation, which has also made the fruit that grows there unsuitable to eat.
Ball's Pyramid
According to Atlas Obscura, Ball's Pyramid is a small remnant of a huge volcano and is one of the last visible remnants of the lost eighth continent, Zealandia. Of course, none of this was known about it when it was discovered by Royal Navy Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball in 1788.
Although he named the islet after himself at the time, no humans have found it rich enough with resources or easy enough to access to live on Ball's Pyramid in the centuries since. Indeed, it was once considered completely devoid of animal life until Lord Howe Island stick insects were discovered there in 2001. This was an incredible discovery as they hadn't been seen in 70 years and were thought to be extinct.
Hashima Island, Japan
Also called Battleship Island due to is appearance, Hashima Island was the site of a massive and long-standing coal mining operation that started during the 1880s. It was one of the key sites for Japan's industrial revolution and the Mitsubishi corporation started a city there to handle the needs of the coal miners and their families.
During the 1950s, the fact that 5,000 people gathered together on the 15-acre island made it one of the most densely populated places in the world. However, that abruptly ended in 1974 when the coal ran out and Hashima Island was abandoned. Its buildings have slowly decayed in the decades since and while the island was partially opened to tourists in 2015, most of it is considered too dangerous to explore.
Most of the Maldives
According to Travel and Leisure, the Maldives are a unique collection of islands in that focusing on one uninhabited island would be ignoring the overwhelming geographical challenge the nation faces. Although 200 of the country's islands are inhabited and known as tourist hotspots, they're vastly outnumbered by the uninhabited ones.
That's because there are at least 1,192 uninhabited islands in the Maldives. Although more of these islands are becoming the sites of tourist resorts due to their gorgeous tropical settings, it would be a Herculean undertaking to make this conversion with all of them. Some islands are uninhabited due to hazards, while others have environmental or cultural importance. But in the Maldives, there are simply more islands than most people could ever keep track of.
Macquarie Island
Nestled at the halfway point between Antarctica and Tasmania, Macquarie Island is home to one of the greatest populations of sea birds in the world, as it's a breeding ground for about 850,000 Royal penguin breeding pairs. It's also home to elephant seals and four species of albatrosses.
However, Australia's Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water noted that the island's most unique feature is the fact that it's the only one in the world made entirely of oceanic crust and pieces of the Earth's mantle. Although it has no permanent human residents, that fact has made it the subject of year-round study by the Australian Antarctic Division.
Farallon Islands, California
The Farallon Islands are about 30 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge and are home to an impressive array of animals. Elephant seals, northern fur seals, and California sea lions mingle with 13 species of sea birds on the islands, while humpback whales, grey whales, and blue whales swim with sharks and reef-dwelling fish in the surrounding waters.
With 300,000 birds in the area, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife described the islands as the largest colony of nesting sea birds in the U.S. mainland. Concerns for this ecosystem have led the state government to restrict access to the island to official personnel only. With the exception of some scientists largely working out of the southeasternmost island, this means the majority of the islands are uninhabited by humans.
Bear Island, Norway
Also known as Bjørnøya, Bear Island rests between Norway and the Svalbard archipelago and is known as one of Europe's last intact ecosystems. According to Ramsar Sites Information Service, 126 different bird species have been observed there, and it features one of the largest seabird colonies in the northern hemisphere.
Specifically, over 1 million of them gather during the breeding season, which is one of many reasons why the island is often visited by researchers. However, the island has no permanent residents and is mostly untouched by human activity. Oil companies are also prohibited from drilling within the 40-mile zone surrounding the island.
Poplar Island, Canada
Situated near New Westminster, British Columbia, Poplar Island is an uninhabited island that's densely packed with tree growth. But while it's largely left to nature and has no human residents nowadays, that wasn't always true in its long and sometimes sordid history.
According to the CBC, Poplar Island was a site of shipbuilding and manufacturing (particularly pulp and paper manufacturing) during World War I. However, the darkest chapter of its history came after European colonization of the area, as the Qayqayt First Nation was displaced to turn the island that was once their home into a smallpox containment facility.
Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles
Although it's not uncommon for uninhabited islands to be set aside for nature reserves, nature itself beat humanity to that level of protection in the case of the Aldabra Atoll. According to UNESCO, this was partially due to its isolation in the Indian Ocean, but its surroundings can also be credited for the lack of human encroachment.
That's because the four islands that make up the atoll are surrounded by thick coral reefs, which have historically made it difficult for ships to access them. As a result, these geographical obstacles have protected the 152,000 giant tortoises on the island from human interference. Unsurprisingly, that makes Aldabra Atoll's giant tortoise population the largest in the world.
Wrangel Island
According to Dartmouth Libraries, Wrangel Island sits above the Bering Strait in the Arctic Ocean and is considered Russian territory, though this claim has been disputed at times by the Canadian government. And while it's largely uninhabited by humans now, its harsh climate made that historically true for the island as well.
It has never hosted an indigenous human population, and most human contact the island has historically seen has made it a refuge from early polar explorers. Although some Europeans have attempted to settle the island throughout the early 20th century, none were able to survive the elements for long.
St. Kilda, Scotland
According to the National Trust For Scotland, humans managed to live in the St. Kilda archipelago for about 4,000 years. They lived off the area's abundant seabirds but eventually found that those birds would outlast them in the area once the 20th Century rolled around.
That was because the islands did not have sufficient resources to sustain this community's way of life, which led the remaining 26 human residents to evacuate on August 29, 1930. Now, St. Kilda is home to almost 1 million birds, which include the largest cluster of Atlantic puffins in the United Kingdom.
Phoenix Islands, Kiribati
Although Kanton Island at left in this photo has shown some clear signs of human activity, that makes it an outlier in the otherwise uninhabited Phoenix Islands. According to UNESCO, the Oceanic islands have historically seen little to no human presence throughout their history as they're both remote and largely inhospitable to human settlement.
As a result, they've built an uninterrupted ecosystem. Although sea turtles, giant clams, and coconut crabs are known to be threatened elsewhere, they're more abundant in the Phoenix Islands. All told, there are about 800 species present here, including 44 types of birds, 18 aquatic mammal species, 500 fish species, and 200 species of coral.
