Portal:Islands

Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay from the east

Alcatraz Island (/ˈælkəˌtræz/) is a small island 1.25 miles (2.01 km) offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison. In 1934, the island was converted into a federal prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. The strong currents around the island and cold water temperatures made escape nearly impossible, and the prison became one of the most notorious in American history. The prison closed in 1963, and the island is now a major tourist attraction. (Full article...)

A plate of rondón

Run down, also referred to as rundown, run dun, rondón, fling-me-far, and fling mi for, is a stew dish in Jamaican cuisine and Tobago cuisine. The traditional Jamaican dish is eaten in several Latin American countries that share a coast with the Caribbean Sea.

It consists of a soup made up of reduced coconut milk, with different types of seafood (fish, crabs, small lobsters or shellfish), plantain, yam, tomato, onion, and seasonings. Mackerel and salted mackerel are often used in the dish. Other fish are also used, including locally caught fish, cod, salt cod, shad, other oily fish, red snapper, swordfish, pickled fish, bull pizzle, and cassava. Traditionally, the dish is served with side dishes of dumplings or baked breadfruit. (Full article...)

• ... that CBS executive Laurence Tisch found out on a tennis court in the U.S. Virgin Islands that rival network NBC had bought his company's affiliate station in Miami?
• ... that an island vindicated James Cook?
• ... that when MT Petar Hektorović was temporarily reassigned, one resident of Vis wrote an online memorial to the ship, writing "the bay of Vis grieve for you"?
• ... that it took the King of Italy 22 years to decide whether France or Mexico owned Clipperton Island?
• ... that the flightless suliforme Klallamornis likely went extinct when the volcanic islands it used for shelter along the coast of the Pacific Northwest eroded away into the Pacific Ocean?
• ... that a committee of Chinese compatriots of all circles from Hong Kong Island and Kowloon struggled against what they viewed as persecution by the British authorities in Hong Kong?