Portal:Islands

The Spratly Islands (Filipino: Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; Mandarin Chinese: 南沙群島/南沙群岛; pinyin: Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay: Kepulauan Spratly; Vietnamese: Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed of islands, islets, cays, and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atolls, the archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia, and southern Vietnam. Named after the 19th-century British whaling captain Richard Spratly who sighted Spratly Island in 1843, the islands contain less than 200 ha (2 km²) of naturally occurring land area that is spread over hundreds of square km of the South China Sea.

The Spratly Islands are one of the major archipelagos in the South China Sea which complicate governance and economics in this part of Southeast Asia due to their location in strategic shipping lanes. The islands are largely uninhabited, but offer rich fishing grounds and may contain significant oil and natural gas reserves, and as such are important to the claimants in their attempts to establish international boundaries. Some of the islands have civilian settlements, but of the approximately 45 islands, cays, reefs and shoals that are occupied, all contain structures that are occupied by military forces from Malaysia, China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC), the Philippines, and Vietnam. Additionally, Brunei has claimed an exclusive economic zone in the southeastern part of the Spratly Islands, which includes the uninhabited Louisa Reef. (Full article...)

Puerto Rican cuisine consists of the cooking style and traditional dishes original to Puerto Rico. It has been primarily a fusion influenced by the ancestors of the Puerto Rican people: the indigenous Taínos, Spanish Criollos and sub-Saharan African slaves. As a territory of the United States, the culinary scene of Puerto Rico has also been moderately influenced by American cuisine. (Full article...)

• ... that Bridgeman Island was the first volcano in Antarctica to be seen erupting?
• ... that the bridge on the R565 road to Valentia Island was opened twice?
• ... that Celia Kaye won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer in 1965 for her starring role in Island of the Blue Dolphins?
• ... that during the late 1700s, Cheshire Hall Plantation was the largest house and estate on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands?
• ... that Chadd Cumberbatch, a Montserratian poet and playwright, wrote a play called 1768 to tell the story of the island's St Patrick's Day slave rebellion?
• ... that because the capital of The Gambia is on a small island, its population has overflowed into Serekunda in the nearby municipality of Kanifing?