Five Islands of South Asia

What does South Asia include?

Well, it is basically what used to be called the Indian Sub-Continent, comprising Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. However, it is nowadays referred to as South Asia because, to Pakistan and Bangladesh in particular, the term Indian is derogatory in that it harps back to India's dominance in the region during the era of the British Empire. But that's an issue to be discussed in a different blog, one that somebody with more knowledge on the subject than myself can make at some point, sometime in the future.

Other sources include Iran, Myanmar and the Chinese region of Tibet into the mix.

Since including Iran suits my research, I shall be including it in this blog. Myanmar, I will incorporate into the next edition hopefully.

Anyways, onwards and upwards, as the saying goes, and onto our first island...

Hormuz Island is, strangely enough, located in the Straits of Hormuz. (Who'd have thought it, eh). It is just five miles or eight kilometres off the coast of Iran and is part of the Hormozgan Province.

There is evidence that Hormuz was first settled over 40,000 years ago, and the island was known to the ancient Greeks as Organa. It was named Hormuz Island from the port of Hormuz along the coast that was a small principality in around 1300, when the leader moved his residence there to avoid conflict with Mongolian and Turkish invaders. However, since all supplies had to be brought from the mainland, including water, the site was not ideal, but continued to be a major port for several centuries.

There are a few attractions on Hormuz including beaches, a mangrove forest and a small museum  as well as the aforementioned fortress.

The islands are reachable by ferry from either Bandar Abbas or Qeshm, both journeys taking around 45 minutes.

This blog describes a trip to Hormuz, although it was written in 2018 so some of the information may have changed.

Also known as Satadip or "Island of the Seven Hills", Astola is Pakistan's largest off shore island and is located to the Southeast of the fishing harbour of Pasni. It is uninhabited apart from being a base for fishermen at certain times of the year.

The earliest mention of the island was in 325BC in an account of Alexander the Great's exploration by one of his admirals to the area. The sailors apparently were "frightened at the weird tales told about an uninhabited island" . 

The government of Pakistan declared the island a Marine Protected Area, the country's first, in 2017.

There are only two permanent structures on the island, a lighthouse built in 1982, and a small mosque used by visiting fisherman during the fishing season.

The island's isolation and lack of habitants has created a haven for wildlife. Turtles are known to nest on the beaches and a large number of seabirds use the island. There are also reptiles including the Astola Viper. There are no trees, although a few shrubs do survive in the arid landscape. There is  freshwater source on the island.

The island can be visited by boat from the harbour at Pasni. The journey takes around five hours.

This Amusing Planet website entry has some nice photographs of the island.

Situated in the Arabian Sea just off India's east coast and just south of the Goa region, Anjediva was visited by Vasco de Gama in 1498, when it was claimed as territory of Portugal. The Portuguese residency began in 1505 with the building of a fortress, although this was destroyed just seven months later.

Anjediva served as the launchpad for the Afonso de Albuquerque attack, on Goa in 1510. After this date the island was more or less uninhabited until the English settled there in 1661, although ships and their crews did shelter on the island from during the monsoon seasons. When the British departed in 1665, the Portuguese returned building several defensive forts.

By 1954, relations between India and Portugal were starting to deteriorate and a large military presence was stationed on the island. Towards the end of 1961, an Indian passenger ship was fired upon from the island killing a passenger and contributing to the start of Operation Vijay, that eventually ended Portuguese rule Goa.

The island became part of the Karwar Naval Base in 1991, and a causeway was constructed making the island accessible by road. However, this meant that public access is severely restricted and permission is rarely given to the island, although the church can be visited via the causeway at certain times.

Lying off the north west coast of the island of Sri Lanka, Mannar Island is at the eastern end of Adam's Bridge, a line of limestone islets and ridges that was once a land bridge between Sri Lanka and India.

The name Mannar comes from the Tamil language and means "Raised place of sand" and obviously refers to the geology of the island.

The island features baobab trees which were brought from Africa by Arabian merchants many centuries ago. The island is also on a migratory route for many birds. There is a protected area of wetlands on the nearby mainland.

The Mannar Line railway (see photo above right) was built as part of a plan to build a bridge across the Palk Strait to India. The bridge was first proposed as far back as 1894 and studies were conducted to evaluate the idea. Railways were built on both sides of the channel, but the bridge was never constructed. Instead a ferry ran between the two terminals from 1914 until 1964 when a cyclone destroyed the Indian town and port with the loss of around 1800 lives.

A new bridge was proposed in 2015 linking the two nations.

The island can be accessed by road or rail from mainland Sri Lanka via individual bridges.

The Sri Lankan Tourist Website has photos and details of places to visit.

This island marks the southernmost point of Bangladesh. It was originally part of the Teknaf Peninsula but this was destroyed many centuries, if not millennia, ago. It lies almost equidistant from the nearest points of Bangladesh and Myanmar (formerly Burma), and as such is the subject of many disputes about ownership of the island.

The first inhabitants of the island were Arabian merchants in the 18th century and then during the British Raj era the island was named after the Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong, a Mr. Martin. There are local names for the island including Narikel Jinjira which means "Coconut Island" and Daruchini Dwip which means "Cinnamon Island".

Most of the population of around 3,700 people live in the 9 villages on the island, mostly situated in the north. The staple industry is fishing, however, tourism is increasing with some hotels and a resort being recently built. There are coral reefs and a wide variety of flora and fauna on the island and part of the coast was declared a protected area in 2022.

There are occasionally disputes with Myanmar and several fishermen have been shot and killed by the Burmese Navy. With the further hazard of pirates in the Bay of Bengal, and badly maintained vessels, fishing is a dangerous occupation.

The only way to visit the island is by boat. Several companies run services from Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Teknaf. As you can see from the above picture, these ships are often dangerously overloaded.

This YouTube video has some nice shots of the island and it's lifestyle (with the usual YT adverts that seem to blight every single clip...sorry, pet-hate of mine).

In the next blog, we will exploring Indochina. I hope to finish this one within the month, but we shall see. Bye for now fellow bloggers!