Talk:Great Blasket Island

...the most westerly settlement in Europe??
QUOTE: Until 1953, the inhabitants of Great Blasket Island formed the most westerly settlement in Europe. UNQUOTE

This cannot possibly be the fact, as entire nation of Iceland is located west of this point. I guess what happened in 1953 was that some place in Inishvickillane was resettled? (No, the Irish government decided that it could no longer guarantee the safety of the remaining population). But Iceland, far longer to the west, have by now been settled for a 1000 years. Check this list : Extreme points of Iceland

But even farther out west - one island in the Portugese islands of Azores, Santa Cruz das Flores, has a settlement located extreme west : Fajã Grande (31° 16' 8" W) is the westernmost village in the Azores and all of Europe.

Rgds TorSch of Norwegian Wikipedia(.no). (--TorSch (talk) 13:27, 7 October 2009 (UTC))


 * I believe that the statement about the Blaskets being the most westerly settlement in Europe dates back to a period when Iceland was not commonly thought of as part of Europe. Now that Iceland may officially join the EU by 2012 (it's already part of the single market), it is far more common to see Iceland referred to as a European nation. Clevelander96 (talk) 14:50, 7 October 2009 (UTC)


 * I strongly object to explanations made that "easy". Since Iceland was populated a 1000 years ago, it was considered a Norwegian outpost until Icelanders were numerous enough, and self supported enough, to consider themselves a nation by its own. With the far later union between Denmark and Norway, Iceland was kind of pulled back into a role as a Danish colony. But since soon after WWII, Iceland has beyond doubt been a nation of Europe. (Greenland, however, was not included in that view, Greenland is considered a semi-dependent colony under Denmark, though located with the American continent). And the period when Iceland was not commonly thought of as part of Europe must have ended some hundred years before Wikipedians started writing articles.


 * What status The Azores Island should have, will not be disputed either. The islands belong to Portugal, and they are parts of Europe. And as mentioned above, Fajã Grande is the westernmost settlement in Europe. --TorSch (talk) 19:07, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Sheep
Do the sheep on the islands belong to anyone? MyIP19216811 (talk) 11:58, 11 April 2023 (UTC)