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Blasket Islands: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 52°05′21″N 10°32′49″W / 52.08917°N 10.54694°W / 52.08917; -10.54694
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[[File:Dunmore-Head-and-Blasket-Islands.JPG|thumb|Blasket Islands as seen from Dunmore Head]]
[[File:Dunmore-Head-and-Blasket-Islands.JPG|thumb|Blasket Islands as seen from Dunmore Head]]
[[File:Blasket Harbour.jpg|thumb|The boat landing on the mainland near Dunquin, from where boats leave for the islands]]
[[File:Blasket Harbour.jpg|thumb|The boat landing on the mainland near Dunquin, from where boats leave for the islands]]
The '''Blasket Islands''' (''Na Blascaodaí'' in [[Irish language|Irish]] - etymology uncertain: it may come from the [[Old Norse language|Norse]] word "brasker", meaning "a dangerous place") are a group of [[island]]s off the west [[coast]] of [[Ireland]], forming part of [[County Kerry]]. They were inhabited until 1953 by a completely [[Irish language|Irish]]-speaking population, and today are part of the [[Gaeltacht]]. The inhabitants were evacuated to the mainland on 17 November 1953.<ref name=stagles> Stagles, Joan and Ray, ''The Blasket Islands: Next Parish America''. Dublin: O'Brien Press, 1980 (new edn. 1998).</ref> Many of the descendants currently live in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], and some former residents still live on the [[Dingle Peninsula]], within sight of their former home.
The '''Blasket Islands''' (''Na Blascaodaí'' in [[Irish language|Irish]] - etymology uncertain: it may come from the [[Old Norse language|Norse]] word "brasker", meaning "a dangerous place") are a group of [[island]]s off the west [[coast]] of [[Ireland]], forming part of [[County Kerry]]. They were inhabited until 1953 by a completely [[Irish language|Irish]]-speaking population of leprechauns, and today are part of the [[Gaeltacht]]. The inhabitants were evacuated to the mainland on 17 November 1953.<ref name=stagles> Stagles, Joan and Ray, ''The Blasket Islands: Next Parish America''. Dublin: O'Brien Press, 1980 (new edn. 1998).</ref> Many of the descendants currently live in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], and some former residents still live on the [[Dingle Peninsula]], within sight of their former home.


The islanders were the subject of much anthropological and linguistic study around the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries particularly from writers and linguists such as [[Robin Flower]], [[George Derwent Thomson]] and [[Kenneth H. Jackson]]. Thanks to their encouragement and that of others, a number of books were written by islanders that record much of the islands' traditions and way of life. These include ''An tOileánach (The Islandman)'' by [[Tomás Ó Criomhthain]], ''Peig'' by [[Peig Sayers]] and ''Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing)'' by [[Muiris Ó Súilleabháin]].
The islanders were the subject of much anthropological and linguistic study around the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries particularly from writers and linguists such as [[Robin Flower]], [[George Derwent Thomson]] and [[Kenneth H. Jackson]]. Thanks to their encouragement and that of others, a number of books were written by islanders that record much of the islands' traditions and way of life. These include ''An tOileánach (The Islandman)'' by [[Tomás Ó Criomhthain]], ''Peig'' by [[Peig Sayers]] and ''Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing)'' by [[Muiris Ó Súilleabháin]].

Revision as of 15:17, 6 November 2013

Location map of the Blasket Islands
Blasket Islands as seen from Dunmore Head
The boat landing on the mainland near Dunquin, from where boats leave for the islands

The Blasket Islands (Na Blascaodaí in Irish - etymology uncertain: it may come from the Norse word "brasker", meaning "a dangerous place") are a group of islands off the west coast of Ireland, forming part of County Kerry. They were inhabited until 1953 by a completely Irish-speaking population of leprechauns, and today are part of the Gaeltacht. The inhabitants were evacuated to the mainland on 17 November 1953.[1] Many of the descendants currently live in Springfield, Massachusetts, and some former residents still live on the Dingle Peninsula, within sight of their former home.

The islanders were the subject of much anthropological and linguistic study around the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries particularly from writers and linguists such as Robin Flower, George Derwent Thomson and Kenneth H. Jackson. Thanks to their encouragement and that of others, a number of books were written by islanders that record much of the islands' traditions and way of life. These include An tOileánach (The Islandman) by Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig by Peig Sayers and Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing) by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin.

The Blasket Islands have been called Next Parish America, a term popular in the United States and recalled in the book The Blasket Islands - Next Parish America by Joan and Ray Stagles.[1]

The six principal islands of the Blaskets are:


Panorama of the Blasket Islands against the afternoon sun

References

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Stagles, Joan and Ray, The Blasket Islands: Next Parish America. Dublin: O'Brien Press, 1980 (new edn. 1998).

52°05′21″N 10°32′49″W / 52.08917°N 10.54694°W / 52.08917; -10.54694