HASHIMA ISLAND
Hi my project is on Hashima Island also called Gunkanjima Japanese for Battleship Island. Hashima Island is a Japanese owned island 15 kilometers away from Japan. The sixteen acre island was known for its’ under sea coal mines.
HISTORY OF THE ISLAND
In 1810 coal was discovered in Hashima Island and fishermen started collecting the coal that lay on the ground by hand. In the later half of 1800’s several companies tried to mine the coal, but they couldn’t stay in operation because the severe environment around the island. In 1890 the Mitsubishi Mining Company bought the island, the company president at the time Yataro Iwasaki went to the US. and saw the modernity there and thought that coal would be an important part in modernization in Japan. Yataro’s decision had a big impact. Japanese modernization began in 1867 following the abandonment of an isolation policy that had shut off Japan from the rest of the world for more than two hundred years. As the demands for coal increased, the population of Hashima also increased.
At its peak in 1959 the population on Hashima was 5,259 people, with a population density of 216,264 people per square mile, 1 person per 1 and a half square meter. For comparison, 2011 Hong Kong has a population density of about 17,000 people per square mile. In 1974 the mines had no more coal in them so the mines were shut down and all the residents left in a hurry to get a new job, leaving it abandoned for 3 decades. In 2013 a google employee walked around the island with a google camera strapped to his back, so you can now look around Hashima Island on google maps. In 2009 the island was opened to tours and was named a world heritage site very recently in July 2015.
An Apartment Builing, Hashima Island 1930
Hashima Island Tourism
Above Hashima Island
Where Hashima Island Is
No comments:
Post a Comment