Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Curious and fascninating tale of Tromelin island. What other obscure places do YOU know of that have strange and crazy stories?

That is an insane story…. Crazy that anyone could survive that long in such conditions. Brackish water, random small animals, cyclones, minimal cover/shelter….

It’s incredible that people can survive in such a tiny island for 15 years without supply.

I love how he always takes into consideration the absolute most remote little islands and exposes their true glory, that takes dedication

"its a story that was lost in time, but not quite" Glad you spread the word of these stories, appreciate the storytelling

Well done to all those shipwrecked people who managed to survived all that. Thanks for telling us the book you took those pictures from too.

No way, Tromelin! I remember working with you on the France episode all these years ago and recounting the tragic story of the _naufragés de l'Utile_ when you asked about French overseas... Glad to see it has its own video now and that more people can be aware of what happened on this remote island. Hopefully we get more videos like this on these almost-forgotten stories!

What a fascinating but sad story. I'm surprised there were any survivors at all. I can only imagine what they went through. Would love more videos like these. On a lighter note, the urge to terraform that island Sim City style is strong.🤓

I'll be upset and crying when he finally covers Zimbawe. It's been a long and amazing journey! 💓

Another interesting place is Sweden Hills in Tōbetsu, Hokkaido, Japan. Its a village built up to look like a stereotypical Swedish village with red painted wood houses and all. The people who live there are of course Japanese but they still maintain some Swedish tradition like Midsummer and Kräftskiva (crayfish party). The idea came about in the 80s when the Swedish foreign minister visited and remarked how the environment and nature of Hokkaido was very similar to his native land Sweden

If you want another story I read about a really interesting (and gruesome) tale of Henderson Island which is now part of the British Pitcairn Islands. Essentially a whaler ship "The Essex" were hit by a whale. The captain decided to make their way back to South America although Tahiti was much closer but they thought there were cannibals there... They stopped off at the unpopulated Henderson Island not knowing that the Pitcairn Island close by was inhabited by descendants of Pirates (thats another story) who could have helped them. Some crew members stayed on the Henderson Island and were rescued later but as for the people who chose to sail back to South America... Food quickly ran out and the crew members had to resort to eating the people who did not survive. Eventually, they had to vote to choose who gets scarified for food... Eventually the survivors were found off the coast of Chile gnawing on their crewmates bones. A bit of a crazy story, right?

Thank you for sharing this story of Tromelin Island. As a Mauritian, it makes me happy to hear you talk about Mauritius, especially since most of the world does not know about our existence. Make a video about Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago next please. It would mean the world to me if your platform shared the oppression that chagossiens faced in the hands of the Americans and British and how the USA has blatantly refused to comply to UN propositions about returning the island. Thank you :)

I'm literally a Bulgarian - awesome T-shirt! ❤One of the most interesting YT channels. Keep up the great work! 👍

Henderson Island in the south Pacific is a really interesting story, where it was once inhabited by Polynesians before their society collapsed and they disappeared. Such an isolated, unknown place, its crazy to think of what a collapsing society in the middle of nowhere must have been like.

Tristan da Cunha. Might not be a bizzare story but it's fascinating that the place has an actual permanent population given that it is basically a volcano in the emptiness in the middle of nowhere with bad weather, crappy terrain, few resources and really, really limited access.

Videos like this would be an amazing next series. I’d watch the crap out of vids about the history of isolated places I’ve never heard of.

You should definitely make more videos on these kinds of things cause this story was pretty cool

Would love to see more of these islands! Like Bouvet, Desolation Islands, Svalbard, North Sentinel, all those remote with few stories. Makes them so mysterious.

Wow this is fascinating! Can't wait for the UK episode

Other interesting places? Well, in southern Ukraine, Kherson Oblast, there was the village of Gammalsvenskby (meaning ”Old Swedish Village” in Swedish) which was founded by Estonian Swedes after they where deported from Hiiumaa island in Estonia (formerly part of Sweden) by the new ruler Catherine the Great of Russia. It is now part of the village Zmiivka and some of the old people who live there still speak Swedish.

Barby you gotta do a story on the Shipwreck of the Batavia off of the Western Australian coast. Its an insane story of a Dutch shipwreck in the early 1600s off the Australian coast, full of mutineers, massacres, survival, and brutalist behaviour. It's dark, but incredibly fascinating

If you want an obscure and fascinating island story: You should do a video about Beaver Island in Lake Michigan and it’s self proclaimed Mormon pirate king James Streng.

Good programming. Here's an idea: Bouvet Island - most isolated land on earth. It's the second most valuable contact for ham radio people after North Korea (where you can be executed for having a radio) A few months ago there was a "DXpedition" - a boatload of ham radio guys went there so people all over the earth could contact them.

Clipperton island has somewhat similar story but far more gruesome.

On the topic of remote islands with strange, unsettling history, Clipperton Island is also worth investigating

Isola Ferdinandea aka Graham Island aka Ile Julia, a submerged volcano located just south of Sicily, that sometimes has emerged as an island, and if it's ever appears again it could lead to a conflict between Italy, France, UK and possibly Spain over its sovereignity.

This is content I love, please more Island one's. Love from NZ

There is an unhabbited island in scotish territory called St. Kilda. it has a very interesting story behind it. I'll be happy if you make a video about it.

What a fascinating story! I've never heard it before. Thanks for sharing it with us

All those remote or not well known islands or archipelagos I bet they have an interesting story: Kerguelen, Montserrat, Chagos, Tristan da Cunha, St.Helena, Ascension, Wallis and Futuna, Diego Garcia, Guadalupe, Christmas, Auckland, Campbell, Coco, Norfolk, Howard, Baker, Palmyra, Austral, South Georgia, Crozet, South Sandwich, Svalbard, Wrangel, Lyakhovski, Severnaya, Novaya and so on.

Great, informative video. I am not sure if you'll remember me, but I am the guy from Chad who sent you the letter and t-shirt when I was still living in the United States. Fun fact: I am living in Madagascar now. Out of all the places you could have chosen, you chose to talk about Madagascar and its neighbors. Coincidence or providence...

Bouvet island would be another good one to cover

The history of Clipperton island is also interesting when mexico sent people there but forgot them because of the Mexican revolution after that mexico gave up and France took it

wow. this is an amazing story. thank you!

If someone should do it, it must be you. Can you do a history video about Nova Zembla? I'd love to hear you talk about that remote island

Damn, there is a comic about this, and it has fairly decent quality as well! Well played, Sylvain Savoia.

when I'm stressed at work, I open google maps and look up Oeno Island in the Pitcairn islands. It looks really nice, it's remote as hell, and I learned about it from a book detailing its inhabitants' hypothetical symbiotic resource exchange with the two nearest islands which are still ridiculously far away. The whole thing is ridicuously interesting.

There’s another story of a remote island, called Hans Island, that was a subject of a territorial dispute between Denmark and Canada. It was deemed the “Whisky War” and it lasted 24 years. It only ended recently because of the onset Russia/Ukraine conflict and Denmark and Canada admitting that their own territorial dispute over a small, worthless island was rather pointless.

I think you should definitely take a look at Hans Island, which is a small island that was disputed between Canada and Demark for decades until they finally signed a treaty in 2022, giving Canada a border with Greenland/Denmark. Natives used to sail there and raise flags and sometimes get into small clashes with alcohol, hence why the dispute is known as "the Whisky War"

when we talk about cast away incidents most people will think about the past (age of sail) but they can become common once again as humanity explores outer space just in a totally different style

I totally thought you were going to talk about Pitcairn or Tristan da Cunha 😅 Now I know about a new place!

I’ve gotten into your show in 2019, and I was looking up information and history on Finland and stumbled upon your KZfaq channel. I’ve been addicted ever since. Well, you have 10 episodes left. Do you have anything planned after that? Will you expand on your earliest videos? When my son gets of age, I want him to watch your videos so that he can learn his Geography. I learn so much from you. Thank you for your channel! Please keep going!!!!! 😁

Regards from Tunisia 🇹🇳

Crazy how anyone could survive 15 years

I had always been interested in these little islands when seeing them on Google Maps... but little did I know about the very interesting story behind it!! I did definitely learn a lot.

Stories like this are proof that nothing is as powerful as the human determination to survive

You could do Gruinard Island, the island that was used for anthrax testing in 1942, and wasn't cleaned up until 1990. It also suffered a wildfire last year.

This was the most detailed version of the story I have seen so far. Thanks!

Hey man, I've been a fan of your channel since you were still in the "C"s. This is one of my favorites. Thanks for the frankness about how you structure most of your videos.

Clipperton Island had a weird and tragic history. The lighthouse keeper went mad, proclaimed himself king, and started killing the others.

Already almost the end? Suddenly feeling sad

Do a video on the people of the Cocoa Keeling Islands

Very interesting and unbelievable story! Thanks for sharing this with us! :)

Skagway, Alaska is a small town that has a great story about the outlaw Soapy Smith. Smith was a conman who took control of the town with his gang. He even died in a shootout. Now, Skagway is a major stop for cruise ship passengers along the Alaska Panhandle route. In the winter time, the town has a population of about 1000, but triples in size during the summer cruise ship season. Kind of a cool place for a video?

Human are so resilient

When I first seen the picture to click on the video, I immideitly knew it was Tromelin Island, so I wanted to view this video. Tromelin is famous in the amatuer radio community as it is counted as it's own DXCC country. Also, the people who try to visit all countries in the world "worlds most travelled people" go there. Thank you for a good video.

What do you say about a video about all creepy and haunted sights in Romania? That could be also an oportunity for you the visit the country.

This is fantastic you need more of these story videos i learned a lot

Can't wait for the US episode!!!

I enjoyed this. 5:16 Very minor erratum: the Marquis de Condorcet didn't die until 1794, not 1791 as depicted in the video. This caused me some confusion as I thought I knew whom you were referring to, but a death in 1791 wouldn't have aligned with who I thought he was due to his role during the French Revolution. You were referring to the same guy. I had never heard of this island or Condorcet's relationship with it, but it made sense based on what I did know. Anyway, the Marquis de Condorcet is a fascinating man and had a great wife.

Thank you very much publishing this

Pitcrain Island or even Norfolk Island and it’s descendants

Strange and sad. It really took that long to do something about them. Also I love how Barbs is relishing the French pronunciation of names and things.

Can I ask you a question. Will there ever be a Taiwan episode ? .Ps love your channel ❤🌏

My French partner just went through the entire interview process to work there for 3 months and we just learned about this story 😅

That's crazy!! I have no worries that you'll have years worth of cool content ahead once you finish the A-Z countries

The shirt with the first Bulgarian language is amazing

Make one about Bouvet Island!

Loved this video! Would love to see more like it!

I've seen the history of this island before, it is just so incredible that those people survived in that small island without almost any supplies.

St. Helena in the Atlantic has always seemed interesting. Especially because that's where Napoleon was exiled to.

I'm a visual learner too, but it's easy learning only from words. You just have to pay atention to what is told to you.

Dudeee.. this sent me on a crazy rabbit hole reading about castaway stories on Wikipedia.

Always enjoy your content. Refreshing !

Love this kind of stories

I'm Bulgarian and I just noticed your shirt thanks 🇧🇬

Wow, that was a trip! Please make more videos like this in the future ❤️

Am i the only one who thinks that this should be turned in a movie?

Rockall Island is disputed between Ireland and the UK. It's a tiny rock northwest of the porcupine bank in the NE Atlantic. People have tried to live there for a year to stake a claim from either country - I don't think anyone was successful though

I loved the video. I hope you do more videos like this.

José Salvador Alvarenga... this guy is another castaway story I love

Awesome video. This is why this is the best channel on KZfaq 🔥 🙌🏼 👏🏼

These little short videos with neat stories are great. More of these please.

Have you done Clipperton island? that's a real horror story too

Great vid!! Many thanks for the metric measurements too👍👏😀

When i saw the thumbnail, i thought it was either Baker Island, Jarvis Island or Tromelin Island (i knew it was tromelin island because it had an airport)

Ive never seen barbs so chill :P I don’t hate it

The Aland Islands, in the Baltic sea. Today, belonging to Finland and speaking a swedish dialect, due to the numerous switches between Finland and Sweden of reconquering the place over centuries back and forth. Amazingly beautiful and curious place to visit :) Please, please, PLEASE!

Barbs, you should look into the story of the Dutch ship Batavia that wrecked off the Western Australian coast in 1629 and the crazy story that followed.

Great Video ❤️ I love it 😍 I don't understand why youths and adults are still poor when they have a smart phone and great opportunities on how to make money💰

Loved the video Barbs!!! I think you should also make a video on North Sentinel Island and the people that live there

Omg pls talk about Bouvet Island. I’ve actually visited, it’s quite lovely in spring.

you gotta do one about Pitcarin island. It's far, far more isolated than this and has a similar marooned castaway backstory

Thanks B ..

it is rather odd, I found out about this place in the exact manner you described in the beginning. A fee years ago I was randomly searching around a map, decided to look up this seemingly ‘random’ and ‘isolated’ island I came across nearby Mauritius. Learned the rather condensed version of this story from a wikipedia article and how some malagasy people managed to survive. Been somewhere at the back of my mind as an interesting fact but I had until now forgot the name of the island. Guess I remember it now

Great video! You mentioned Nan Madol in your Micronesia episode, but it may be worth a short episode of its own (possibly tied in with the related Lelu ruins in neighboring Kosrae. A fascinating place few have heard of…

This channel is very worthwhile

Great story, Barbs... thanks for sharing... hope you post some more like this.

Great episode

The Houtman Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia, have a similar storey.