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Also known as the Battleship Island because of its shape, Gukan-jima is one of the 505 uninhabited islands of the Nagasaki Prefecture.

In 1810, coal was discovered in the area and immeditely became a seat of industrialization. In 1890, Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha bought the whole island and began coal mining, even reclaiming lands which tripled the total land area of the island. Starting in the 1930s until the end of World War II, workers and prisoners-of-wars were forced to do labor in the island, in very harsh conditions which led to the death of thousands of people.

In the 1960s, petroleum started replacing coal in the world market and thus the island eventually shut down.

Photo by Flickr user: kntrty http://www.flickr.com/photos/kntrty/. Licensed under Creative Commons. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

Tags: gunkan jima, battleship island, nagasaki prefecture, mitsubishi goshi kaisha, world war ii, coal mining, petroleum, world market