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Geography
The Isle of Man is part of the British Isles, an archipelago off the north-western coast of mainland Europe. The island lies in the Irish Sea, approximately equidistant between England, Scotland and Ireland. Approximately 48 kilometres (32 miles) long and between 13 and 24 kilometres (8 and 15 miles) wide, the island has an area of around 572 km² (221 square miles). Hills in the north and south are bisected by a central valley. The extreme north is exceptionally flat, consisting mainly of deposits built up by deposition from glacial advances from Western Scotland during colder times. There are more recently deposited shingle beaches at the Point of Ayre. It has only one mountain higher than 2,000 feet, Snaefell, with a height of 621 metres (2,036 ft). According to an old saying, from the summit one can see six kingdoms: those of Mann, Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, and Heaven ,, . Some versions add a seventh kingdom, that of Neptune or the Sea , .
PeopleAccording to the 2001 census, the Isle of Man is home to 76,315 people, of whom around 25,347 reside in the Island's capital, Douglas (Doolish). This gives the island a population density of 133 per square kilometre, or 345 people per square mile.
Culture
The culture of the Isle of Man is strongly influenced by its Celtic and Norse origins. Manx is closely related to the Scottish Gaelic and Irish languages. By the middle of the 20th century only a few elderly native speakers remained (the last of them, Ned Maddrell, died on December 27, 1974), but by then a scholarly revival had begun to spread to the populace and many had learned Manx as a second language. The first native speakers of Manx (bilingual with English) in many years have now appeared: children brought up by Manx-speaking parents. Primary immersion education in Manx is provided by the Manx government: since 2003, the former St. John's School building has been used by the Bunscoill Gaelgagh (Manx language-medium school). Degrees in Manx are available from the Isle of Man College, the Centre for Manx Studies and the University of Edinburgh. Manx-language playgroups also exist, and Manx language classes are available in island schools. In the 1991 census, 1,689 out of a population of about 71,000 claimed to have knowledge of Manx, although the degree of knowledge in these cases presumably varied. It is currently enjoying a revival of the Gaelic Manx language (Gaelg).
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