Composed of volcanic rocks covered by a thin layer of moraine or peat soil, the islands are high and rugged with perpendicular cliffs—the highest at Mount Slaettara (Slaettaratindur; 2,894 feet [882 metres]) on Eystur Island—and flat summits separated by narrow ravines. A brief history. Tremendous growth and development was reported at Flat Islands from 1836 to 1891 (Census).
F or a long while it wasn’t clear whether the island’s Native population originated in Polynesia or South America. For a tiny island of 64 square miles, with its nearest neighbors some 1,300 miles away, it has seen more than its fair share of controversy. The island's rabbit population, introduced for farming in the 12th century, suffers from myxomatosis, which effectively contains the numbers. There are other places around the world which share an almost similar history with Flat Island such as Nelson Island, located off the coast of Trinidad in the southern Caribbean Sea, and Nukulau Island, located off the coast of Fiji in the southern Pacific Ocean. F ew places on Earth are as well-known for their so-called mysteries as Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. In 1844 it was reported that a schoolhouse was being built at Flat Island, and by 1846 this school was in operation. Its history as a populated island began in the mid-1700s, when the Spanish king ransomed a group of Italians who had been captured and were being held by Muslim pirates in another city called Tabarka, on the coast of Tunisia. Flat Holm's slow-worm population has unusually large blue markings. By 1857 Flat Islands had a population of 210 and nine of the sixteen surnames represented in the community originated in Conception Bay. Wales Online reports the island is home to a diverse range of wildlife - including slow worms, butterflies and the second largest gull population in Wales - …
By 1891 the population reached 417. The island has been grazed since 1989, initially by goats, but also by sheep since 1992. The population of Flat Islands had declined from 891 in 1901 to 666 by 1921 and 492 by 1951, mainly through outmigration, but it had remained until resettlement one of the most heavily populated island groups in Bonavista Bay. By 1869 Flat Islands had a population of 230. Tabarca Island has been inhabited sporadically since Roman times, when it was known as Isla Plana (the flat island).
The coasts are deeply indented with fjords, and the narrow passages between islands are agitated by strong tidal currents.