floating space
Introduction
Floating island is a type of insular territory with solid ground that is characterized by being suspended on the surface of the aquatic environment that contains it, without contacting its bed, as it is separated from it by free water. Generally their formation is the result of natural processes, however there are also artificially created ones.
Generalities
Historical references
Since ancient times, the Greeks and Romans paid attention to floating islands, marveling at the absurdity of their existence and speculating about their formation and the reasons for their buoyancy.[1] In 1665, the Jesuit naturalist and philosopher Atanasius Kircher published his writings on floating islands. 1741 Carlos Linnaeus published an article in "Analecta Transalpina", which he later (translated into Swedish) reproduced that same year in "Kongl. Swenska Wetenskaps Academiens Handlingar Stockholm".[1] In the second half of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, floating islands were a constant subject in biogeography analyses.
Floating islands as settings for myths and legends
Since ancient times, floating islands have aroused curiosity and wonder. The fact that they defy logic (by not sinking) plus the eventuality of their—sometimes only latent—mobility, has made them protagonists of ghostly legends and possessing mystical or supernatural qualities.[1] The possibility of being carried by the circumstantial winds, gives them a certain evocation of human lives, affected by the events that may happen, an allegory that constitutes a space as a dimension to know what is human.[1].
Floating islands in biogeography studies
To answer some biogeographic questions, the hypothesis of the transfer of propagules through floating islands of masses of vegetation that were dragged long distances driven by sea winds has been postulated, especially in the geological past, when the amplitude of the physical separation that represented the marine stretch to be overcome was much smaller than the current one.[4] This type of transfer was postulated for caviomorph rodents,[5] monkeys. platyrrhines,[6][7] nesophontes[8] benthic marine gastropods, etc.[9] In a simpler way, floating islands allow the transfer of faunal specimens from one side of a large lake to the opposite side.[10].