#5 - Svalbard
An archipelago located off the northern coast of Norway, the climate here is sure to scare away most. This place is home to nearly as many Polar Bears as it is people, and residents and visitors are in fact required to carry rifles while traveling in case one of the cuddly things acquires a taste for human flesh.
In fact, this place is so remote, the Norwegian government decided to locate its "Doomsday Vault" there, filled with enough seeds to restart civilization in case something really serious goes down. Basically, they're working on the assumption that Svalbard is so far out of the way, things will still be ok there even if everything else has been totally obliterated.
Still, with a population close to 3,000 people, Svalbard is child's play compared to some in terms of isolation.
#4 - The Kerguelen Islands
The Kerguelen Islands, also known as Desolation Island, is located about midway between Africa and Antarctica. Aside from being cold and lonely, it's notable for being the only bit of land that's antipodal to any of the lower 48 United States. In other words, if you were to drill a tunnel through the center of the earth starting in the lower 48 States, this would be the only place you could get to that wasn't ocean (you'd have to start your tunnel in northern Montana, too).
With a winter population of around 70, living there full time could get pretty lonely, but there's still plenty to do! The island's economy is based mostly off of research, but you can also raise sheep, read books at the library, work out at the gym, drink in a pub, or even die horribly in a hunting accident, as one poor sap chose to do in 2000.
#3 - The Pitcairn Islands
Coming in at number three, the Pitcairn Islands prove that you don't have to go somewhere cold to be isolated. Located near Tahiti, these islands are a tropical paradise doomed to isolation due to their tiny size and a geography that limits travel to small boats. It was settled in 1790 by the mutineers of the H.M.S. Bounty and a few Tahitians they kidnapped. The current population of 48 people are their descendants.
The Pitcairn Islands were in the news briefly due to allegations of sexual abuse in the guise of forced marriages. Girls allegedly as young as 7 were married off by the command of the community's strict 7th Day Adventist leaders. Of course, rape and incest are only two of the many things that place Pitcairn culture solidly outside of the mainstream. Even today, the word "nigger" is not an insult there, but a common given name to people of African ancestry.
#2 - Alert
Alert is located in Nunavut, Canada, on the northern tip of Ellesmere island (which itself is a pretty isolated place, boasting a total population of 146). It was originally in Inuit settlement, which means that yes, people lived there before there were heaters and mass-produced long underwear.
Now, it's mostly there for the weather station and monitoring laboratory run by the Canadian government. With a permanent population of 5, that's pretty much the only reason you'd want to go there. Unless, of course, you just wanted a little time to yourself.
#1 - Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
If you really want isolation, there's no place better than Antarctica. And if you really want isolation, there's no place better in Antarctica that right smack dab on the south pole. With a year-long population of around 80, Amundsen-Scott actually has a fairly large population compared to some of the other places on this list. However, given how far away this tiny pocket of humanity is from anyone else, it still takes the cake as most isolated.
The place is so isolated that folks start to get a little stir crazy living there. Last Christmas, two men had to be airlifted out of the base due to what was described as "drunken Christmas punch-up", and what is known everywhere else as a crazy fucking party. In fact, one of the men was so injured that he had to be shipped to New Zealand. That's right, he had gotten beaten up so badly that he had to leave the continent. Just goes to show what extreme isolation can do to the mind.
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