The Isle of Man #

Photo courtesy of NASA., under PD

The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. The island is not part of the UK, though the head of state is Queen Elizabeth II.

Inhabited since 6500 BC, the island was influenced by Gaelic culture, settled by the Norse, was part of Scotland, and came under the feudal overlordship of the English Crown in 1399. The islands parliament, Tynwald, is one of the oldest ruling bodies in the world, possibly dating to the 10th century.

The satellite image, acquired 1 May 2001, covers an area of about 30x50 km (19x31 mi).