Lampedusa - Definition

The south coast of Lampedusa

Lampedusa (Isola di Lampedusa in Italian) is the largest of the Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, 205 km from Sicily and 113 km from Tunisia. Politically and administratively Lampedusa is part of Italy, but geologically it belongs to Africa since the sea between the two is no deeper than 120 meters. Lampedusa's 20km² are arid, with no sources of water other than irregular rainfall. The island's population of 5300 subsist on fishing, agriculture and tourism. During World War II, the island was quickly lost to the British Forces in Operation Corkscrew. On April 15, 1986, Libya fired two or three Scuds at the US Coast Guard navigation station on the Italian island, in retaliation for American bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi.

Coastline of Lampedusa

Recently Lampedusa has made international news as it is one of the prime transit sites for illegal immigrants seeking to enter Europe from Africa and the Middle East. Recent agreements made between the Libyan and Italian governments have seen the deportation of many illegal immigrants from Lampedusa back to Libya.

External links

BBC News – Italy Deports Island Immigrants (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3712052.stm) – Covers the changing face of immigration in 2004

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