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{{Short description|Fictional flying island}}
:''For the Hayao Miyazaki anime film, see ].
{{otheruses}} {{other uses}}
{{Primary sources|date=May 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox fictional location
| name = Laputa
| image = Laputa map.gif
| imagesize = 300px
| caption = Map of Laputa and Balnibarbi (original map, Pt III, ''Gulliver's Travels'')
| source = ]
⚫ | creator = ]
| genre = Satire
| type = ]
| locations =
| people = King
}}
])]]
]


'''Laputa''' {{IPAc-en|l|ə|ˈ|p|uː|t|ə|}} is a ] described in the 1726 book '']'' by ].{{sfn|Williams|1968}} It is about 4½ Miles (ca. 7¼ km) in diameter, with an ]ine base, which its inhabitants can manoeuvre in any direction using ]. The island is the home of the king of ] and his court, and is used by the king to enforce his rule over the lands below.
'''Laputa''' is a ] from the book
⚫ '']'' by ].


==Location==
Laputa is a ] or rock with an ]ine base, that can be manoeuvred by its inhabitants in any direction using ]. The population of the island mainly consists of educated people, who are fond of ], ], ] and ], but fail to make practical use of their knowledge (the rest are their servants). They had mastered magnetic levitation and discovered the two ] of ] (something which would not be discovered in reality for another 150 years), but couldn't construct well-designed clothing or buildings - reason for this being that measurements are taken with instruments such as quadrants and a ] rather than with tapes. It is a male-dominated society; often, the wives of these men request to leave the island to visit the land below. However, these requests are almost never granted because the women never want to come back voluntarily.
Laputa was located above the realm of ], which was ruled by its king from the flying island. Gulliver states the island flew by the "magnetic virtue" of certain minerals in the grounds of Balnibarbi which did not extend to more than {{convert|4|mi|km|round=0.5|abbr=off}} above, and {{convert|6|league|km|spell=in|abbr=off}} beyond the extent of the kingdom,{{Sfn | Swift | 2008 | p = 157}} showing the limit of its range. The position of the island, and the realm below, is some five days' journey south-south-east of Gulliver's last known position, 46° N, 183° E{{Sfn | Swift | 2008 | p = 143}} (i.e. east of ], south of the ]){{Sfn | Swift | 2008 | p = 319}} down a chain of small rocky islands.{{Sfn | Swift | 2008 | p = 143}}


==Legacy==
The ground below the floating island, within the region it can travel, is also controlled by the king of Laputa. The king, being a tyrannic ruler, controls the mainland mostly by threatening to cover rebel regions with the island's shadow, thus preventing sunlight and rain. In extreme cases, the island is lowered on the cities below in order to crush them, although this has not been successful every time, notably in the case of ]. The rebelling of Lindalino against Laputa is an allegory on Ireland's revolt against England, and England's (meaning: the ] government's) violent foreign and internal politics (see ] for his political career).


* On ]'s largest ], ], there is a feature named ], ''Laputa Regio'', which is named after Swift's Laputa because of his ] of the two then undiscovered Martian moons, which his Laputan astronomers had discovered.{{sfn|USGS}}
As "la puta" means "the whore," (see ]) some Spanish editions of "Gulliver's Travels" use "Lupata" as a ]. It's very likely, given Swift's way of satire, that he was well aware of the Spanish meaning (Gulliver himself claimed Spanish among the many languages in which he was fluent). Some find a parallel with ]'s famous quote ''"That great whore, Reason"'', given Laputians' extreme fondness of reason. However, that Swift's intention was to mock the so-called "Age of Reason" is not without doubt, given the story-teller's great admiration of ]s for their rational thinking.


* The 1986 Japanese ] fantasy film '']'', directed by ], derives its name and basic premise from Swift's novel.{{sfnm|1a1=Miyazaki|1y=2009|1p=252|2a1=Napier|2y=2018|2p=88}}
==Influence on contemporary work==
Laputa, as some of Swift's other inventions, was the inspiration and basis for several other works; this may be due to the universally appealing nature of the concept of a land floating in sky, or the popular stereotyping of intellectuals as an otherworldly culture.


* In the 1964 comedy film '']'', the primary target for the ] bomber crew is given as "the ] complex at Laputa".
Works based on Laputa include:

* In the September 16, 1916 issue of '']'', ] compared the ] dirigibles then bombing London with "the flying island of Laputa."
== References ==
* The fictional internet state ''Free Republic of Laputa'' claims to be the legal successor of Swift's Laputa.

* '']'', an ] by ] which features a floating city with the same name.
=== Citations ===
* The "Laputa Missile Complex", the target of the bomb crew in ]'s 1964 ] '']''.

* A model of ] ] car, apparently so-named because of its off-road driving performance.
{{reflist}}
* Also in the computer game UFO:Aftershock, Laputa is the mothership which is at the size of a small city, in orbit of Earth.

* In the computer game '']'', the phrase "Laputan machine" is a "killphrase" that can be used against cybernetically enhanced agent ], intended for use if he were to go rogue.
=== Sources ===

* <!-- Miyazaki 2009 --> {{Cite book |title=Starting Point: 1979–1996 |last=Miyazaki |first=Hayao |authorlink=Hayao Miyazaki |publisher=] |year=2009 |orig-year=1996 |isbn=978-1-4215-6104-2}}
* <!-- Napier 2018 --> {{Cite book |title=] |last=Napier |first=Susan J. |authorlink=Susan J. Napier |publisher=] |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-300-22685-0}}
* <!-- Swift 2008 --> {{cite book | first = Jonathan | last = Swift |author-link=Jonathan Swift | title = ] | series = Oxford World Classics | edition = reprint | year = 2008 |orig-year=1726 | others = introduction by Claude Rawson, explanatory notes by Ian Higgins}}{{ISBN needed}}
* <!-- Williams 1968 --> {{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Kathleen |editor1-last=Brady |editor1-first=Frank |title=Twentieth Century Interpretations of Gulliver's Travels: A Collection of Critical Essays |date=1968 |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=9780133715675 |pages=60 & ff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jN8IAQAAIAAJ&q=swift+laputa+essay |chapter=Gulliver in Laputa}}
* <!-- USGS --> {{cite web |url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/14868 |title=''Laputa Regio'' |website= Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |publisher=] |access-date=29 May 2024 |ref={{harvid|USGS}} }}

== Further reading ==

* {{cite book | last1 = Page | first1 = Michael | last2 = Ingpen | first2 = Robert | author-link2 = Robert Ingpen | title = ] | publisher = Penguin Studio | location = New York | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-14-010008-3 | pages = 94, 150–1}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{NIE Poster}}
* at ]
* * at ]
*


{{Gulliver's Travels}}
⚫ ]
⚫ ]


]
]
⚫ ]
]
]
]
⚫ ]
]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 19:14, 10 December 2024

Fictional flying island For other uses, see Laputa (disambiguation).
This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources.
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Laputa
Gulliver's Travels location
Map of Laputa and Balnibarbi (original map, Pt III, Gulliver's Travels)
Created byJonathan Swift
GenreSatire
In-universe information
TypeFlying island
CharactersKing
Gulliver discovers Laputa, the flying island (illustration by J. J. Grandville)
The Queen of Laputa, from a French edition of Gulliver's Travels (1850s)

Laputa /ləˈpuːtə/ is a flying island described in the 1726 book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. It is about 4½ Miles (ca. 7¼ km) in diameter, with an adamantine base, which its inhabitants can manoeuvre in any direction using magnetic levitation. The island is the home of the king of Balnibarbi and his court, and is used by the king to enforce his rule over the lands below.

Location

Laputa was located above the realm of Balnibarbi, which was ruled by its king from the flying island. Gulliver states the island flew by the "magnetic virtue" of certain minerals in the grounds of Balnibarbi which did not extend to more than 4 miles (6.5 kilometres) above, and six leagues (29 kilometres) beyond the extent of the kingdom, showing the limit of its range. The position of the island, and the realm below, is some five days' journey south-south-east of Gulliver's last known position, 46° N, 183° E (i.e. east of Japan, south of the Aleutian Islands) down a chain of small rocky islands.

Legacy

  • On Mars's largest moon, Phobos, there is a feature named regio, Laputa Regio, which is named after Swift's Laputa because of his 'prediction' of the two then undiscovered Martian moons, which his Laputan astronomers had discovered.
  • In the 1964 comedy film Dr. Strangelove, the primary target for the B-52 bomber crew is given as "the ICBM complex at Laputa".

References

Citations

  1. Williams 1968.
  2. Swift 2008, p. 157.
  3. ^ Swift 2008, p. 143.
  4. Swift 2008, p. 319.
  5. USGS.
  6. Miyazaki 2009, p. 252; Napier 2018, p. 88.

Sources

Further reading

External links

Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726)
Characters
Locations
Other characters
Films
Television
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