Laputa

2025-10-03T14:21:13Z

2603:6012:600:61B6:ADCE:1960:63A9:E5B0: Expands on another cultural reference to Laputa, pulled from a different Wikipedia article. Also organized "Legacy" section.

{{Short description|Fictional flying island}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use Hiberno-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 = [[Gulliver's Travels]]
| creator = [[Jonathan Swift]]
| genre = Satire
| type = [[Flying island]]
| locations =
| people = King
}}
[[File:Wiki_Loves_Jules_Verne_Swift_Gullivers_Reisen_Gelehrteninsel_Laputa_1839_(Gerd_Kueveler).jpg|thumb|right|Gulliver discovers Laputa, the flying island (illustration by [[J. J. Grandville]])]]
[[File:Willmann, Colin, & Outhwaite, the Queen of Laputa, cph.3b18906.jpg|thumb|right|The Queen of Laputa, from a French edition of ''Gulliver's Travels'' (1850s)]]

'''Laputa''' {{IPAc-en|l|ə|ˈ|p|uː|t|ə|}} is a [[Floating cities and islands in fiction|flying island]] described in the 1726 book ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' by [[Jonathan Swift]].{{sfn|Williams|1968}} It is about 4½ miles (7¼{{nbsp}}km) in diameter, with an [[adamant]]ine 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 {{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 [[Japan]], south of the [[Aleutian Islands]]){{Sfn | Swift | 2008 | p = 319}} down a chain of small rocky islands.{{Sfn | Swift | 2008 | p = 143}}

==In foreign languages==
In Spanish translations of Gulliver's Travels, "Laputa" was renamed as "Lupata", "Laput", "Lapuda", and so on, to avoid similarities with the vulgar phrase "la puta" ("the whore").

==Legacy==

* On [[Mars]]'s largest [[Natural satellite|moon]], [[Phobos (moon)|Phobos]], there is a [[Planetary geology#Regio (astronomy)|regio]], ''Laputa Regio'', which is named after Swift's Laputa because of his [[Moons of Mars#Early speculation|'prediction']] of the two then undiscovered Martian moons, which his Laputan astronomers had discovered.{{sfn|USGS}}

* In the 1964 comedy film ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'', the primary target for the [[B-52]] bomber crew is given as "the [[ICBM]] complex at Laputa".

* The 1986 Japanese [[anime|animated]] fantasy film ''[[Castle in the Sky]]'', directed by [[Hayao Miyazaki]], derives its name and basic premise from Swift's novel.{{sfnm|1a1=Miyazaki|1y=2009|1p=252|2a1=Napier|2y=2018|2p=88}}

* From 1999 to 2006 in Japan, [[Mazda]] sold the Mazda Laputa, a [[Rebadging|Rebadged]] version of the [[Suzuki Kei]].

== References ==

=== Citations ===

{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===

*  {{Cite book |title=Starting Point: 1979–1996 |last=Miyazaki |first=Hayao |authorlink=Hayao Miyazaki |publisher=[[Viz Media]] |year=2009 |orig-year=1996 |isbn=978-1-4215-6104-2}}
*  {{Cite book |title=[[Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art]] |last=Napier |first=Susan J. |authorlink=Susan J. Napier |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-300-22685-0}}
*  {{cite book | first = Jonathan | last = Swift |author-link=Jonathan Swift | title = [[Gulliver's Travels]] | series = Oxford World Classics | edition = reprint | year = 2008 |orig-year=1726 | others = introduction by Claude Rawson, explanatory notes by Ian Higgins}}{{ISBN needed}}
*  {{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}}
*  {{cite web |url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/14868 |title=''Laputa Regio'' |website= Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |publisher=[[USGS]] |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 = [[Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were]] | publisher = Penguin Studio | location = New York | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-14-010008-3 | pages = 94, 150–1}}

==External links==
{{NIE Poster}}
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/829 ''Gulliver's Travels''] at [[Project Gutenberg]]

{{Gulliver's Travels}}

[[Category:Fictional elements introduced in 1726]]
[[Category:Fictional Asian countries]]
[[Category:Fictional city-states]]
[[Category:Fictional islands]]
[[Category:Gulliver's Travels locations]]
[[Category:Magnetic levitation]]
[[Category:Fictional aircraft]]
[[Category:Fictional floating islands]]

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