| Laputa | |
| Source: | Gulliver's Travels |
| Creator: | Jonathan Swift |
| Genre: | Satire |
| Type: | Flying island |
| People: | King |
Laputa 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.
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 4round=0.5NaNround=0.5 above, and 6spell=inNaNspell=in 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.
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.
The 1986 Japanese animated fantasy film, Castle in the Sky, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, derives its name and basic premise from Swift's novel.
. Starting Point: 1979–1996 . Hayao Miyazaki . . 2009 . 1996 . 978-1-4215-6104-2.
. Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art . Susan J. Napier . . 2018 . 978-0-300-22685-0.