Did you know that there was a tiny human-made island in New York City named after Burmese diplomat and former UN secretary-general U Thant?
The story of U Thant Island, located in the East River not far from the UN Headquarters, is not new. The island has been around since the 1890s and got its current (unofficial) name in 1977. But a new video released last week by Vox delves into some of this history and follows a playful attempt to visit the desolate island, so we think it’s worth bringing up again.
The island, less than an acre in size, was formed by rubble dug from beneath the East River to create a trolley tunnel. The island’s legal name is Belmont Island, after the project’s financier.
However, the island was leased in 1977 by UN-affiliated interfaith chaplain and meditation guru Sri Chinmoy, who erected a sign dubbing the island “U Thant Island,” after his former colleague, who had died three years earlier.
Before serving as the third secretary-general of the UN, U Thant served as an advisor to Prime Minister U Nu, a peace broker with the Karen National Union, and a secretary within Burma’s Ministry of Information. From 1957 to 1961, he was Burma’s permanent representative to the UN.
U Thant was the first non-European to lead the UN. In fact, his selection for the job was a result of him being a founding leader of the Non-Aligned Movement – a collective of mostly former European colonies that refused to take sides during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union.
When Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in 1961, members of the Non-Aligned Movement proposed U Thant as a successor. Unable to agree on anyone from within their own blocs, the members of the Security Council confirmed U Thant, who served as secretary-general until 1971.
He presided over the UN’s responses to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the Vietnam War.
U Thant died in 1974 but was refused any honors by the government of General Ne Win, who was threatened by the late diplomat’s great international stature. Riots broke out in Rangoon, and students seized U Thant’s coffin and placed it in a makeshift mausoleum on the Rangoon University campus. They gave anti-government speeches for a week before army troops took back the coffin, killing several students in the process.
Chinmoy and his followers decided to honor U Thant’s commitment to peace by beautifying the island and erecting a “oneness arch” on it. For years, the only people permitted on the island were followers of Chinmoy, who came once or twice a year to maintain the space.
Today, the island is off-limits to everyone but the US Coast Guard and local aquatic birds. However, hundreds of thousands of people taking the 7 train from Manhattan to Queens still pass under U Thant Island every day.
Check out the Vox video below:
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