Roughly 11 miles off the western coast of Ireland, across the mouth of Galway Bay, lie the three islands known as the Aran Islands.There are three islands in the group: Inishmore, the largest and northernmost; Inishmaan, the "middle island", and Inisheer, lying to the southeast of the other two. At one time in their history, the islands played a role in the defending the mainland, and ruins of ring forts can be found on the islands. Life on the islands has always been rugged. Each of the islands is very rocky, with only small patches of workable soil. The people of times past earned their living as fisherman, subsistence farmers, and by raising cattle that were exported to the mainland. The 1930s brought the rise of the Aran knitting industry that has become a sort of Irish trademark. In recent decades tourism has become a viable industry as well. Perhaps the very fact that the Aran Islands are guardians of Ireland's past contributed to the mass emigration from the islands through much of the 20th century. Recent years have seen permanent populations of roughly 900 on Inishmore, and only 200 on Inishmaan. Let's hope that the way of life the islanders cherish can survive in the face of modern technology and tourism.