on the west of the island

[Maybo]

I am doing a map reading exercise. The underlined is the answer. Why isn't it "in the west of"?



6 buildings, surrounding some trees, have been built on the west of the island and 9 buildings have been constructed in the centre of the island.

Exercise link

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

We usually say we're on an island. We're often on geographic features:

- on an island
- on a beach
- on a cliff
- on a continent
- on a mountain
- on a ridge
- on a hill

. . . but not always:

- in a valley
- in a desert

We're usually in human-defined places:

- in a city
- in a country
- in a neighborhood
- in a region
- in a slum

I can't think of exceptions, but there might be some.

 

[Maybo]

In the latter part of the sentence, in the centre of the island is used. Is it because of collocation? We need to use "in" with "centre", but not "on".

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I suppose. Again, a center is a human-defined place.

Let's see what others here think.

 

[jutfrank]

I think it should be either in the west of the island or on the west side of the island.