Inishbofin (derived from the Irish Inis Bó Finne meaning 'Island of the White Cow') is a small island off the coast of Connemara, County Galway, Ireland.

[4] Inishbofin lies around eight kilometres (4+1⁄2 nautical miles) off the Connemara coast opposite Ballynakill Harbour and Cleggan Bay.

[7] Definite traces of human settlement are available only from the Iron Age onwards, such as the remains of promontory ring forts like 'Dun Mor'.

[3]: 23  In the 16th century, according to local tradition, a Spanish pirate or Barbary corsair named Alonzo Bosco built a stronghold on Port Island, where the Cromwellian fort stands today.

One story had them stretching a defensive iron chain across Inishbofin's harbour entrance to make it impassable to enemy ships.

In early 1653, Cromwellian warships threatened to bombard the island and Inishbofin surrendered on 14 February to Sir John Reynolds.

According to some accounts, after Galway had fallen in 1652, Rory O'Moore, one of the initiators of the 1641 rebellion fled to Inishbofin, where he lived in a cave.

[3]: 25 After taking the island, the New Model Army turned Inishbofin into a prison camp for Roman Catholic priests arrested while exercising their religious ministry covertly in other parts of Ireland.

[3]: 23  It is known today as "Cromwell's Barracks" and was used, aside from its role as a prison, to protect the harbour against pirates and Dutch raiders (with whom the Protectorate was at war).

[3]: 23 [4] In 1779, a British ship carrying officers and new recruits of the 84th Regiment of Foot and the King's Orange Rangers, diverted from their planned course from Newfoundland to New York City during the American War of Independence, was blown off course and wrecked at Inishbofin (Royal Oak Cove).

[13][14][15] this was a consequence of a severe localised famine in the winter of 1872/3 which necessitated relief be organised via the nearer Poor Law Union based in Clifden Workhouse rather than the previously responsible Poor Law Union based around Louisburgh Workhouse and in view of the particular concentration of distress in West Connemara and Inishbofin/Inishark.

[15][16] In 1890, the island was visited by academics Alfred Cort Haddon and Andrew Francis Dixon (Dixon later became Professor of Anatomy at Trinity College Dublin), who removed partial skeletal remains of 13 people, including their skulls, from St Colman's monastery on the island without the knowledge or permission of the community.

[18] Visual arts curator Dr Ciarán Walsh, who had spent over a decade researching the theft, said it was "the first event of its kind in Ireland and as far as the return of stolen human remains goes, (was) of international significance".

[18] Trinity College announced that its 'Colonial Legacies Working Group' would consider requests for the return of other skulls in the Haddon and Dixon Collection, from locations such as Oileán Árann and from St. Finian's Bay in South Kerry.

Inishbofin offers scuba diving, walking trails, cycling, horse riding, sailing, paddle boarding, kayaking, snorkelling, shore and sea angling.

It also houses a small island library which provides a reference and local studies collection with information on the history and heritage of the area.

The current Galway Senior Men's Football team goalkeeper, Ruairi Lavelle, hails from Inishbofin.

[22] The short story "The Hungry Death", written by Rosa Mulholland around 1880, is set in Inishbofin during the Great Famine.