Why do many words have silent letters when even without them the word would sound the same, like ‘island’ and many others.

Question

I tried asking my English teacher back in school but even she did not have an answer.

In: 157

Answer 1

Someone who owned a US newspaper simplified the spelling of many words. Many of his simplifications caught on and some didn’t. It is why some words are spelled differently in the US and England. I think that color and colour is one word like that.