<p>Given an <code>m x n</code> 2D binary grid <code>grid</code> which represents a map of <code>&#39;1&#39;</code>s (land) and <code>&#39;0&#39;</code>s (water), return <em>the number of islands</em>.</p>

<p>An <strong>island</strong> is surrounded by water and is formed by connecting adjacent lands horizontally or vertically. You may assume all four edges of the grid are all surrounded by water.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong class="example">Example 1:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> grid = [
  [&quot;1&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;0&quot;],
  [&quot;1&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;0&quot;],
  [&quot;1&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;],
  [&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;]
]
<strong>Output:</strong> 1
</pre>

<p><strong class="example">Example 2:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> grid = [
  [&quot;1&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;],
  [&quot;1&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;],
  [&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;],
  [&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;0&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;1&quot;]
]
<strong>Output:</strong> 3
</pre>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Constraints:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li><code>m == grid.length</code></li>
	<li><code>n == grid[i].length</code></li>
	<li><code>1 &lt;= m, n &lt;= 300</code></li>
	<li><code>grid[i][j]</code> is <code>&#39;0&#39;</code> or <code>&#39;1&#39;</code>.</li>
</ul>

class Solution:
    def numIslands(self, grid: List[List[str]]) -> int:
        # iterate and bleed

        def traverseLand(grid: List[List[str]], row: int, col: int) -> List[List[str]]:
            # traverse the cardinal directions
            directions = [(-1, 0), (1, 0), (0, 1), (0, -1)]

            if row >= len(grid) or row < 0 or col >= len(grid[row]) or col < 0 or grid[row][col] == "0":
                return grid
            else:
                grid[row][col] = "0"
                for i in directions:
                    grid = traverseLand(grid, row + i[0], col + i[1])
            return grid

        count = 0

        for row in range(len(grid)):
            for col in range(len(grid[row])):
                if grid[row][col] == "1":
                    grid = traverseLand(grid, row, col)
                    count += 1

        return count


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