Overview of the island
In "A Guide to Land and Sea (Seventh Grade Geography)" we introduced the island, which refers to a small piece of land surrounded by seawater. Therefore, the islands we are talking about today refer specifically to islands, excluding the rivers and lakes in the mainland and the islands in the lakes.
There are more than 50,000 islands in the world, with a total area of about 9.97 million km², which is roughly equivalent to the land area of China, accounting for 1/15 of the world's total land area.
World Island Mind Map
Classification of islands
Depending on the size of the island, the island is divided into island (greater than 1km²) and islet (less than 1km²).
According to the cause, the islands are divided into mainland islands, volcanic islands, coral islands and alluvial islands or sand islands. Mainland islands are islands that extend from the mainland to the ocean and are formed by the rise of the earth's crust, the sinking of the land or the rise of the sea surface, and the intrusion of seawater, which separates part of the land from the mainland. Volcanic islands are islands that rise from the bottom of the ocean basin, and due to the volcanic eruptions on the seabed caused by the movement of the earth's crust, lava continues to accumulate until it is quite thick and eventually protrudes from the sea. Coral islands are formed by the accumulation of polyp remains and other shell animal remains in tropical and subtropical oceans. An alluvial island (sand island) is a sea land formed by the river of land carrying sediment into the sea and depositing it.
The largest island in the world and the largest continental island is Greenland (Denmark) in North America; the largest volcanic island is Java (Indonesia); the largest coral island is Christmas Island in Oceania (Kiribati); and the largest alluvial island is Malajo (Brazil) in South America.
According to the number of combinations, the islands are divided into independent islands or groups of islands that are close to each other, that is, archipelagos. The archipelagos arranged in a linear or arc are also called archipelagos. The World's Largest Archipelago, the Malay Archipelago in Asia (consisting of the Philippine Islands, the Greater Sunda Islands, the Lesser Sunda Islands and the Island of New Guinea, among others), has more than 20,000 islands, accounting for about 40% of the world's islands, with a total area of 2.8 million km², or about 28% of the world's total island area.
Distribution of islands
The four oceans and seven continents have different island distributions, the Pacific Ocean is the ocean with the largest number of islands, Asia is the continent with the largest number of islands; North America is the continent with the largest total island area; Oceania is the continent with the largest proportion of island area.
The largest island in the Pacific Ocean is the island of New Guinea, the largest island in the Atlantic Ocean is the island of Great Britain, the largest island in the Indian Ocean is Madagascar, and the largest island in the Arctic Ocean is Baffin Island in Canada. The Pacific Ocean has the world's largest archipelago, the Malay Archipelago, the largest archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, the Largest Archipelago in the Indian Ocean is the Maskeling Islands, and the largest archipelago in the Arctic Ocean is the Arctic Archipelago.
The largest island in Asia is Kalimantan, the largest island in Africa is Madagascar, the largest island in North America is Greenland, the largest island in South America is Tierra del Fuego, the largest island in Antarctica is Alexander, the largest island in Europe is Great Britain, and the largest island in Oceania is New Guinea.
The world's major islands
The top 50 islands in the world by area:
1 with an area greater than 1 million km²: 1. Greenland (Dan), a common island located in North America, the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, 2,166,100 km².
There are 4 with an area of between 500,000 and 1,000 km²: 2. The island of New Guinea (also known as Irian Island), located in the Pacific Ocean and Oceania, 785,800 km²; 3. Kalimantan Island (also known as Borneo), located in the Pacific Ocean and Asia, 748,200 km²; 4. Madagascar (Malaysia), located in the Indian Ocean, Africa, 587,700 km²; 5, Baffin Island (Canada), located in the Arctic Ocean, North America, 50.75 km².
Four with an area of 200,000-500,000 km²: 6, Sumatra Island (Indonesia), located in the Indian Ocean, Asia, 443,100 km²; 7, Honshu Island (Japan), located in the Pacific Ocean, Asia, 225,800 km²; 8, Great Britain Island (English), located in the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, 218,600 km²; 9, Victoria Island (Plus), located in the Arctic Ocean, North America, 217,300 km².
10 with an area of 100,000-200,000 km²: 10, Ellsmere Island (plus), located in the Arctic Ocean, North America, 196,200 km²; 11, Sulawesi (Indonesia), located in the Pacific Ocean, Asia, 180,700 km²; 12, South Island (new), located in the Pacific Ocean, Oceania, 145,800 km²; 13, Java Island (Indonesia), located in the Indian Ocean, Asia, 138,800 km²; 14, North Island (new), located in the Pacific Ocean, Oceania, 111,600 km²; 15, Luzon (Philippines), located in the Pacific, Asia, 110,000 km²; 16, Newfoundland (plus), located in the Atlantic Ocean, North America; 108,800 km²; 17, Cuba (ancient), located in the Atlantic Ocean, North America, 105,800 km²; 18, Iceland (ice), in the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, 101,800 km²; 19, Mindanao (Philippines), located in the Pacific, Asia, 97,500 km².
8 with an area of 50,000-100,000 km²: 20, Irish Island, located in the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, 84,400 km²; 21, Hokkaido Island (Japan), located in the Pacific Ocean, Asia, 83,400 km²; 22, Hispaniola Island (Haitian Island), located in the Atlantic Ocean, North America, 76,100 km²; 23, Sakhalin Island (Sakhalin Island), located in the Pacific Ocean, Asia, 76,000 km²; 24, Banks Island (Plus), located in the Arctic Ocean, North America, 70,000 km² 25. Sri Lanka Island (Sri Lanka), located in the Indian Ocean and Asia, 65,600 km²; 26, Tasmania (Australia), located in the Indian Ocean and Oceania, 65,000 km²; 27, Devon Island (plus), located in the Arctic Ocean, North America, 55,200 km².
23 with an area of less than 50,000 km²: 28, Alexander Island, located in the Pacific Ocean, Antarctica, 49,100 km²; 29, Tierra del Fuego, located in the Pacific Ocean, South America, 47,400 km²; 30, Novaya Zemlya North Island (Russia), located in the Arctic Ocean, Asia, 47,100 km²; 31, Birkena Island, located in the Atlantic Ocean, Antarctica, 43,900 km²; 32, Axel Hayberg Island (plus), located in the Arctic Ocean, North America, 43,200 km²; 33, Melville Island (plus), located in the Arctic Ocean, North America, 42,100 km²; 34, Southampton Island (Plus), located in the Arctic Ocean, North America, 41,200 km²; 35, Malajo Island (Ba), located in the Atlantic Ocean, South America, 40,100 km²; 36, Spitsbergen Island (Norway), in the Arctic Ocean, Europe, 39,000 km²; 37, New Britain Island (PNG), located in the Pacific Ocean, Oceania, 37,800 km²; 38, Kyushu Island (Japan), Located in the Pacific Ocean, Asia, 36,700 km²; 39, Taiwan Island (center), located in the Pacific Ocean, Asia, 35,800 km²; 40, Hainan Island (center), located in the Pacific Ocean, Asia, 33,900 km²; 41, Prince of Wales Island (plus), located in the Arctic Ocean, North America, 33,300 km²; 42, New Land Island South Island (Russia), located in the Arctic Ocean, Asia, 33,200 km²; 43, Vancouver Island (Plus), located in the Pacific Ocean, North America, 31,300 km²; 44, Timor Island, located in the Pacific, Asia, 30,800 km²; 45, Sicily (Italy), located in the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, 25,700 km²; 46, Somerset (plus), in the Arctic Ocean, North America, 24,800 km²; 47, Coteline (Russia), in the Arctic Ocean, Asia, 24,000 km²; 48, Sardinia (Italy), in the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, 2.41 million km²; 49, Shikoku Island (Japan), in the Pacific Ocean, Asia, 18,800 km²; 50, Hamahera Island (Indonesia), located in the Pacific Ocean, Asia, 1.8 million km².
Major archipelagos: including the Malay Archipelago, the Japanese Archipelago, the three pacific archipelagos (Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia), the British Isles, the West Indies, the Arctic Archipelago, etc.
The world's largest island (pictured)
