An
island or
isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on
atollAn atoll is an island of coral that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu
OED. Its first recorded use in English was in 1625 as atollon...
s are called
isletAn islet is a small island.- Types :As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability....
s. A
key or
cayA cay is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs...
is another name for a small island or islet. An island in a river or lake may be called an
eyotAn ait is a small island in a river. It is especially used to refer to islands found on the River Thames and its tributaries in England....
, .
There are two main types of islands:
continental islands and
oceanic islands. There are also
artificial islandAn artificial island is an island that has been constructed by humans rather than formed by natural means. They are created by expanding existing islets, construction on existing reefs, or amalgamating several natural islets into a bigger island....
s. A grouping of geographically and/or geologically related islands is called an
archipelagoAn archipelago is a chain or cluster of islands that are formed tectonically. The word archipelago is directly derived from the Greek arkhon and pelagos...
.
The word
island comes from Old English
igland (from 'ig', similarly meaning 'island' when used independently, and -land carrying its contemporary meaning). However, the spelling of the word was modified in the 15th century by association with the
etymologicallyEtymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and...
unrelated Old French loanword
isle, which itself comes from the latin word
insula.
Characteristics
There is no standard of size which distinguishes islands from
isletAn islet is a small island.- Types :As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability....
s and
continentA continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criterion, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents – they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
s.
When defining islands as pieces of land that are surrounded by water, narrow bodies of water like
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water...
s and
canalCanals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canal: aqueduct canals are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterway canals are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans.The word...
s are often, but not always, left out of consideration. For instance, in France the
Canal du MidiThe is a long canal in Southern France . The canal connects the Garonne River to the on the Mediterranean and along with the Canal de Garonne forms the joining the Atlantic to the Mediterranean...
connects the
GaronneThe Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of 575 km .-Origin of the name:...
river to the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
, thereby completing a continuous water connection from the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
to the Mediterranean Sea. So technically, the land mass that includes the
Iberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
and the part of France that is south of the Garonne River and the Canal du Midi is surrounded by water. For a completely natural example, the
OrinocoThe Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at 2,140 km, . Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia covers 880,000 km², 76.3% in Venezuela with the rest in Colombia. The Orinoco and its tributaries are the major transportation system for eastern and interior Venezuela...
River splits into two branches near Tamatama, in Amazonas state, Venezuela. The southern branch flows south and joins the Rio Negro, and then the Amazon. Thus, all of the Guianas (Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana) and substantial parts of Brazil and Venezuela are surrounded by (river or ocean) water. These instances are not generally considered islands. However, small pieces of land bordered by rivers are considered islands.
This also helps explain why Africa-Eurasia can be seen as one continuous landmass (and thus technically the biggest island): generally the
Suez CanalThe Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened on November 1869, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa...
is not seen as something that divides the land mass in two. The mainland of Australia is often considered the largest island because it is covered on all sides by water while not being connected to another body of land.
On the other hand, an island may still be described as such despite the presence of a land bridge, e.g.,
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
and its causeway or the various Dutch delta Islands, such as IJsselmonde. Some places may even retain "island" in their names after being connected to a larger landmass by a wide land bridge, such as
Coney IslandConey Island is a peninsula, formerly an island, in southernmost Brooklyn, New York City, USA, with a beach on the Atlantic Ocean. The neighborhood of the same name is a community of 60,000 people in the western part of the peninsula, with Seagate to its west; Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to...
. The retaining of the island description may therefore be to some degree simply due to historical reasons - though the land bridges are often of a different geological nature (for example sand instead of stone), and thus the islands remain islands in a more scientific sense as well.
Continental islands
Continental islands are bodies of land that lie on the
continental shelfThe continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, and was part of the continent during the glacial periods, but is undersea during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas and gulfs. The continental rise is below the...
of a continent. Examples include
GreenlandGreenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago...
and
Sable IslandSable Island is a small Canadian island situated 180 km southeast of mainland Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2008, the island is a year-round home to approximately five people...
off
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
;
BarbadosBarbados , situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is an independent West Indian Continental Island-nation in the western Atlantic Ocean. For over three centuries Barbados was a colony and protectorate of the United Kingdom; and still currently maintains Queen Elizabeth II as head of state...
and
TrinidadTrinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the country of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just 11 km off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of 4,768 km² it is also the fifth...
off
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
;
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
,
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
and
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
off
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
;
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world .-Etymology:Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit...
,
BorneoBorneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided among Indonesia , Malaysia and Brunei . Indonesians refer to the island as Kalimantan...
and Java off
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
; and
New GuineaNew Guinea, located north of Australia, is the world's second largest island. It became separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period. The name Papua has long been associated with the island...
,
TasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, from which it is separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania – the 26th largest island in the world – and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 500,000 ,...
and
Kangaroo IslandKangaroo Island is Australia's third largest island - after Tasmania and Melville Island. It is southwest of Adelaide at the entrance of Gulf Saint Vincent. At its closest point to the mainland, it is offshore from Cape Jervis, on the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula in the state of South Australia....
off
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
.
A special type of continental island is the
microcontinental island, which results when a continent is rifted. Examples are
MadagascarMadagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth-largest island in the world, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are endemic to...
and
SocotraSocotra or Soqotra is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Horn of Africa some south of the Arabian peninsula. It is very isolated, and through the process of speciation, a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet...
off
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
;
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
; the
Kerguelen IslandsThe Kerguelen Islands , also known as Desolation Island, are a group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean. The islands are a territory of France...
; and some of the
SeychellesSeychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an archipelago nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar...
.
Another subtype is an island or
barThings known as shoal, shoals or shoaling include:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals...
formed by deposition of tiny rocks where a water current loses some of its carrying capacity. An example is barrier islands, which are accumulations of
sandSand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.As the term is used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 to 2 millimeters. An individual particle in this range size is termed a sand grain...
deposited by sea currents on the continental shelf. Another example is islands in
river deltaA delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
s or in large rivers. While some are transitory and may disappear if the volume or speed of the current changes, others are stable and long-lived. Islets are very small islands.
Oceanic islands
Oceanic islands are ones that do not sit on continental shelves. The vast majority are
volcanic3. Conduit
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Dike
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14. Crater
15...
in origin. The few oceanic islands that are not volcanic are tectonic in origin and arise where plate movements have lifted up the deep ocean floor to above the surface. Examples of this include
Saint Peter and Paul RocksThe Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago is a group of 15 small islands and rocks in the North Atlantic Ocean. It lies in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a region of severe storms. It is approximately from the northeastern coastal town of Touros, northeast of the archipelago of Fernando de...
in the Atlantic Ocean and
Macquarie IslandMacquarie Island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica. 54°37'53"S, 158°52'15"E. Politically, it has formed part of the Australian state of Tasmania since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a world...
in the Pacific.
One type of volcanic oceanic island is found in a
volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the
subductionIn geology, subduction is the process that takes place at convergent boundaries by which one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate, sinking into the Earth's mantle, as the plates converge. A subduction zone is an area on Earth where two tectonic plates move towards one another and...
of one plate under another is occurring. Examples include the
Mariana IslandsThe Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
, the
Aleutian IslandsThe Aleutian Islands are a chain of more than 300 small volcanic islands forming part of the Aleutian Arc in the Northern Pacific Ocean, occupying an area of 6,821 sq mi and extending about westward from the Alaska Peninsula toward the Kamchatka Peninsula...
and most of
TongaTonga , officially the Kingdom of Tonga , an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprises 169 islands, 36 of which are inhabited, and stretches over a distance of about 800 kilometres in a north-south line...
in the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
. Some of the
Lesser AntillesThe Lesser Antilles, also known as the Caribbees, are part of the Antilles, which together with the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Greater Antilles form the West Indies...
and the South Sandwich Islands are the only Atlantic Ocean examples.
Another type of volcanic oceanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples:
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
, which is the world's second largest volcanic island, and
Jan MayenJan Mayen Island is a volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean, 55 km long and 373 km
2 in area, partly covered by glaciers . It has two parts: larger northeast Nord-Jan and smaller Sør-Jan, linked by an isthmus 2.5 km wide...
— both are in the Atlantic.
A third type of volcanic oceanic island is formed over volcanic
hotspotsIn geology, a hotspot is a location on the Earth's surface that has experienced active volcanism for a long period of time.-Characteristics:...
. A hotspot is more or less stationary relative to the moving tectonic plate above it, so a chain of islands results as the plate drifts. Over long periods of time, this type of island is eventually "drowned" by
isostatic adjustmentIsostasy is a term used in geology to refer to the state of gravitational equilibrium between the earth's lithosphere and asthenosphere such that the tectonic plates "float" at an elevation which depends on their thickness and density. This concept is invoked to explain how different topographic...
and eroded, becoming a
seamountA seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface , and thus is not an island. These are typically formed from extinct volcanoes, that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from a seafloor of 1,000–4,000 meters depth...
. Plate movement across a hot-spot produces a line of islands oriented in the direction of the plate movement. An example is the
Hawaiian IslandsThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the...
, from
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
to
KureKure Atoll or Ocean Island lies some beyond Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at . The International Date Line lies approximately 100 miles to the west. Kure is the northern-most coral atoll in the world...
, which then extends beneath the sea surface in a more northerly direction as the Emperor Seamounts. Another chain with similar orientation is the Tuamotu Archipelago; its older, northerly trend is the
Line IslandsThe Line Islands, or Equatorial Islands, is a group of eleven atolls and low coral islands in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawaiian Islands...
. The southernmost chain is the
Austral IslandsThe Austral Islands are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific. Geographically, the Austral Islands consist of two separate archipelagos. From northwest to southeast they are:...
, with its northerly trending part the atolls in the nation of
TuvaluTuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
.
Tristan da CunhaTristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying from the nearest land, South Africa, and from South America. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da...
is an example of a hotspot volcano in the Atlantic Ocean. Another hot spot in the Atlantic is the island of
SurtseySurtsey is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland. At it is also the southernmost point of Iceland. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began 130 metres below sea level, and reached the surface on 14 November 1963. The eruption lasted until 5 June 1967, when the island...
, which was formed in 1963.
An atoll is an island formed from a
coral reefCoral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms, found in marine waters containing few nutrients. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate...
that has grown on an eroded and submerged volcanic island. The reef rises to the surface of the water and forms a new island. Atolls are typically ring-shaped with a central
lagoonA lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt or brackish water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral reef, or similar feature. Thus, the enclosed body of water behind a barrier reef or barrier islands or enclosed by an atoll reef is called a lagoon. This...
. Examples include the
MaldivesThe Maldives , or Maldive Islands, officially Republic of Maldives, is an island country in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls stretching along north-south direction off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago...
in the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
and
Line IslandsThe Line Islands, or Equatorial Islands, is a group of eleven atolls and low coral islands in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawaiian Islands...
in the Pacific.
Tropical islands
There are approximately 45,000 tropical islands on Earth. Among
coralCorals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals...
tropic islands for example are
MaldivesThe Maldives , or Maldive Islands, officially Republic of Maldives, is an island country in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls stretching along north-south direction off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago...
,
TongaTonga , officially the Kingdom of Tonga , an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprises 169 islands, 36 of which are inhabited, and stretches over a distance of about 800 kilometres in a north-south line...
,
NauruNauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island nation in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbor is Banaba Island in Kiribati, 300 km to the east...
and
PolynesiaPolynesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean.-Definition:...
.
GraniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as porphyry. Granites can be pink to dark gray or even black, depending on their...
islands include
SeychellesSeychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an archipelago nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar...
and Tioman. The socio-economic diversity of these regions ranges from the
Stone AgeThe Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time period during which humans widely used stone for toolmaking.Stone tools were made from a variety of different sorts of stone. For example, flint and chert were shaped for use as cutting tools and weapons, while basalt and sandstone were used for ground...
societies in the interior of
MadagascarMadagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth-largest island in the world, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are endemic to...
,
BorneoBorneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided among Indonesia , Malaysia and Brunei . Indonesians refer to the island as Kalimantan...
or
Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
to the high-tech lifestyles of the city-islands of
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
and
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
. The international tourism is a significant factor in the local economy of Seychelles,
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
,
MauritiusMauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the Republic includes the islands of Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands...
,
RéunionRéunion is an island located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas départements of France...
or
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
.
See also
- Desert island
A desert island, or deserted island, refers to an island which is uninhabited or sparsely inhabited. Such islands are commonly invoked in metaphor, literature, and the popular imagination, as a place where individuals or small groups of people find themselves marooned or castaway, cut off from...
- High island
A high island is, in geology , an island of volcanic origin. The term is used to distinguish such islands from low islands, whose origin is due to sedimentation or uplifting of coral reefs....
- Insularity
Insularity reflects a wide range of physical and emotional meanings in accordance with a person or place:* For a place, it relates to an island or any physically isolated place distant and inaccessible without sufficient means of transport...
- Island biogeography
Island biogeography is a field within biogeography that attempts to establish and explain the factors that affect the species richness of natural communities. The theory was developed to explain species richness of actual islands. It has since been extended to mountains surrounded by deserts, lakes...
- Island country
- Island hopping
Island hopping is a term that has several different definitions as it is applied in various fields. Generally, the term refers to the means of crossing an ocean by a series of shorter journeys between islands, as opposed to a single journey directly across the ocean to the destination.-World War...
- Islescape
Islescape relates to the physiognomy as well as the features and assets that exist in the form of historical social, economic, cultural and political habits, routines, and traditions in an insular environment....
- Islomania
Islomania is a craze for or a strong attraction to islands. The condition was first identified by British writer Lawrence Durrell in his book Reflections on a Marine Venus :...
- -land
The suffix -land which can be found in several countries' name and country subdivisions indicates a toponymy — a land. The word came via Germanic languages "Land", which means "soil".Below is the list of places that ends with "-land" or "Land"....
- List of artificial islands
- List of divided islands
- List of fictional islands
- List of islands
- List of islands by area
- List of islands by name
- List of islands by highest point
- List of islands by population
- Phantom island
Phantom islands are islands that were believed to exist, and appeared on maps for a period of time during recorded history, but were later removed after they proved nonexistent...
- Private island
A private island is a privately owned island. Privately owned islands exist all over the world, and many can be bought. There are many thousands of uninhabited islands in the world with potential for commercial development of tourist resorts or private recreational use. Commercial development of...
- Reef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
- Skerry
A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef.The term skerry is derived from the Old Norse sker, which means a rock in the sea. The Old Norse term sker was brought into the English language via the Scots language...
- Small Island Developing States
Small Island Developing States are low-lying coastal countries that tend to share similar sustainable development challenges, including small but growing populations, limited resources, remoteness, susceptibility to natural disasters, vulnerability to external shocks, excessive dependence on...
- Tidal island
A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands many of them have been sites of religious worship, such as Mont Saint Michel with its...
External links
- Definition of island from United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty, is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea , which took place from 1973 through 1982...
- Listing of islands from United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
Island Directory.