Fun facts about islands

The Falkland Islands, commonly referred to as the Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf.

From the “Etymology” section

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country in the Indian Ocean that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands.

From the “Etymology” section

Sulawesi, also known as Celebes, is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.

From the “Etymology” section

Jan Mayen is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is 55 km (34 mi) long (southwest-northeast) and 377 km2 (146 sq mi) in area, partly covered by glaciers. It has two parts: larger northeast Nord-Jan and smaller Sør-Jan, linked by a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) wide isthmus.

From the “Natural resources” section

Easter Island is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people.

From the “Etymology” section

New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, with an area of 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi). It has the third-largest remaining rainforest globally, and the highest plant biodiversity of any island.

From the “Names” section

Midway Atoll is a 2.4 sq mi (6.2 km2) atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the United States, and is an unorganized and unincorporated territory of the U.S.

From the “Location” section

Funafuti is an atoll, comprising numerous islets, that is a capital of Tuvalu. As of the 2017 census, it has a population of 6,320 people. More people live in Funafuti than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with it containing approximately 60% of the nation's population.

From the “History” section

Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, just shy of 8° south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about 960 miles (1,540 km) from the coast of Africa and 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from the coast of South America.

From the “History” section

Madeira, officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira, is an autonomous region of Portugal, in the Atlantic Ocean about 805 km southwest of mainland Portugal. Together with the Azores, it is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal and a special territory of the European Union.

From the “History” section

Saint Helena is a volcanic tropical island located in the South Atlantic Ocean, west of Africa. The nearest countries geographically are Angola and Namibia. The island is about 1,950 km (1,210 mi) west of Angola, and 4,000 km (2,500 mi) east of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

From the “History” section

Mindanao is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of the same name that also includes its adjacent islands, notably the Sulu Archipelago.

From the “Etymology” section

Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about 350 kilometres south of Java and Sumatra and about 1,550 km (840 nmi) north-west of the closest point on the Australian mainland.

From the “History” section

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, lies between the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south.

From the “Etymology” section

Clipperton Island, also known as Clipperton Atoll and previously as Clipperton's Rock, is an 8.9 km2 (3.4 sq mi) uninhabited coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

From the “Geography” section

Tenerife is the largest and most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwestern coast of Africa.

From the “Name and etymology” section

Borneo is the third-largest island in the world, with an area of 748,168 km2 (288,869 sq mi), and population of 23,053,723. Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda Islands, located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east of Sumatra.

From the “Geography” section

Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba about 300 kilometres (190 mi) to the east.

From the “History” section

Svalbard, formerly Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it lies about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole.

From the “Etymology” section

Fernando de Noronha, officially the State District of Fernando de Noronha and formerly known as the Federal Territory of Fernando de Noronha until 1988, is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, and located 191 nautical miles off the Brazilian coast.

From the “History” section

Sicily, officially the Sicilian Region, is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea and one of the twenty regions of Italy, situated south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe.

From the “Etymology” section

Luzon is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as well as Quezon City, the country's most populous city.

From the “Etymology” section

Tristan da Cunha, colloquially known as Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is one of three constituent parts of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, with its own constitution.

From the “History” section

Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of France in the Pacific Ocean. It was formerly also known as Île Marchand and Madison Island.

From the “Geography” section