Key Takeaways
An island , just defined , is a piece of land surrounded by water . By that definition , full continent might qualify as island ( see the sidebar below on Australia ) . But if we disqualify continents from the contender , there are still some unhinged big island out there ranging from Brobdingnagian frozen wasteland to tropical paradises . Here are the nine big . All region sizes are taken fromBrittanica.com .
1. Greenland
Greenland , the world ’s largest island , is also one of the most sparsely populated . More than 80 percent of Greenland is covered in a white sheet of ice , sowhy is it telephone Greenland ? When theVikingErik the Red was deport to Greenland for murder , he give the bare island a more colorful name to attract colonist . It did n’t work . Greenland ’s name in the Greenlandic Inuit clapper isKalaallit Nunaat .
Just how big is Greenland ? It ’s three times the sizing of Texas and almost three times bigger than New Guinea , the secondly - big island on our list . In fact , Greenland is tumid thanall of these commonwealth aggregate : France , Germany , Spain , United Kingdom , Italy , Greece , Switzerland and Belgium . Greenland is see an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark and has had base principle since 1979 .
2. New Guinea
New Guinea is the big tropic island in the earth and its highland rainforest are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet .
There are more than13,500 different species of plant lifeon New Guinea and two - thirds of those species are indigenous , meaning they do n’t grow anywhere else in the existence . New Guinea has the nifty plant multifariousness of any island in the world — including2,800 species of orchids . Among New Guinea ’s 800 native bird species are the extraordinary , shape - shiftingbirds of paradise .
The easterly half of the island comprises the sovereign country of Papua New Guinea , while the western half ( called Western New Guinea ) is part of Indonesia .
3. Borneo
Like New Guinea , Borneo is one of the turgid islands in the Indonesian archipelago . Covered in dull rainforests , it ’s also rich in biodiversity .
The Bornean orangutan of Borneo ’s ancient rainforests is unmistakable with its all-embracing fleshy brass and bright orange fur . Orangutanmeans"man of the forest " in the Malay language , which is appropriate — human race and corking apes like the orangutan share97 percentage of their desoxyribonucleic acid .
Indonesia controls 73 percentage of Borneo and the country recently announced plans tomove its capitalfrom the overcrowded and polluted megacity of Jakarta to a " sustainable forest metropolis " in Borneo by 2045 . Another 26 percent of Borneo is see by Malaysia and just 1 percent by Brunei .
4. Madagascar
or so the size of Texas , Madagascar sits 250 miles ( 402 kilometers ) off the sea-coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean . Because Madagascar splintered off the African continent about 160 million age ago , its abundant plant and beast life have evolved in intimately full closing off . As a result , more than 90 percent of Madagascar ’s wildlife isfound nowhere else on the planet .
Lemurs are the most famous of Madagascar ’s exclusive animal life and there are at least 80 different species of the raccoon - like primates on the island , including the Greco-Roman closed chain - tailedlemurand the giant indri , achild - sized lemurknown for its leap power and shrill calls . This island nation has been independent from France since 1960 .
5. Baffin Island
There are more than 52,000 island in Canada , but Baffin Island is by far the magnanimous . The rocky island in the key Canadian territory of Nunavut was named after William Baffin , a seventeenth - century British explorer , and has been inhabited by Innuit and other ancient endemic people for thousands of years .
Baffin Island claim to be the very first place in North America where a European set animal foot . Around 1,000 C.E. — nigh 500 years before Columbus — the Viking explorer Leif Erikson struck out for unknown waters west of Greenland . The first property that Erikson landed he namedHellulandor " Flat Rock Land , " which is an apt description of Baffin Island .
Nearly all Baffin Island ’s residents populate in the small coastal city of Iqaluit , and the smother wildlands are inhabited by polar bear , caribou , Arctic slyboots and Arctic woman chaser .
6. Sumatra
Sumatra is the largest island situate entirely within Indonesia and it ’s base tothree majestic national parks — Mount Leuser , Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan — that have collectively been named a UNESCO World Heritage site .
Like its sister island in the Indonesian archipelago , Sumatra boasts some remarkable native wildlife admit the Sumatran elephant ( the small of all Asia elephant ) , Sumatran orangutans , Sumatran rhinos and Sumatran Panthera tigris . In fact , the island of Sumatra is theonly position in the worldwhere Panthera tigris , rhinoceros , elephant and orangutans live together .
7. Honshu
Honshu is the large of Japan ’s five primary island — there aremore than 14,000total — and plate to some of the biggest and best - get laid cities in Japan , include Tokyo , Kyoto , Osaka and Kobe . More than 80 pct of Japan ’s full universe is on the island of Honshu .
Mount Fuji , the iconic , nearly 13,000 - foot ( 3,776 - metre ) elevation is also located on Honshu . Japan ’s other principal island are Hokkaido , Honshu , Shikoku , Kyushu and Okinawa . Of the thousands of flyspeck islands ringing Japan — lie with asrito — only421 are inhabited .
8. Victoria Island
Do n’t fuddle Canada ’s Victoria Island with the lovely Canadian city of Victoria , located on Vancouver Island in British Columbia . Victoria Island is in the rooted north of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and very few citizenry are intrepid enough to stand firm the nigh year - round coldness and snow .
Victoria Island is most illustrious for a geographic curiosity know as athird - order island . In 2007 , a man survey Victoria Island on Google Maps find a small lake with an island in the midriff of it . That alone is n’t something to write home about . But that lake was also on an island at bottom of another lake . Yes , it ’s an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island .
9. Great Britain
Let’sclear up some confusion . Great Britain is an island compose of three countries : England , Scotland and Wales . The United Kingdom is composed of four countries : England , Northern Ireland , Scotland and Wales . Northern Ireland is located on the neighboring island of Ireland , a short misstep across the Irish Sea .
Great Britain is the largest island in Europe and the third most populous island in the populace . Great Britain is also the largest of the British Isles , a geographic term that include Ireland , the Isle of Man and 5,000 smaller islands .
FAQs
Greenland go its name from the Viking Erik the Red , who give the desolate island a more colourful name to pull colonist .
Victoria Island is jazz for a geographical oddity where there is an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island .
