ISLAND 



3071 



ISLAND 



in any zone, and sometimes disappear as sud- 

 denly as they originated. 



A group of islands is called an archipelago. 



Continental Islands, so called because they 

 lie near a continent, are the mountain peaks 

 of sunken ranges or portions of the continent 

 which are partially covered by the sea. The 

 British Isles are examples of this form; it is 

 certain that at one time they were joined to 

 the mainland of Europe. 



Floating Islands are found in inland waters, 

 formed of great masses of earth, driftwood and 

 intertwined roots, and are sometimes large 

 enough to be used as gardens and pasture 

 lands. Artificial floating islands are made by 

 covering reed rafts with mud, and in China 

 are commonly used for planting rice beds. 



Some Islands of Special Interest. The six 

 largest islands in the world, and their approxi- 

 mate areas, are given in the following table: 



Greenland 



New Guinea 



Borneo 



Baffin Land 



Madagascar 



Sumatra 



.827,300 square miles; near- 

 ly four times the area of 

 France. 



.300,274 square miles ; near- 

 ly equal to Texas and Ken- 

 lucky combined. 



.289,860 square miles; five 

 times the combined area of 

 England and Wales. 



.236,000 square miles; about 

 one-third the area of the 

 province of Quebec. 

 228,000 square miles; more 

 than the combined area of 

 North Dakota, South Da- 

 kota and Nebraska. 



.180,000 square miles; three 

 times the combined area of 

 Maine, Vermont, New 

 Hampshire and Massachu- 

 setts. 



Cuba and Haiti, the two largest islands of 

 the West Indies, are the only islands of that 

 group which are politically independent. The 

 Hawaiian and Philippine groups, both of which 

 belong to the United States, and the Dutch 

 East Indies, are among the most important of 

 all the world's islands from a commercial 

 standpoint. The small island of Elba, in the 

 Mediterranean, and Saint Helena, in the South 

 Atlantic, have undying historical interest, for 

 each was the scene of the exile of Napoleon 

 Bonaparte, and on the latter island he died. 



Related Subjects. The following islands are 

 given special description under their titles in 

 these volumes. They are here classified accord- 

 ing to the countries to which they belong : 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 



Franz Josef Land (ownership in doubt) 



CANADA 



See under Great Britain, below 



Juan Fernandez 



Faroe Islands 

 Greenland 



Galapagos 

 Philae 



Corsica 



Guadeloupe 



Madagascar 



Marquesas 



Martinique 



Miquelon 



Admiralty 



CHILE 



Tierra del Fuego 



DENMARK 



Iceland 

 Zealand 



ECUADOR 

 EGYPT 

 PRANCE 



New Caledonia 

 New Hebrides 

 Reunion 

 Saint Pierre 

 Society Islands 



GERMANY 



Ladrone 



Bismarck Archipelago 

 Helgoland 



GREAT 

 Alderney 

 Antilles 

 Antipodes 

 Bahama Islands 

 Barbados 

 Bermuda 

 Borneo 

 British Isles 

 British West Indies 

 Ceylon 



Channel Islands 

 Cyprus 



Falkland Islands 

 Fiji Islands 

 Great Britain 

 Guernsey 

 Hebrides 

 Hong-kong 

 Ireland 

 Jamaica 

 Jersey 



Laccadive Islands 

 Leeward Islands 

 Maldive Islands 



Samoa 



BRITAIN 



Malta 

 Man, Isle of 

 Mauritius 

 Newfoundland 

 New Guinea 

 New Hebrides 

 New Zealand 

 Nicobar Islands 

 Norfolk Island 

 Orkney Islands 

 Penang 



Saint Christopher 

 Saint Helena 

 Saint Vincent 

 Scilly Islands 

 Shetland 

 Singapore 

 Solomon Islands 

 Tasmania 

 Tonga Islands 

 Trinidad 

 Wight, Isle of 

 Windward Islands 

 Zanzibar 



Anticosti 



Cape Breton Island 

 Magdalen Islands 

 Manitoulin Islands 

 Prince Edward Island 



CANADA 



Queen Charlotte 



Islands 

 Sable Island 

 Thousand Islands 

 Vancouver Island 



