Archipelago
An archipelago is a landform which consists of a chain or cluster of islands. Archipelagoes usually occur in the open sea; less commonly a large land mass may neighbour them. Archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along ocean ridges or hotspots, but there are many other processes involved in their construction, including erosion and deposition.
The word comes from the Aegean Sea (Greek αρχιπέλαγος, Italian Arcipelago), which literally means "chief sea", from Greek arkhi (leader) and pelagos (sea). The Aegean Sea is located between Greece in the west and Turkey in the east. (The Venetian Dukes of Arcipelago ruled from Naxos, 1210–1566.)
"Archipelago" is also the name of a popular videogame from the early 1990's.
List of archipelagoes
- Aegean islands
- Aleutian Islands
- Alexander Archipelago
- American Samoa
- Andaman Islands
- Antilles (West Indies)
- Azores
- Bahamas
- Balearic Islands
- Baltic Sea archipelagoes:
- Stockholm archipelago, Sweden
- Åland Islands, autonomous (under Finnish sovereignty)
- Turku archipelago, Finland
- Belcher Islands
- Bismarck Archipelago
- British Isles
- Canadian Arctic islands
- Canary Islands
- Cape Verde Islands
- Caroline Islands
- Channel Islands (Europe)
- Channel Islands (North America)
- Comoro Islands
- Cook Islands
- Cyclades
- Dodecanese
- Falkland Islands
- Faroe Islands
- Fiji Islands
- Florida Keys
- Fox Islands
- French Polynesia
- Austral Islands
- Gambier Islands
- Marquesas
- Society Islands
- Îles du vent (Windward Islands)
- Îles sous le vent (Leeward Islands)
- Tuamotus
- Frisian or Wadden Islands (divided into the West, East, and North Frisian Islands groups)
- Furneaux Group
- Galápagos Islands
- Gothenburg archipelago
- Greater Sunda Islands
- Hawaiian Islands
- Hebrides
- Îles-de-la-Madeleine
- Japanese Archipelago
- Juan Fernández
- Kerguelen Islands
- Kermadec Islands
- Lakshadweep
- Lesser Sunda Islands
- Line Islands
- Lofoten
- Malay archipelago (the world's largest)
- Maldives
- Maltese archipelago (Malta, Gozo, Comino, Filfla,St Paul's Island and several smaller islets)
- Maluku Islands
- Mariana Islands
- Marshall Islands
- Melanesia
- Micronesia
- New Hebrides
- New Siberian Islands
- New Zealand
- Nicobar Islands
- Orkneys
- Philippines
- Pitcairn Islands
- Polynesia
- Pontine Islands
- Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii)
- Samoa
- Seychelles
- Shetlands
- Solomon Islands
- Solentiname Islands
- South Orkney Islands
- South Shetland Islands
- Spratly Islands
- Svalbard
- Thousand Islands
- Tierra del Fuego
- Tonga
- The World, an archipelago of artificial islands being constructed off Dubai
- Tuscan Archipelago
See also
Lists of islands:
- List of islands of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean
- List of islands in the Arctic Ocean
- List of islands of Asia
- List of islands in the Atlantic Ocean
- List of islands of Australia
- List of islands of Canada
- List of islands in the Caribbean
- List of islands in the Indian Ocean
- List of islands of North America
- List of islands in the Pacific
- List of islands of South America
- List of islands in the United States
Categories: Islands