Which islands belong to the archipelago? What is an archipelago in geography? Island states - list

Archipelagos - full list archipelagic countries and archipelagos belonging to different states, broken down by oceans and parts of the world.

What is an archipelago and what are they like?

Archipelago – it is a complex of islands located close to each other. The archipelagos are similar in geological structure. According to their origin, they are all:

Mainland

This is the name for archipelagos that were originally part of the mainland, but as a result of the movement of tectonic plates, they separated from the land and formed a complex of islands. The most striking example of a mainland archipelago is the British Isles. Also, these include Novaya Zemlya, New Zealand.

Volcanic

These island complexes were formed as a result of volcanic activity, or are themselves volcanoes. Most often, in this case, the island is the top of a huge underground volcano, which peeks out from under the water. The most striking representatives of volcanic archipelagos are the Hawaiian Islands.

Coral

A complex of islands that arose as a result of the growth and death of underwater corals. Islands can be shaped like a ring or a semicircle - they are called atolls. Most of the coral archipelagos are located in the Pacific Ocean. The most famous coral archipelago is the Marshall Islands.

Alluvial

The complex of islands is not of natural origin. They are complex hydraulic structures that are installed on water areas. Alluvial islands do not formally have the status of archipelagos and islands, since they are not natural objects. The most famous man-made archipelago is the Isle of Palms located in the Emirates.

Of course, they are not deserted and are located on many small states. The islands that make up the territory are in contact with each other and have geographical and political unity.

On this moment There are about 30 state TV stations in the world, located on archipelagos. These include the Philippines, Indonesia, Fiji. Archipelagic lines are used for contact between islands. All water space within these lines belongs to the archipelago-state.

The largest archipelagos

There are a huge number of archipelagos on our planet. The largest of them are

Malay
Japanese Islands
British Isles.

The Malay archipelago is considered the best and largest in the world. Its area is 2 million square kilometers and it includes more than 10,000 islands. The lands of this giant are located in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The Malay Archipelago is home to many volcanoes and mountains, as well as many gas and oil fields. Fishing and farming predominate among the population.

The world's second largest archipelago is the Canadian Arctic. It is located in the Arctic Ocean. The area of this archipelago is approximately 1.3 million sq. km. The main population is Eskimos. This complex includes the islands of Ellesmere, Victoria, and Baffin Island. The archipelago is topically composed of various trails, mountains and plateaus.

The next large archipelago is known to everyone - these are the same Japanese islands. They included many small islands, each of which is interconnected. Most of them are occupied by mountains and volcanoes, as well as coniferous forests. The geological situation there is extremely unstable - there are earthquakes and tsunamis. The bulk of the population is located directly Japanese island. Marine fishing is highly developed - fishing and crabs.

And last on the list, but not least, the archipelago is the British Isles. Its area is approximately 320 thousand square kilometers, the archipelago includes Great Britain, Ireland and many other small cities. Great Britain and Ireland are two states that are located on this territory.

List of archipelagos

This list shows all the existing archipelagos in the world. For our convenience, I divided them by territorial basis - the oceans where they are located, as well as into territorial subgroups of islands. Each of the lists is arranged in alphabetical order for your convenience. If there is a state on the territory of the archipelago, this will be noted in the list. You can find every archipelago on the planet, learn about it and perhaps consider it as a holiday destination.

Archipelagos of the Arctic Ocean –

complex northern islands located close to the Arctic. Characterized by a cold climate and low population density :

Franz Josef Land
Canadian Arctic Archipelago
New Siberian Islands
Belcher Islands
Severnaya Zemlya
New Earth
Spitsbergen
Queen Elizabeth Islands

Archipelagos of the Atlantic Ocean -

a vast complex of island clusters scattered in the Atlantic Ocean. This includes a number of European and African archipelagos, as well as island complexes of North and South America. This includes the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and the British Isles:

Archipelagos located along the coast of Europe -

British Isles
Inner Hebrides
Outer Hebrides
Hebrides
Channel Islands
Isles of Scilly St Kilda
Faroe islands
Shetland

Archipelagos located along the coast of Africa -

Bay of beautiful islands
Arquipelago dos Bijagos
Bajuni Islands
Saint Helena Islands
Saad al-Din
Sao Tome
Tristan da Cuna

Bermuda
Outer Lands
Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tierra del Fuego
Magdalena Islands
St. Peter and Paul Rocks
Fernando de Noronha
South Sandwich Islands
islands

Macarenesian archipelagos -

Åland Islands
Azores
Wild Islands
Canary Islands
Madeira Islands

Archipelagos of the Baltic Sea -

Östergotland Archipelago
Södermanland Archipelago
Småland Archipelago
Caelix Archipelago
Turku Archipelago
Pitea Archipelago
Luleå Archipelago
Skellefteå Archipelago
Heparanda Archipelago
Eregrand Archipelago
Sea of the archipelago
Western Estonian archipelago
Stockholm archipelago
Swedish arch-lag of the east coast

Archipelagos of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea -

Los Roques Archipelago
Greater Antilles
West Indies
Virgin Islands
islands
Lesser Antilles
Windward Islands
ABC Islands
Leeward Antilles
Puerto Rican Islands
Leeward Islands
Florida Keys

Archipelagos of the Mediterranean Sea -

Campanian Archipelago
Maddalena Archipelago
Balearic Islands
Venice Lagoon
Dodecanese
Ionian Islands
Cyclades
Sporades
Tuscan archipelago

North Sea archipelagos -

Frisian Islands

Archipelagos of the Indian Ocean -

A complex of archipelagos located in the Indian Ocean. They have a tropical climate and heat. The archipelagos here consist of a large number of small islands. One of the most prominent representatives is the artificial World Archipelago :

Andaman Islands
Bonaparte Archipelago
Pirate Archipelago
Chagos Archipelago
Archipelago research
Mergui Archipelago
Zanzibar Archipelago
Amirant Islands
Cocos Islands (Keeling Islands)
Comoros
Langkawi
Lakshadweep
Kerguelen Islands
Mascarene Islands
World Archipelago
Nicobar Islands
Islands of the Mozambique Channel
Socotra
Houtman Abrolhos

Archipelagos of the Red Sea -

Hurghada Archipelago
Farasan Islands
Dahlak Archipelago

Archipelagos of the Pacific Ocean -

it is the largest complex of archipelagos. This includes a huge number of islands and all the world's largest archipelagos. Of particular interest are the Asian archipelagos - the number of islands that make them up is the largest in the world. This complex includes both the archipelagos of the Americas and the aforementioned Asian ones, as well as the archipelagos of circumtropical countries. The climate varies from temperate to tropical:

Archipelagos along the coast of the Americas -

Andreanivsky Islands
Aleutian Islands
Alexandra Archipelago
Chiloe Archipelago
Guatecas Archipelago
Guayaneco Archipelago
Chonos Archipelago
Patagonic Archipelago
Wellington Archipelago
Queen Adelaide Archipelago
Fox Islands
Channel Islands of California
Islands of the Four Mountains

Archipelagos located along the coast of Asia -

Ryukyu Archipelago
Asian islands
Gorong Archipelago
Rio Archipelago
Tambelan Archipelago
Tadjuh Archipelago
Uotubela Archipelago
Cuio Archipelago
Sulu Archipelago
Chumphon Archipelago
Solor Archipelago
Greater Sunda Islands (Sunda Islands)
Gang Arc

Malay Archipelago

The largest archipelago on Earth is the Malay Archipelago. It is located between the southeastern coasts of Asia and Australia and covers an area of approximately 2 million square kilometers. The archipelago includes approximately 10 thousand islands, namely the Greater Sunda, Lesser Sunda, Philippine and Moluccas islands, as well as many small islands. The most large islands The Malay archipelago consists of Kalimantan, Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra, which are part of the Greater Sunda Islands group.

The island of Java is also the most populated island in the world, with more than 124 million people living on it in 2005.

Location and topography of the Malay Archipelago

The islands of the Malay Archipelago are washed by the waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The territory of the islands of the archipelago is almost entirely covered by the state of Indonesia - the largest island state in the world, as well as the Philippines, Brunei, East Timor and partly Malaysia. The climate in the archipelago is predominantly equatorial in the center and subequatorial in the northern and southern outskirts, the average annual temperature is about 24 degrees in the plains and 16 degrees in the mountains, and it practically does not depend on the time of year.

The relief of the main part of the islands is predominantly mountainous, most high point Of all the islands of the archipelago is Mount Kinabalu, located on the island of Kalimantan, the height of which reaches 4101 m. There are more than 300 volcanoes in the Malay Archipelago, of which about 100 are active. The most famous active volcano– Krakatoa, located in the Sunda Strait near the islands of Java and Sumatra. This volcano is infamous for having the most powerful eruption of any volcano in history.

Animal and vegetable world Malay Archipelago

The flora and fauna of the Malay Archipelago is quite diverse and at the same time unique, which is due to both the favorable climate and the geographical location of the islands. More than 1,100 plant species grow on the territory of the archipelago, about 500 of which are endemic, that is, they grow exclusively on the islands of the archipelago.

The fauna is represented by apes and canines, elephants, rhinoceroses, and various marsupials. Among the endemic representatives of the fauna of the archipelago one can note such animals as malayan bear, Malayan red wolf, Komodo dragon. By the way, the Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard in the world.

Minerals of the islands of the Malay Archipelago

The islands of the Malay Archipelago are rich in mineral resources. The largest deposits of tin were discovered here (Bank Island, Indonesia), as well as deposits of bauxite, copper, iron, nickel and manganese ores. In addition, there is a significant amount of oil and gas. In this regard, human influence on the nature and ecology of the archipelago is increasing. Many endemic species of flora and fauna are now under threat of extinction. To preserve them, several large nature reserves and national parks have been created on the islands of the archipelago, for example, national park Listed Komodo World Heritage UNESCO.

There is such a thing as an “archipelago country”. What does it mean? What states can be classified as this type? And which country is located on 474 islands? The answers to all these interesting questions are in our article!

Archipelago as a geographical concept

If you look at a map of the Pacific Ocean, focusing on its southwestern part, you will see a huge number of islands of different sizes. Very often they are located in groups, forming so-called archipelagos.

The term itself is of ancient Greek origin and consists of two words: pelages - “sea” and arche - “old, ancient”. Initially, this term specifically designated a group of islands of Ancient Greece.

Islands within the same archipelago, as a rule, have a common genesis and are located on the same base (bottom). There are archipelagos of continental, volcanic and coral origin.

Archipelagic countries (list)

Each country has its own geographical position. Some states are located within the mainland, while other countries are located on islands.

Archipelagic countries refer to those states that occupy groups of islands located close to each other. Moreover, we are talking specifically about island groups. That is, for example, it is difficult to classify Croatia as this type, because its main part is located on the mainland.

All archipelagic countries are listed below:

Great Britain;
New Zealand;
Indonesia;
Kiribati;
Marshall Islands;
Solomon islands;
Seychelles;
Palau;
Tuvalu;
Tonga;
Japan;
Philippines;
Denmark.

It is worth noting that most of the states from this list are located in South-East Asia and Oceania - the most “island” regions of the planet.

Which country has 474 islands?

As we see, in modern world There are more than a dozen archipelagic states. In this list, one country is located on 474 islands. What is it called?

This country is Denmark. It is located in Northern Europe, just between the mainland and the Scandinavian Peninsula. Indeed, this country is located on 474 islands. All of them are characterized by lowland terrain and sandy soils. Only 70 of these islands are inhabited by people. The largest of them are Zealand, Bornholm, Lolland.

Denmark is one of the oldest powers in Europe. The Danish Kingdom was formed back in the tenth century. By the way, the national flag of Denmark is also the oldest in the world. The banner with a white cross on a red background has been known since the 13th century.

Modern Denmark is in the top ten of many world rankings. We are talking about the level of education, health care, democracy, human development and GDP per capita. In addition, the Danes have been called the happiest nation in the world more than once.

We offer you a few more interesting facts about Denmark:

located in the Danish capital Copenhagen famous park recreation "Tivoli", which served as the prototype of the famous "Disneyland";
Denmark is the first European country to make same-sex marriage legal;
The Faroe Islands, as you know, belong to Denmark. However, few people know that the Danish king won them at cards from the Norwegian monarch;
Strøget Boulevard in the center of Copenhagen is the longest walking street in Europe;
it was in Denmark that one of the most famous and recognizable writers on the planet, Hans Christian Andersen, lived and worked;
Danes are forced to pay one of the highest personal car taxes in the world;
Perhaps the most famous Danish product on the world market is the Lego children's construction set.

Finally...

Now you know which country is located on 474 islands. There are 15 archipelagic states in the world, which are located in different parts of the world.

If you didn't study geography too hard at school, the meaning of some geographical terms may not be clear to you.

For example, not all of our compatriots know exactly what an archipelago is in geography. The phrase of A. Solzhenitsyn’s odious work “The Gulag Archipelago”, associated with the repressions of the 30s of the twentieth century, is firmly fixed in the mass consciousness. However, in reality, an archipelago is just a group of islands in the sea or ocean.

What is an archipelago?

First, let's remember what an island is - it is a relatively small piece of land, surrounded on all sides by the waters of the sea or ocean. Islands can be large, with an area of hundreds of square kilometers, and very small, a dozen or two meters in diameter. They differ not only in size, but also in the method of formation.

Some islands were formed as a result of, others due to the growth of corals, etc. A lonely island in the middle of the sea is just an island and nothing more, but if there are many of them, they are located close to each other and have a common origin - then a group of islands can safely be called an archipelago.

So, we found out that an archipelago is a group of islands located quite close to each other, which were formed as a result of similar processes. The last rule has several exceptions: sometimes islands with different origins are included in the archipelago if they are located nearby.

Many archipelagos form island states: the most famous of them are Japan, Great Britain, Indonesia, the Philippines, Denmark, etc. However, most archipelagos are part of the mainland states off whose coasts they are located, or by whose citizens they were discovered and colonized. In total, today there are about 30 archipelagic states, but more than half of them, while formally considered independent, are actually under the protectorate of the United States or Great Britain.

Types of archipelagos

The main criterion by which archipelagos are classified in geography is the method of their formation and geological structure.

In accordance with it, the following types of archipelagos are distinguished.

— Mainland island groups They were once part of the land, but due to tectonic processes of subsidence, parts of the earth's crust turned out to be separated from the mainland by water. These are the British Isles, New Zealand, Novaya Zemlya, etc.

— Volcanic archipelagos formed as a result of what happened millions of years ago volcanic activity. Each island is the top of a giant volcano, the eruption of lava from which was so great that the resulting cone protruded from the water. The Hawaiian archipelago, the Kuril archipelago, etc. are of volcanic origin.

— Coral archipelagos They are chains of islands formed as a result of the life of corals. Often such islands form a semicircle or ring with a lagoon in the middle. The most famous archipelagos of this type are the Marshall Islands in Pacific Ocean, Maldives in the Indian Ocean, etc.

— Alluvial archipelagos– groups of islands of artificial origin. These are quite complex and large-scale hydraulic structures located in close proximity to the mainland and used as recreational areas. The most famous alluvial archipelago is the Island of Palms in the UAE, which is a group of small islands that, when viewed from above, resemble a palm tree.

As a rule, islands of the same archipelago are closely connected not only by a common geological origin, but also by a common history, traditions of the peoples inhabiting them, economic and cultural relations.

The largest archipelagos

There are more than 150 archipelagos of various sizes on our planet. The largest in terms of territory occupied are:

— Malay Archipelago, consisting of a total of more than 10 thousand islands and covering an area of about 2 million square kilometers between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, on whose territory there are three island states - the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia;

— Canadian Arctic Archipelago, with an area of more than 1.4 million square kilometers, located in the waters of the Arctic and partly Atlantic Oceans and inhabited for the most part by Eskimo peoples;

— Japanese archipelago, occupying an area of about 350 thousand square kilometers and entirely owned by the state of Japan;

— British archipelago, whose area is 315 thousand square kilometers, belongs to Great Britain and partly Ireland.

In accordance with Art. 46 of the 1982 Convention, an archipelago State consists entirely of one or more archipelagos and may include other islands; archipelago means a group of islands, including parts of islands, their connecting waters and other natural formations, which are so closely interrelated that such islands, waters and other natural formations constitute, or have historically been considered as such, a single geographical, economic and political whole.
Currently, there are about 30 archipelagic states in the world, for example, Indonesia, the Philippines, Bahamas, Jamaica, Vanuatu, Seychelles, Maldives, Fiji.
The largest archipelago state in the world is Indonesia. The territory of this archipelago state consists of 5 large islands (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Irian Jaya) and about 30 groups of smaller islands. Their total number, according to the Indonesian Oceanographic Service, is 17,508, of which about 6,000 are inhabited. The archipelago is located between two oceans (Indian and Pacific) and is a bridge from Australia to Asia.
The area of Indonesian seas is four times larger than the land area at 7.9 million km2 (including the area of the economic zone), while the land area is 1.9 million km2.
The issue of archipelagos was first discussed at the Geneva Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1958. However, like the Hague Conference of 1930, due to differences in the positions of the participating States, no agreement was reached either on the definition of the legal concept of an archipelago or on the regime waters located between the islands of the archipelago.
As a result of the Geneva Conference on the Law of the Sea, a situation arose when, in the absence of special norms of international law, including customary law, on archipelagos, a tendency began to manifest itself towards the unilateral extension of state sovereignty to the waters of archipelagos. In 1955, the Philippine government declared that it regarded all waters between the islands of the Philippine archipelago, regardless of their breadth and extent, as national or internal waters subject to the exclusive sovereignty of the Philippines.
In 1957, the Indonesian government declared the extension of Indonesia's absolute sovereignty to all waters located between the islands that make up the Republic of Indonesia. In the case of Indonesia, the sovereignty of the coastal state was extended over vast sea basins, which have traditionally been used for international shipping. In particular, the 100-mile wide area of the Java Sea fell under Indonesian sovereignty. The waters of the Karimata, Sunda, and Makassar straits were arbitrarily included in the internal waters. These straits were international, but since 1957 the regime for the passage of foreigners through them sea vessels became regulated by national legislation. This state of affairs could not guarantee foreign ships the right of unhindered passage.
By taking steps to extend their sovereignty to the waters lying between the islands that are part of the land territory of the archipelago state, the latter indicated that this meets their political, economic and security interests. A certain role in this was played by the fact that the archipelagic states that made such claims were, for the most part, until recently colonial or dependent countries.
Of course, this seriously affected the interests of a large number of countries using the sea. There was a need to resolve this issue on a compromise basis by taking into account the interests of both the archipelagic states and all other states interested in the use of water spaces between the islands of the archipelagos, which have long had the status of open sea, for shipping, aircraft overflight and the like.
The development of international legal norms on archipelagos was undertaken within the framework of the III UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, which culminated in the inclusion in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of a special section (Part IV), entitled “Archipelago States,” which provides a definition of an archipelago, archipelago states, the principles of delimitation of archipelagic states are determined, the legal regime of waters located between the islands constituting the land territory of archipelagic states is established, and the rights of other states to use such waters are fixed.