What are the top ten Largest Islands in the world? Think!
There are so many islands in the world, and while your mind might automatically go to Australia as the largest, I am not counting it within this list. The reason for that is Australia is a continent, so it is technically not considered an island. Read the complete travel article.
This list will exclude Australia and that part of the world, as well as Antarctica.
Are you ready to get started?
So lets start!
The top 10 Largest Islands in the World
1. Greenland
This island is approximately two million square kilometers and it is considered part of North America. However, it is usually associated with Norway and Denmark over in Europe. Most of the locals are the descendants of the Inuit, who arrived on this island from Canada during the 13th century. This ice-covered island has one of the highest renewable energy sources in the world.
2. New Guinea
This island is 785, 000 square kilometers and is part of the archipelago of Indonesia. People have lived on this island for more than forty thousand years now and they live on either the west or the east side, which are ruled by different governments. More than seven hundred idioms are spoken on this island, so you will hear many different languages if you happen to visit.
3. Borneo Island
Borneo has 748,000 square kilometers and this island is part of an archipelago as well. The entire island is ruled by three different countries. The oldest rainforest in the world can be found on this island and there are many different animals and plants living within it.
4. Madagascar Island
Madagascar is 587,000 square kilometers and it is currently its own independent nation. This island is quite biodiverse and about 90 percent of the wildlife on the island cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
5. Baffin Island
Baffin is up near Canada and it is slightly over 500,000 square kilometers in size. This island was named after William Baffin, who was an explorer. The history of the people living in Baffin includes cultures and traditions of the Nordic and Inuit.
6. Sumatra Island
Sumatra is over in Asia and it is 473,000 square kilometers. More than fifty million people live on this island and during a visit you will discover the equator crosses directly through the center. Half of the forest on this island has disappeared within the last forty years, creating a smoky haze that covers nearby countries.
7. Honshu Island
There are almost 228,000 square kilometers within this island in the Japanese archipelago and it is the second most populated island in the entire world. One hundred and four million people live on this island, of which almost a quarter of them live within Tokyo. Mount Fuji can be found on this island and it is what gives the island its height.
8. Great Britain
Great Britain is the largest of all the British Islands at 209,000 square kilometers. Sixty-one million people live on this island and they are all ruled by the United Kingdom government. Great Britain used to be known as Albion before the name was changed to Britannia and eventually the name it is called today.
9. Victoria Island
There are 217,000 square kilometers on the Canadian Island of Victoria. Only approximately two thousand people live on this island which was discovered in 1829.
10. Ellesmere Island
This is another Canadian Island and its Inuit name is Umingmaknuna. Less than two hundred people call this island home, thanks to the extreme weather conditions.
These are the ten largest islands in the world. I’m sure some of them were not surprising, but others were ones you probably didn’t even know existed. Let us know if you knew the ten largest islands in the world or if you were completely surprised with this list.
