The Islands Portal
An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. Sedimentary islands in the Ganges Delta are called chars. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands, such as the Philippines, is referred to as an archipelago.
There are two main types of islands in the sea: continental islands and oceanic islands. There are also artificial islands (man-made islands).
There are about 900,000 official islands in the world. This number consists of all the officially-reported islands of each country. The total number of islands in the world is unknown. There may be hundreds of thousands of tiny islands that are unknown and uncounted. The number of sea islands in the world is estimated to be more than 200,000. The total area of the world's sea islands is approx. 9,963,000 km2, which is similar to the area of Canada and accounts for roughly 1/15 (or 6.7%) of the total land area of Earth. (Full article...)
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North Island is the northernmost island in the Houtman Abrolhos, a coral reef archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mid West Western Australia. Located about 14 km (9 mi) from the nearest island group, it is one of the largest islands in the Houtman Abrolhos, and one of the few to support dune systems. It has relatively diverse flora dominated by chenopod shrubs and fauna that includes the introduced tammar wallaby, around seven species of reptile, and about 15 resident bird species.
First recorded and surveyed in 1840, North Island has been a seasonal camp for western rock lobster fishermen since the beginning of the 20th century, and this remains the principal focus of human activity on the island. There is also a small amount of tourism, though for the most part it is reserved as conservation habitat for vegetation communities and rare birds. (Full article...)
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Did you know –

- ... that the city of Dearborn forgot about the existence of Fordson Island for several decades?
- ... that the Australian government tried to censor a film of Quail Island's starving koalas?
- ... that in 1972, Catalina Island was occupied by the Brown Berets, who claimed that the territory rightfully belonged to Mexico?
- ... that Richardson Island was involved in an "annexation war" between two cities in the 1950s?
- ... that KSBK, which has been described as the most influential radio station in Okinawa in the 1960s, became a casualty of the reversion of the Ryukyu Islands to Japan and closed in October 1973?
- ... that Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility is listed on the National Register of Historic Places?
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