The most normal thing to consider an island is to think that they have a smaller size. However, this is not so. In the world there are islands of enormous size that are home to large populations such as Japan. Many people wonder what is the largest island in the world.
For this reason, we are going to dedicate this article to telling you which is the largest island in the world, its characteristics and way of life.
The largest island in the world
There are a thousand and one types of islands. Different sizes, shapes, flora, fauna, climates and geography. And, while most islands are naturally formed, others, like the Flevopolder and René-Levasseur Island, are man-made, ie built by people.
There are islands in rivers and lakes, but the largest islands are in the ocean. There are even some geographers who consider Australia an island even though it is almost four times the size of Greenland. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to know the exact number of islands that inhabit our planet. It goes without saying that the ocean has not been fully explored. Nowadays, only 30 islands are known to exist with an area ranging from 2.000 to 2.499 square kilometers.
The five islands of Baffin Island, Madagascar Island, Borneo Island, New Guinea Island, and Greenland are at least 500.000 square kilometers, so our Top1 is here.
Greenland is the largest and only island in the world with an area of more than one million square kilometers. Its surface is 2,13 million square kilometers, almost a quarter of the size of Australia that we mentioned above.
Known for its massive glaciers and vast tundra, three-quarters of the island is covered by the only permanent ice sheet in existence (hopefully it'll be there for many more years), as well as Antarctica. Its capital and largest city, Nuuk, is home to approximately one-third of the island's population.
And it should be noted that this country is the least populated area in the world, and the majority of Greenlanders are Inuit or Eskimo. Nevertheless, today the island is a popular tourist destination. Politically it is an autonomous region of Denmark, although it maintains great political freedom and strong self-government. Of the 56.000 people who live in Greenland, 16.000 live in the capital, Nuuk, which It is located 240 kilometers from the center of the Arctic and is the northernmost capital in the world.
In particular, New Guinea (the second largest island) is the highest island in the world at 5.030 meters above sea level and is home to the highest peak in Oceania. With the western half of New Guinea, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Java, Indonesia is the world's largest island nation.
Other largest islands in the world
New Guinea
At 785.753 square kilometers, New Guinea is the second largest island in the world. Politically, the island is divided into two parts, one part is the independent country Papua New Guinea and the rest is called Western New Guinea, which belongs to the territory of Indonesia.
It is located on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean, north of Australia, so it is believed that New Guinea belonged to this continent in distant times. The amazing thing about this island is that it inhabits an enormous biodiversity, we can find from 5% to 10% of the total species on earth.
Borneo
Slightly smaller than New Guinea is Borneo, the third largest island in the world at 748.168 square kilometers and the only island in Southeast Asia. As in the previous case, here we also find a rich biodiversity and a large number of species, many of them endangeredLike the clouded leopard. The threat to this little paradise comes from the severe deforestation it has suffered since the 1970s, since the residents here do not have fertile land for traditional agriculture and have had to resort to felling and selling their wood.
Three different nations coexist on the island of Borneo; Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the north and Brunei, a small sultanate that, despite covering less than 6.000 square kilometers, is the richest state on the island.
Madagascar
Perhaps the most famous island, thanks in part to cartoon movies, Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world with 587.713 square kilometers. It is located in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Mozambique, separated from the African continent by the Mozambique Channel.
More than 22 million people live in it, mostly Malagasy-speaking (their own language) and French, a colony of the country until its independence in 1960, with which they maintain close ties to this day.
Baffin
To discover the last of the 5 best islands in the world, we have to go back to where we started, Greenland. Baffin Island, part of Canada, lies between that country and Greenland, and it has 11.000 residents in its extension of 507.451 square kilometers.
The island has been used as a whaling base since its discovery by Europeans in 1576, and today the main economic activities on the island are tourism, mining and fishing, with tourism drawn by the majestic sight of the Northern Lights. .
Why Australia is not the largest island in the world
Australia is not the largest island, not because it is small, but because geographically it is not an island, but a continent. Yes, at the terrestrial level it can be considered an island since it is a terrestrial surface surrounded by water, which is why many consider it an island. However, when it falls on its own tectonic plate it is considered a continent. Anyway, if we consider it an island, It wouldn't be the largest in the world either, because Antarctica is another, larger island continent.
As you can see, contrary to what you usually think, there are islands with a size that is home to cities and abundant populations. I hope that with this information you can learn more about the largest island in the world and its characteristics.