Download Geography: Top 10 biggest islands

Top Ten
Biggest Islands
Greenland
Greenland
• Greenland is a member country of the Kingdom of Denmark
• Greenland is located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the
Canadian Arctic Archipelago
• Greenland is, by area, the world's largest island that is not a continent in its
own right
• The total area of Greenland measures 2,166,086 km² (836,109 sq mi)
• About 81 percent of Greenland's surface is covered by the Greenland ice
sheet.
• Greenland today is critically dependent on fishing and fish exports; the
shrimp fishing industry is by far the largest income earner.
• The name Greenland comes from Scandinavian settlers. In the Icelandic
sagas, it is said that Norwegian-born Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland
for murder. He, along with his extended family and thralls, set out in ships to
find the land that was rumoured to be to the northwest. After settling there,
he named the land Grænland ("Greenland").
• The official languages of Greenland are Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) and
Danish, and most of the population speak both of the languages.
• The culture of Greenland has much in common with Inuit tradition, as the
majority of people are descended from Inuit. Many people still go ice-fishing
and there are annual dog-sled races in which everyone with a team
participates.
An Inuit family
Scoresby Sund in East Greenland, the
longest fjord in the world.
Orca
The town Qaqortoq in southwestern Greenland.
Reindeer
New
Guinea
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New Guinea
New Guinea, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the
Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the
last glacial period.
New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse area in the world: it is populated by
nearly a thousand different tribal groups and a near-equivalent number of separate
languages.
Most societies practise agriculture, supplemented by hunting and gathering.
Biodiversity: 5 to 10% of the total species on the planet.
Probably well over 200,000 species of insect, between 11,000 to 20,000 plant
species; over 650 resident bird species, including birds of paradise and bowerbirds,
parrots, and cassowaries; over 400 amphibians; 455 butterfly species; marsupials
and monotremes including Bondegezou, Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo, Huon Treekangaroo, Long-beaked Echidna, Tenkile, Agile Wallaby, Alpine Wallaby, cuscuses
and possums; and various other mammal species.
The gardens of the New Guinea Highlands are ancient, intensive permacultures,
adapted to high population densities, very high rainfalls (as high as 10,000 mm/yr
(400 in/yr)), earthquakes, hilly land, and occasional frost.
There is evidence that New Guinea gardeners invented crop rotation well before
western Europeans.
New Guinea contains many of the world’s ecosystem types: glacial, alpine tundra,
savanna, montane and lowland rainforest, mangroves, wetlands, lake and river
ecosystems, seagrasses, and some of the richest coral reefs on the planet.
A central east-west mountain range dominates the geography of New Guinea, over
1600 km in total length. The western half of the island of New Guinea contains the
highest mountains in Oceania
The western half of the island contains the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West
Papua, while the eastern half belongs to independent country of Papua New Guinea.
Indonesia
Papua New Guinea
Long-beaked echidnas
Matschie's
Treekangaroo
Lesser Bird of
Paradise
Dani tribesman
in the Baliem
Valley
Kurulu Village
War Chief at
Baliem Valley
Borneo
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Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world: 743,330 km² (287,000 square miles).
Borneo is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia
Borneo is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei
Indonesians refer to the island as "Kalimantan."
Malaysia's region of Borneo is called East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo.
The independent nation of Brunei occupies the remainder of the island. Brunei is the
wealthiest nation in the island of Borneo.
Borneo us the world’s third highest island. Its highest point is Mount Kinabalu in
Sabah, Malaysia, with an elevation of 4,095 m (13,435 ft) above sea level.
Borneo has the longest river in Indonesia: Kapuas River (~1,143 km - 710 mi)
Borneo has the longest river in Malaysia: Rajang River in Sarawak (562.5 km - 349.5 mi)
Borneo is also known for its extensive cave systems.
Borneo has one of the world's longest underwater rivers in Clearwater Cave.
Borneo has the the largest cave passage in the world in Deer Cave
Borneo’s Deer Cave is a home to over three million bats and guano
There are over 30 Dayak sub-ethnic groups living in Borneo, making the population
of this island one of the most varied of human social groups.
One half of the annual tropical timber acquisition of the whole world comes from
Borneo
Borneo has rainforests of the following types: the high diversity mixed dipterocarp
forest, the rare peat swamp forests and heath forest.
In the Kapuas River drainage system lives a venomous species of snake that can
change its skin color, Kapuas mud snake
Bornean Flat-headed Frog, Barbourula kalimantanensis, found in cold, fast-flowing
mountain streams, is the only known lungless frog.
Indonesia
Brunei
Malaysia
Kapuas mud snake
Bornean Orangutan habitat
Lesser Short-nosed Fruit Bat
Bornean Orangutan
Bornean Flat-headed Frog
Nepenthes villosa
pitcher plant
Kayan Woman
Mount Kinabalu, a major center of
biodiversity in Borneo.
Madagascar
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Madagascar
The main island of Republic of Madagascar (Madagascar) is the 4th-largest island in
the world
Republic of M. is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of
Africa.
Madagascar is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more
than 80% are endemic to Madagascar
Madagascar's long isolation from the neighboring continents has resulted in a unique
mix of plants and animals, many found nowhere else in the world
Some ecologists refer to Madagascar as the "eighth continent"
Madagascar’s unique biodiversity includes the lemur infraorder of primates, the
largest mammalian carnivore on the island - fossa, three bird families and six baobab
species.
Peoples' religious beliefs revolve around indigenous beliefs 52%, Christian 41%,
Muslim 7%.
Madagascar’s official languages are French and Malagasy.
Madagascar’s terrain has a narrow coastal plain with a high plateau and mountains
in the center.
Madagascar’s climate is tropical along the coast, temperate inland, and arid in the
south.
On Madagascar there are two seasons: a hot, rainy season from November to April,
and a cooler, dry season from May to October.
South-eastern trade winds predominate, and the island occasionally experiences
cyclones.
Madagascar's varied fauna and flora are endangered by human activity, as a third of
its native vegetation has disappeared since the 1970s, and only 18% remains intact
Agriculture, including fishing and forestry, is a mainstay of the economy.
Giant Coua
Fossa
Black-and-white Ruffed
Lemur
Baobab
Antananarivo (capital)
Baffin
Island
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Baffin Island
Baffin Island is the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world
Baffin Island covers an area of 507,451 km² (195,928 sq mi).
Baffin Island is named after British explorer William Baffin.
Archeological evidence on the island indicate contact with Europeans ~1000ad – 100
years before Vikings arrival in Greenland.
On southern coast of Baffin Island is located Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut - the
largest and newest territory of Canada
Nunavut ['our land' in Inuktitut] is both the least populated and the largest of the
provinces and territories of Canada. Its inhabitants are called Nunavummiut
On Baffin island, on land, examples of year-round wildlife are barren-ground caribou,
polar bear, arctic fox, arctic hare, lemming and arctic wolf.
Baffin Island is one of the major nesting destinations from the Eastern and Mid-West
flyways for many species of migrating birds: canada goose, snow goose and brent
goose (brant goose). Shore birds include the phalarope, various waders (commonly
called sandpipers), murres including Brünnich's guillemot, and plovers. Three gull
species also nest on Baffin Island: glaucous gull, herring gull and ivory gull.
Long-range travellers include the arctic tern, which migrates from Antarctica every
spring. The variety of water birds that nest here include coots, loons, mallards, and
many other duck species.
Harp seals, walrus, beluga, narwhals, bowhead whale visit Baffin island in summer
Baffin Island has an unusually cold climate: very long, cold winters and foggy, cloudy
summers, which have helped to add to the remoteness of the island.
Snow, even heavy snow occurs at any time of the year, although is least likely in July
and early Augus
Baffin Island is becoming popular amongst the BASE jumping community as a
hotspot due to a wide array of tall cliffs scattered around the island.
Canada
Nunavut
Baffin Island coast
Arctic Terns migrate to Baffin
Island every spring
Traditional qamutik
Cape Dorset
Polar Bear
Arctic Fox
Sumatra
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Sumatra
Sumatra is the sixth largest island in the world and is the largest island entirely in
Indonesia, ~470,000 km²
Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit names of Swarnadwīpa ("Island
of Gold") and Swarnabhūmi ("Land of Gold"), due likely to the gold deposits
European writers in the 19th century found that the indigenous inhabitants did not
have a name for the island.
Marco Polo visited the island in 1292 and Ibn Battuta visited twice during 1345-1346.
The island is the world's 5th highest island
Unique plant species include: Sumatran Pine, Rafflesia arnoldii (world's largest
individual flower), Titan arum (world's tallest and largest inflorescence flower).
The species present include: Sumatran Tiger, Sumatran Orangutan, Sumatran
Rhinoceros, Sumatran Elephant, Sumatran Striped Rabbit, Dhole, Dayak Fruit Bat,
Malayan Tapir, Malayan Sun Bear and the Bornean Clouded Leopard.
The island includes more than 10 National Parks, including 3 which are listed as the
Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra World Heritage Site—Gunung Leuser
National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park.
Sumatra is not very densely populated, It is nonetheless the fifth most populous
island in the world
Sumatra is the largest producer of Indonesian coffee.
Most of Sumatra used to be covered by tropical rainforest, but economic
development coupled with corruption and illegal logging has severely threatened it
The people composed of many different ethnic groups, speaking 52 different
languages. Most of these groups, however, share many similar traditions and the
different tongues are closely related.
Malay-speaking people dominate the eastern coast, while people in the southern and
central interior speak languages related to Malay, such as the Lampung and
Indonesia
Dhole_the Asiatic Wild Dog
Titan arum,
world’s tallest
flower
Minangkabau women
carrying platters of
food to a ceremony
Rafflesia sumatra,
world’s largest flower
Malayan Tapir
Sumatran Tiger
Honshu
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Honshu
Honshū is the largest island of Japan, the nation's main island
Honshū is the seventh largest island, and the second most populous island in the
world after Java in Indonesia.
Honshu means literary "Main State"
The island is ~1,300 km long and ranges from 50 to 230 km wide, and its total area is
230,500 km², 61% of the total area of Japan.
Mountainous and volcanic, Honshū has frequent earthquakes
Honshū’s highest peak is the active volcano Mount Fuji at 3,776 m, which makes it
the world's 7th highest island.
The climate is temperate, but there is little rain on the Pacific Ocean coast in winter,
whereas the Japan seacoast is characterized by snowy weather.
The major economic activities and most of the population of Japan are in Honshu.
Along the northwestern coast by the Sea of Japan it is largely fishing and agriculture
Most of the nation's industry is located along the belt running from Tokyo along
Honshū's southern coastal cities, including Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, and
Hiroshima.
Honshū is connected to the islands of Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku by tunnels or
bridges.
There is a great biodiversity on the Honshū: the Asiatic black bear inhabits
mountainous areas; smaller carnivores include Honshū wolf, red fox, raccoon dog
and Japanese marten. Marine mammals include the dugong, finless porpoise and
Steller's sea lion
Grazing mammals include the sika deer, Japanese serow and wild boar.
There is also a Japanese macaque, the world's most northerly monkey.
There are over 40 amphibian species including the Japanese giant salamander, one
of the world's largest amphibians.
Sumo wrestlers
Japan
Asiatic black bear Moon Bear
Japanese giant salamander
Japanese macaque
bathing in hot springs in
Nagano
Victoria
Island
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Victoria Island
Victoria Island is the 8th largest island of the world, Canada's second largest island
Victoria Island is in Canadian Arctic Archipelago, ~ 217,291 square km (83,897 sq mi)
Victoria Island is also called Kitlineq
The western third of the island belongs to the Inuvik Region in the Northwest
Territories and the remainder is part of Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region.
The island is named after Queen Victoria, the Canadian sovereign from 1867-1901.
Discovered in 1838 by Thomas Simpson, it was first explored by John Rae in 1851.
It is an island of peninsulas, having a heavily indented coastline with many inlets.
The island as a whole resembles a stylized maple leaf, the main Canadian symbol.
Island’s landscape is dominated by tundra, treeless plains, rock, and snow and ice.
Of the two settlements on the island the largest is Cambridge Bay, which lies on the
south-east coast and is in Nunavut.
The island should not be confused with the smaller Victoria Island located in
Amadjuak Lake on Baffin Island and the city of Victoria, British Columbia, which is on
Vancouver Island in the Pacific Ocean, 2000km away.
Victoria Island is largely composed of sedimentary rock.
There is a belt of Precambrian rock on the west coast and another on the south
coast, veined with copper formerly used by the COPPER INUIT.
On the banks of Victoria Island in the 20th century lived Copper Inuit, so named
because of their extensive use of artifacts made from the native copper deposits
In winter Copper Inuit lived in large snow-house communities on the sea ice, moving
to new areas as the local seal population was hunted out.
In spring Copper Inuit broke up in small bands moved to specific areas on the coasts,
from where they travelled into the interior in search of caribou, muskoxen and fish.
Barren-ground caribou, muskox, Arctic char, lake trout and ringed seal were the
Canada
Nunavut
Northwest
Territories
Ringed Seal
Muskox
Cambridge Bay, Nunavut
Drum Dancing
Barren-ground Caribou
Great
Britain
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Great Britain
Great Britain is the largest island in Europe and the ninth largest island in the world.
Great Britain is also the third most populated island on earth, with a population of 58
million people and is the world's 5th largest economy.
Great Britain makes up the largest part of the territory of the country known as the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ~ 209,331 km² (80,823 sq mi)
Great Britain consists of England (London), Scotland (Edinburgh) and Wales (Cardiff)
Traces of early humans have been found in Great Britain from some 700,000 years
ago and modern humans from about 30,000 years ago.
Up until about 9,000 years ago, Great Britain was joined to Ireland. As recently as
8,000 years ago Great Britain was joined to the continent.
Iron Age inhabitants are known as the Britons, speaking Celtic, and most of it was
conquered to become the Ancient Roman province of Britannia.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, over a period of 500 years, the Britons of the
south and east of the island of Britain became assimilated by colonizing Germanic
tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) who became known as the English people.
Beyond Hadrian's wall, the major ethnic groups were the Scots, who may have
emigrated from Ireland, and the Picts as well as other Brythonic peoples in the sw
The island of Great Britain has a largely temperate environment.
The seasonal changes mean that plants have to cope with many changes linked to
levels of sunlight, and this has led to a lack of plant diversity.
Ultimately this has limited animal speciation and diversification because there are
fewer edible types of vegetation in the habitats found on the island.
Bigger mammals, Grey Wolf and Brown Bear, were hunted to extinction centuries
ago. Many of these large mammals have been reintroduced
The largest mammals that remain today are predominantly from Deer family.
Red Fox is the most successful urban mammal after the Brown Rat.
Tower Bridge, London
UK
England
Scotland
Wales
Welsh Mountain Pony
English Countryside
Pygmy Shrew
Scotland:
bag pipe
musician
one of the world’s smallest mammals
Stonehenge
Queen of England:
Elizabeth II
Red Fox
Ellesmere
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Ellesmere
Ellesmere Island is the world's tenth largest island and Canada's third largest island.
Ellesmere Island is ~196,235 km2 (75,767 sq mi), part of the territory of Nunavut.
Ellesmere Island is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, with Cape
Columbia being the most northerly point of land in Canada.
The Arctic Cordillera mountain system covers much of Ellesmere Island, making it
the most mountainous in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
The only woody species to grow on Ellesmere Island is the Arctic willow
The first inhabitants of Ellesmere Island were small bands drawn to the area for
Peary caribou, muskox, and marine mammal hunting about 1000-2000 BC
Inuit people lived on the island both in summer and in winter but ecological and
possibly social circumstances caused the area to be abandoned.
Vikings, likely from the Greenland colonies, reached Ellesmere Island, Skraeling
Island and Ruin Island during hunting expeditions and trading with the Inuit groups.
The first European to sight the island after the height of the "Little Ice Age" was
William Baffin, in 1616; said "Age" lasted until roughly 1850.
Ellesmere Island was named in 1852 by Edward Inglefield's expedition after Francis
Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere
In 1881 an expedition of Adolphus Greely found fossil forests
More than one-fifth of the island is protected as Quttinirpaaq National Park (formerly
Ellesmere Island National Park Reserve), which includes seven fjords and a variety
of glaciers, and Lake Hazen, North America's largest lake north of the Arctic Circle.
Large portions of Ellesmere Island are covered with glaciers and ice
Ellesmere Island is the northernmost occurrence of eusocial insects; specifically, the
bumblebee Bombus polaris. Interestingly, there is a second species of bumblebee
occurring there, Bombus hyperboreus, which is a parasite in the nests of B. polaris.
In 2006, the population of Ellesmere Island was recorded as 146.
Arctic Wolf
Canada
Nunavut
Gray Wolf
Arctic Hare