What is the largest island in the world and why is it not so easy to identify?

In geography, one often comes across seemingly trivial questions, but with complex answers. One of these questions is which is the largest island in the worlda question that is impossible to answer if we do not first define what is meant by “island”. Depending on the definition, in fact, the largest island on the planet it’s different: the two main candidates for the throne are however theAustralia and the Greenland.

Let’s start from the concept of island

Let’s start with the basics. An island is a portion of mainland entirely surrounded by a mass of water fresh or salty. Islands can be found within large or small lakes, the course of a river, a sea or an ocean.

An island can have origin in different ways: from the movements of the earth’s crust, from volcanic activity and from the accumulation of materials and sediments transported by waves, currents or rivers. There are also coral islandswhich were formed on the upper layers of coral reefs; islands which are actually the peaks of underwater mountain ranges and islands of artificial originthat is, made by humans. In essence, the countless islands of the planet can be found almost anywhere and can have extremely different shapes and sizes.

Are continents islands?

According to the definition we gave earlier, one would therefore think that even the continents are islands. In fact the water covers approximately 70% of our planet’s surfacewhich is not by chance also called “Blue Planet“. Consequently, continents are portions of land completely surrounded by water. So, what is the dividing line that divides the category of islands from that of continents?

Here the knots of the skein begin. Although there is no well-defined criterion and commonly accepted by all, usually the distinction between these two geographical elements is traced back simply to the size: continents are big. Very big. Islands are small. But this is a pretty weak argument on its own.

Another reflection on the definition of continent, of a more geologicalidentifies among the main differences the fact that the continents are an integral part of the tectonic plates on which they are located and which occupy a considerable portion of its surface. Islands, on the contrary, occupy only a very small portion of the plate on which they are located and can also arise at horse between two plates.

Another differentiation between island and continent takes into consideration criteria naturalistic And socio-cultural: a continent in fact includes a great variety of species of flora And faunabut also a great variety of cultures which, among other things, may also be unique to that continent. Hardly will a single island contain such a variety of natural and anthropogenic elements.

In short, as you can see, there are possible comparisons between continents and islands, but they do not have a universal and certain character. So let’s see what comes of it with respect to the primacy of the largest island in the world.

The largest “island continent”: Australia

A first possible candidate for the world’s largest island is theAustraliaThe country is in fact the sixth largest in the world, with a surface area of ​​approximately 7,700,000 square kilometers.

Australia is considered part of the continent Oceaniabut its nature is a bit ambiguous so much so that it is often not considered an island anyway due to its continental nature. In addition to its size, which is certainly out of scale, Australia actually has its own tectonic plate, the Australian plateprecisely.

The largest island: Greenland

If we exclude Australia due to its continental nature, we can, with a reasonable margin of safety, state that the largest island on Earth is GreenlandGreenland, located between theArctic Ocean and theAtlantic Oceanhas a surface area of ​​just over 2,000,000 of square kilometers, approximately seven times the surface area of ​​Italy.

From a geological point of viewGreenland belongs to the North American platewhich includes, in fact, all of theNorth America.
However, despite its geographical position, Greenland belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark and with a population of approximately 56,000 inhabitants It is also one of the least densely populated areas on the planet, with a population density of 0.03 inhabitants per square kilometer.

The largest islands in the world

Taking into account the conditions described in the previous paragraphs we can draw up a ranking of the largest islands on Earthtaking Greenland as the first in the ranking.

1. Greenland (Denmark): 2,166,086 square kilometers

   

2. New Guinea (Indonesia, Papua New Guinea): 785,753 square kilometers

   

3. Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia): 743,107 square kilometers

   

4. Madagascar (Sovereign State): 587,041 square kilometers

   

5. Island Of Baffin (Canada): 507,451 square kilometers