From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
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For other uses, see Archipelago (disambiguation).
An archipelago is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago literally means "chief sea", from Greek arkhon (arkhi-) ("leader") and pelagos ("sea"). In antiquity, the Archipelago (Greek: Αρхιπέλαγος) was the proper name for the Aegean Sea and, later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands (since the sea is remarkable for its large number of islands). It is now used to generally refer to any island group or, sometimes, to a sea containing a large number of scattered islands like the Aegean.
Archipelagoes usually occur in the open sea; less commonly, a large land mass may neighbour them. Archipelagoes are often volcanic, forming along mid-ocean ridges or hotspots, but there are many other processes involved in their construction, including erosion and deposition.
[edit] List of archipelagoes
- ABC islands
- Aegean Islands
- Cyclades
- Dodecanese
- Sporades
- Aleutian Islands
- Alexander Archipelago
- Andaman Islands
- Azores
- Bahama Islands
- Balearic Islands
- Baltic Sea archipelagoes
- Archipelago Sea
- Stockholm archipelago
- Turku archipelago
- Åland Islands
- Bermuda Islands
- Bight of Bonny islands
- British Isles
- Channel Islands
- Hebrides
- Isles of Scilly
- Orkney
- Shetland
- Canadian Arctic Archipelago
- Belcher Islands
- Queen Elizabeth Islands
- Chagos Archipelago
- Channel Islands of California
- Chausey
- Chonos Archipelago
- Comoro Islands
- Diego Ramírez Islands
- Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
- Faroe Islands
- Florida Keys
- Fox Islands
- Franz Josef Land
- Frisian Islands (or Wadden Islands)
- East Frisian Islands
- North Frisian Islands
- West Frisian Islands
- Furneaux Group
- Galápagos Islands (Colón)
- Gothenburg archipelago
- Guayaneco Archipelago
- Ionian Islands
- Japanese Archipelago
- Juan Fernández Islands
- Kerguelen Islands
- Kermadec Islands
- Kornati
- Langkawi
- Lakshadweep (Laccadives)
- Lofoten
- Los Roques
- Macaronesia
- Canary Islands
- Cape Verde Islands
- Madeira Islands
- Magdalen Islands
- Malay Archipelago (the world's largest)
- Maluku Islands
- Philippine Islands
- Luzon Group
- Mindanao Group
- Visayas
- Sunda Islands
- Greater Sunda Islands
- Lesser Sunda Islands
- Maldives
- Maltese islands
- Mascarene Islands
- Seychelles Islands
- Aldabra Group
- Amirante Islands
- Farquhar Group
- Melanesia
- Mergui Archipelago
- Micronesia
- Caroline Islands
- Gilbert Islands (Kiribati)
- Line Islands
- Mariana Islands
- Marshall Islands
- Palau
- Phoenix Islands
- New Siberian Islands
- Nicobar Islands
- New England and New York islands (Manhattan, City Island, Long Island, Rikers Island, Roosevelt Island, Staten Island, Block Island, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Liberty Island, Ellis Island, Governors Island, Long Beach Island, Elizabeth Islands)
- Novaya Zemlya islands
- Polynesia
- Cook Islands (Hervey Islands)
- French Polynesia
- Austral Islands
- Gambier Islands
- Marquesas
- Society Islands
- Îles du vent (Windward Islands)
- Îles sous le vent (Leeward Islands)
- Tuamotus
- Hawaiian Islands (Sandwich Islands)
- New Zealand islands (Aotearoa)
- Pitcairn Islands
- Samoan Islands (Navigators' Islands)
- American Samoa (Eastern Samoa)
- Samoa (Western Samoa)
- Tonga Islands (Friendly Islands)
- Tokelau (Union Islands)
- Tuvalu (Ellice Islands)
- Wallis and Futuna Islands
- Pontine Islands
- Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii)
- Saint Helena islands
- San Juan Islands
- Severnaya Zemlya
- Seychelles
- Solentiname Islands
- South China Sea Islands
- Stockholm Archipelago
- Paracel Islands
- Spratly Islands
- South Orkney Islands
- South Sandwich Islands
- South Shetland Islands
- Svalbard
- Tanzania's Indian Ocean
- Thousand Islands
- Tierra del Fuego
- "The World", an archipelago of artificial islands being constructed off Dubai
- Tuscan Archipelago
- Venice islands
- Virgin Islands
- West Indies (Caribbean)
- Antilles
- Greater Antilles
- Lesser Antilles
- Leeward Islands
- Windward Islands
- Leeward Antilles
- Bahamas
[edit] See also
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- List of islands of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean
- List of islands in the Arctic Ocean
- List of islands of Asia
- List of islands in the Atlantic Ocean
- List of islands of Australia
- List of islands in the Baltic Sea
- List of islands of Canada
- List of islands in the Caribbean
- List of islands in the Indian Ocean
- List of islands of New Zealand
- List of islands of North America
- List of islands in the Pacific
- List of islands of South America
- List of islands in the United States
