Before talking about what is the largest island on Earth, you should understand what the island is in general. Some, when they hear this word, draw imaginations of resort areas, for example, Crete, the Maldives, Sicily, while others immediately pop up before their eyes pictures from adventure action films.
The small and large islands of the world truly preserve many mysteries and secrets, and still new interesting facts are discovered about these pieces of land, surrounded on all sides by water.
The largest island of the Earth. Title
In total, there are over 500 thousand islands on our planet. They all have different sizes: there are tiny and just huge. Do you know what is the largest island on Earth? Many mistakenly believe that this is Australia. It would seem that everything is true - this land area has an area of 7600 thousand square meters. km and is surrounded by water on all sides. But still, Australia is considered to be an island continent, and not the island itself. Then what is the largest island in the world? This is Greenland, which is three times smaller than Australia, but larger than most modern countries. We will tell you more about it below.
Greenland - the largest island of the Earth (+ photo)
The area of this part of the land is 2130.8 thousand square kilometers. The geographical miracle belongs to Denmark and could significantly increase the area of this country, but this is hindered by the relief and climate: more than 80 percent of the earth's surface is covered by an ice sheet. And this is not surprising, because Greenland is located in close proximity to the North Pole, and the waters of the Arctic and partially Atlantic oceans wash it. All this makes Greenland one of the most unusual, vibrant, majestic and beautiful places on our planet. The landscapes of the island are so beautiful that they take your breath away. But only few can live there, because even in summer the air warms up to a temperature just above zero degrees. What can we say about winter, when frosts up to -50 Celsius are considered normal!
Nevertheless, severe weather conditions do not stop tourists, and many come to the island with their own eyes to see the majestic ice, to observe the unique wildlife of the harsh, but so beautiful Greenland. It is recommended to visit it in the summer, when in addition to everything you can also admire the white nights.
Here it is - the largest island in the world. But on our planet there are many other significant areas of land surrounded by water. They are also interesting, so we continue to consider the largest islands of the Earth.
New Guinea
This is the second largest island (786 thousand sq. Km) in the world. Unlike Greenland, it is completely located in the Pacific Ocean, in its western part. Accordingly, the climate here is completely different. Tropics, rich and diverse nature, warm and gentle sea - this is what New Guinea can offer travelers. Interestingly, this island was divided by two countries, which is not common. One parcel belongs to Papua New Guinea and the other to Indonesia.
Of course, every state would like to have the whole island at its disposal, but half are already good! Scientists consider New Guinea one of the last places on the planet that has not yet been fully explored. Not so long ago, an area was discovered on the island, later called New Eden, with dozens of unknown or extinct plants and animals. And, what is most surprising, the inhabitants of the "Garden of Eden" were not at all afraid of people.
Kalimantan
Of course, describing the largest islands of the Earth, one cannot ignore this part of the land. Kalimantan has an area of 743.33 thousand square kilometers and, like New Guinea, is distinguished by the richness of nature and the beauty of landscapes. The island belongs to three states at once: Indonesia disposes of more than 70% of the territory, Malaysia owns almost the rest, and Brunei got only a small part.
As the Kalimantan crosses the equator, the climate is appropriate: hot and humid. Most of the area (over 80 percent) is occupied by tropical forests, where wild tribes live . Now they have become more civilized and are happy to show tourists their martial dances, and also sell souvenirs.
Madagascar
After the release of the animated film of the same name, probably everyone knew about Madagascar. Since then, this large island, having an area of 587,041 thousand square kilometers, has become the dream of a large number of travelers. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and its main attraction and wealth are the amazing inhabitants, most of whom are endemic, that is, they are not found anywhere else. These are numerous lemurs, and chameleons, and giant fosses, and geckos, and bats, and turtles. Zoologists and botanists simply die with delight when they come here and discover more and more new species of representatives of fauna and flora. Well, for those who are not very interested in the flora and fauna, it will be more interesting to enjoy the magnificent beaches of Madagascar!
Baffin Land
This inhospitable and cold part of the land belonging to Canada closes the five largest islands by area (the area is 507.451 thousand square kilometers). The climate here is similar to Greenland, it is also windy and frosty, but at the same time attractive and bewitching with its severity. In addition to the few inhabitants, Scandinavian gods also live here , at least no one forbids to think so! Baffin Land is known for its mountain objects: one of the highest cliffs of the Torah in the world and the Asgard table mountain.
Sumatra
It so happened that some of the largest islands on Earth, if not entirely, then at least partially belong to Indonesia. So Sumatra, which has an area of 473 thousand square kilometers, is controlled by this country. The indicated island is almost equally divided by the equator, respectively, it is located immediately in two hemispheres of our planet.
Sumatra is located in the western part of the Malay archipelago and is included in the group of large Sunda Islands. The coastline is weakly indented, and there are coral reefs near the coast.
United Kingdom
The area of this land area, surrounded by water, is 229.848 thousand square kilometers. Like the other largest islands on Earth, the UK is very interesting for viewing. Here are located Scotland, England and Wales. The coastline has a length of 966 kilometers from north to south, and the width of the island reaches 483 kilometers.
Honshu
It is the eighth largest island in the world (227.97 thousand square kilometers) and the largest in the Japanese archipelago. It accounts for 60 percent of the total area of Japan. The relief is mountainous, so there are many volcanoes. Immediately there is a permanent symbol of the Land of the Rising Sun - Mount Fuji.