The Islands Portal
An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. Sedimentary islands in the Ganges Delta are called chars. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands, such as the Philippines, is referred to as an archipelago.
There are two main types of islands in the sea: continental islands and oceanic islands. There are also artificial islands (man-made islands).
There are about 900,000 official islands in the world. This number consists of all the officially-reported islands of each country. The total number of islands in the world is unknown. There may be hundreds of thousands of tiny islands that are unknown and uncounted. The number of sea islands in the world is estimated to be more than 200,000. The total area of the world's sea islands is approx. 9,963,000 sq km, which is similar to the area of Canada and accounts for roughly 1/15 (or 6.7%) of the total land area of Earth. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Wolfe Island is an island at the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River in Lake Ontario near Kingston, Ontario. Wolfe Island is part of Frontenac County, Ontario and the Township of Frontenac Islands. It is the largest of the Thousand Islands. The largest community on the island is Marysville.
The island is about 29 kilometres (18 miles) long, with its width varying from around 9 kilometres (6 miles) to a few hundred metres at some points; its area is about 124 square kilometres (48 square miles). The resident population is about 1400 people, but this can double or triple in summer. (Full article...)
Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -
Bahamian cuisine refers to the foods and beverages of The Bahamas. It includes seafood such as fish, shellfish, lobster, crab, and conch, as well as tropical fruits, rice, peas, pigeon peas, and pork. Popular seasonings commonly used in dishes include chilies (hot pepper), lime, tomatoes, onions, garlic, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, rum, and coconut. Rum-based beverages are popular on the islands. Since the Bahamas consist of a multitude of islands, notable culinary variations exist.
Bahamian cuisine is somewhat related to that of the American South, with dishes held in common such as "fish 'n' grits". A large portion of Bahamian foodstuffs are imported (cf. economy of the Bahamas). International cuisine is offered, especially at hotels. (Full article...)Related articles
- List articles
- List of islands
- List of islands by area
- List of islands by highest point
- List of islands by name
- List of islands by population
- List of islands by population density
- List of archipelagos
- List of archipelagos by number of islands
- List of artificial islands
- List of divided islands
- List of fictional islands
- List of island countries
- List of islands in lakes
- List of islands named after people
- List of islands of the European Union
- List of private islands
Selected image -
Did you know -
- ... that Jane Bell, one of the original occupants of Bell Cottage, was found guilty of concealing a birth and became the first European woman to be incarcerated on Rottnest Island?
- ... that after depopulating the island of Samson, Augustus Smith established a deer park there, only for the deer to escape to the neighbouring island of Tresco?
- ... that in their 1962 postal history of the Cayman Islands, Philip Saunders and Everard Aguilar were unable to find any surviving mail from the islands before 1889 in private collections, and very little in archives?
- ... that the region of Oostpunt, which encompasses roughly 10 percent of the island of Curaçao, is privately owned?
- ... that although Mayu Island has an area of less than one square kilometer (0.4 sq mi), it has two different temples honoring the same goddess?
- ... that there are few tall buildings on Long Island because residents do not want it to become "Queensified", referring to the neighboring New York City borough?
General images -
Related portals
WikiProjects
Topics
Categories
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
Things to do
|
Here are some tasks awaiting attention:
|
Web resources
- Listing of islands from the United Nations Island Directory