Top Ten Biggest Islands

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Top Ten Biggest Islands
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• Greenland

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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.

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Scoresby Sund in East Greenland, the longest
fjord in the world.
An Inuit family
Orca
The town Qaqortoq in southwestern Greenland.
Reindeer
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• 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
  Tree-kangaroo, 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 worlds 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.

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Indonesia
Papua New Guinea
Long-beaked echidnas
Dani tribesman in the Baliem Valley
Matschie's Tree-kangaroo
Kurulu Village War Chief at Baliem Valley
Lesser Bird of Paradise
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• 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 worlds 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
• Borneos 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.

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Indonesia
Brunei
Malaysia
Kapuas mud snake
Bornean Orangutan habitat
Lesser Short-nosed Fruit Bat
Bornean Orangutan
Bornean Flat-headed Frog
Mount Kinabalu, a major center of biodiversity in
Borneo.
Nepenthes villosa pitcher plant
Kayan Woman
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• 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"
• Madagascars 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.
  
• Madagascars official languages are French and
  Malagasy.
• Madagascars terrain has a narrow coastal plain
  with a high plateau and mountains in the center.
• Madagascars 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.

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Giant Coua
Fossa
Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur
Baobab
Antananarivo (capital)
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• 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.

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Canada
Canada
Nunavut
Nunavut
Baffin Island coast
Arctic Terns migrate to Baffin Island every
spring
Traditional qamutik Cape Dorset
Polar Bear
Arctic Fox
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• 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 Swarnadwipa ("Island of Gold")
  and Swarnabhumi ("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
  SiteGunung 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 Minangkabau people.

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Indonesia
Dhole_the Asiatic Wild Dog
Titan arum, worlds tallest flower
Minangkabau women carrying platters of food to a
ceremony
Rafflesia sumatra, worlds largest flower
Malayan Tapir
Sumatran Tiger
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• Honshu

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Honshu

• Honshu is the largest island of Japan, the
  nation's main island
• Honshu 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, Honshu has frequent
  earthquakes
• Honshus 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 Honshu's
  southern coastal cities, including Kyoto, Osaka,
  Nagoya, Kobe, and Hiroshima.
• Honshu is connected to the islands of Hokkaido,
  Kyushu and Shikoku by tunnels or bridges.
• There is a great biodiversity on the Honshu the
  Asiatic black bear inhabits mountainous areas
  smaller carnivores include Honshu 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.

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Sumo wrestlers
Japan
Asiatic black bear - Moon Bear
Japanese macaque bathing in hot springs in Nagano
Japanese giant salamander
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• 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.
• Islands 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 primary and remain
  important food sources today.

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Northwest Territories
Nunavut
Canada
Ringed Seal
Muskox
Cambridge Bay, Nunavut
Drum Dancing
Barren-ground Caribou
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• 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.

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Tower Bridge, London
UK
England
Scotland
Wales
Welsh Mountain Pony
English Countryside
Pygmy Shrew
Scotland bag pipe musician
Red Fox
one of the worlds smallest mammals
Queen of England Elizabeth II
Stonehenge
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• 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.

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Arctic Wolf
Canada
Nunavut
Gray Wolf
Arctic Hare