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Greenland in the North Atlantic

With an area of 2,175,597 square kilometers, Greenland is by far the largest island in the world. It was a Danish colony for centuries, but is now under self-government and is only represented externally by Denmark. Just under 56,000 people live on the huge land mass, which is largely covered by ice, but they share an enormous wealth of mineral resources, although so far only potentially. Potatoes are already being grown in the south of Greenland – climate change is making it possible.

New Guinea in the Southwest Pacific

New Guinea is east of the Indonesian Archipelago and north of Australia in the Southwest Pacific. At 786,000 square kilometers, it is a good double the size of Germany. Its western half forms the Indonesian state of Irian Jaya / Papua, the east is the independent Republic of Papua New Guinea, where there are modern cities, but also isolated indigenous people from the Stone Age.

Borneo in Southeast Asia

The island of Borneo is the third largest in the world and covers an area of 743,122 square kilometers. Its southern part is formed by the Indonesian province of Kalimantan, in the north are the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah and the tiny but very rich Kingdom of Brunei. The last orangutans and other rare animal species live in the tropical forest in the interior of the island. It is therefore important to stop deforestation.

Madagascar in the Indian Ocean

Madagascar is around 800 kilometers east of the African continent, far enough to have a completely unique flora and fauna. The island is 587,042 square kilometers and is home to the Republic of Madagascar with the capital Antananarivo.

Baffin Island in the northwest Atlantic

Only a few thousand Indian tribes and Inuit, who are called “First Nations” in Canada, settle on the 507,451 square kilometers of Baffin Island, which belongs to Canada. Today the island belongs to the Canadian territory of Nunavut, in which the “First Nations” were granted extensive self-government. It is said that there are more polar bears than humans on Baffin Island.

Sumatra in the Indonesian Archipelago and Indian Ocean

The island of Sumatra is located in the west of Indonesia and is 473,605 square kilometers. On the coast there are large cities such as Aceh and Medan, the east of the island is opposite Malaysia on the Strait of Malacca, one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. In the interior of the island there are volcanoes and pristine jungle.

Honshu, Sea of Japan and Pacific Ocean

The Japanese main island of Honshu is 230,316 square kilometers, but almost 100 million people live on it. While in the megacities of the coastal plain such as Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama the settlement is extremely dense and there is a lot of industry, traffic and air pollution, high mountains, forests and a lot of nature predominate in the interior.

Great Britain, between the North Atlantic and the North Sea

Great Britain, which consists of England, Wales and Scotland, is hardly smaller than the main Japanese island. It is the largest part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Almost 60 million people live on the largest British island in an area of 229,883 square kilometers. You can find cities like London, Glasgow or Liverpool here. The British Empire was once ruled from Great Britain.

Victoria Island in the Arctic Ocean

Victoria Island is as sparsely populated as Greenland and Baffin Island. Like the latter, it belongs to Canada and its autonomous territory of Nunavut. Since oil is suspected to be under the Arctic Ocean around the island, many extraction companies are hoping for a further decline in the northern sea ice. The polar bears probably disagree. Victoria Island is 217,291 square kilometers.

Ellesmere Island in the Arctic Ocean

With an area of 196,236 square kilometers, Ellesmere Island is not much inferior to Victoria Island. Canada and Indonesia are definitely the two countries that have the most large islands, even if they couldn’t be more climatically different. Ellesmere Island is located on the infamous and legendary Northwest Passage.

The 10 Largest Islands in the World

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