archipelago

The Mergui Archipelago

The Ksamil Archipelago in Albania

The archipelago of Fernando de Noronha

An archipelago ( /ɑrkɨˈpɛləɡoʊ/ ark-i-PEL-ə-goh), sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- ("chief") and πέλαγος – pélagos ("sea") through the Italian arcipelago. In Italian, possibly following a tradition of antiquity, the Arcipelago (from medieval Greek *ἀρχιπέλαγος) 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 refer to any island group or, sometimes, to a sea containing a large number of scattered islands such as the Aegean Sea.^[1]

Types of archipelago

Archipelagos may be found isolated in bodies of water or neighboring a large land mass. For example, Scotland has more than 700 islands surrounding its mainland which constitute an archipelago. Archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along island arcs generated by subduction zones or hotspots, but may also be the result of erosion, deposition and land elevation.

By its geological origin, islands forming archipelagos can be referred to as oceanic islands, continental fragments and continental islands^[2]. Oceanic islands are mainly of volcanic origin. Continental fragments correspond to land masses that have separated from a continental mass due to tectonic displacement. Finally, sets of islands formed close to the coast of a continent are considered continental archipelagos when they form part of the same continental shelf so islands are just exposed continental shelf.

The five largest modern countries that are mainly archipelagos are Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The largest archipelagic state in the world, by area and population, is Indonesia.^[3] The archipelago with the most islands is the Archipelago Sea in Finland.

See also

Geography portal

• Island arc
• Geography
• Earth science
• Geomorphology
• List of landforms
• Plate tectonics
• Island country
• Earthsea
• The World (archipelago)
• List of archipelagos by number of islands
• List of archipelagos
• List of islands

References

External links

Look up archipelago in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Archipelagoes

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Archipelago". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• 30 Most Incredible Island Archipelagos