An
archipelago is a
landform which consists of a chain or cluster of
islands. Archipelagoes usually occur in the open sea; less commonly a large land mass may neighbour them. Archipelagos are often
volcanic, forming along ocean ridges or
hotspots, but there are many other processes involved in their construction, including
erosion and
deposition.
The word comes from the
Aegean Sea (
Greek αρχιπέλαγος,
Italian Arcipelago), which literally means "chief sea", from
Greek arkhi (leader) and
pelagos (
sea). The Aegean Sea is located between
Greece in the west and
Turkey in the east. (The Venetian Dukes of Arcipelago ruled from
Naxos, 1210–1566.)
"Archipelago" is also the name of a popular videogame from the early 1990's, and a fully electronic stock exchange that merged with the
New York Stock Exchange in April 2005 to form the for-profit NYSE Group.
List of archipelagoes
- Aegean islands
- Aleutian Islands
- Alexander Archipelago
- American Samoa
- Andaman Islands
- Antilles (West Indies)
- Azores
- Bahamas
- Balearic Islands
- Baltic Sea archipelagoes:
- * Stockholm archipelago, Sweden
- * Åland Islands, autonomous (under Finnish sovereignty)
- * Turku archipelago, Finland
- Belcher Islands
- Bismarck Archipelago
- British Isles
- Canadian Arctic islands
- Canary Islands
- Cape Verde Islands
- Caroline Islands
- Channel Islands (Europe)
- Channel Islands (North America)
- Comoro Islands
- Cook Islands
- Cyclades
- Dodecanese
- Falkland Islands
- Faroe Islands
- Fiji Islands
- Florida Keys
- Fox Islands
- French Polynesia
- *Austral Islands
- *Gambier Islands
- *Marquesas
- *Society Islands
- **Îles du vent (Windward Islands)
- **Îles sous le vent (Leeward Islands)
- *Tuamotus
- Frisian or Wadden Islands (divided into the West, East, and North Frisian Islands groups)
- Furneaux Group
- Galápagos Islands
- Gothenburg archipelago
- Greater Sunda Islands
- Hawaiian Islands
- Hebrides
- Îles-de-la-Madeleine
- Japanese Archipelago
- Juan Fernández
- Kerguelen Islands
- Kermadec Islands
- Lakshadweep
- Lesser Sunda Islands
- Line Islands
- Lofoten
- Malay archipelago (the world's largest)
- Maldives
- Maltese archipelago (Malta, Gozo, Comino, Filfla,St Paul's Island and several smaller islets)
- Maluku Islands
- Mariana Islands
- Marshall Islands
- Melanesia
- Micronesia
- New Hebrides
- New Siberian Islands
- New Zealand
- Nicobar Islands
- Orkneys
- Philippines
- Pitcairn Islands
- Polynesia
- Pontine Islands
- Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii)
- Samoa
- Seychelles
- Shetlands
- Solomon Islands
- Solentiname Islands
- South Orkney Islands
- South Shetland Islands
- Spratly Islands
- Svalbard
- Thousand Islands
- Tierra del Fuego
- Tonga
- The World, an archipelago of artificial islands being constructed off Dubai
- Tuscan Archipelago
See also
Lists of islands:
Category:Islands
de:Archipel
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fr:Archipel
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nl:Archipel
ja:列島
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pt:Arquipélago
ru:Архипелаг
sv:Skärgård
tl:Kapuluan
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