What is an archipelago definition by geography. What is an archipelago? Malay, Arctic, Canadian, Alexandra, Japanese, Chagos, Solovetsky archipelagos

If at school you didn’t study geography too hard, then the meaning of some geographical terms may remain incomprehensible to you.

For example, not all of our compatriots know exactly what an archipelago is in geography. In the mass consciousness, the phrase of the odious essay by A. Solzhenitsyn “The Gulag Archipelago”, associated with the repressions of the 30s of the 20th century, is tightly fixed. However, in reality, an archipelago is just a group of islands in the sea or ocean.

What is an archipelago?

First, let's remember what an island is - it is a relatively small piece of land, surrounded on all sides by the waters of the sea or ocean. Islands are large, hundreds of square kilometers in area, and very small, with a dozen or two meters in diameter. They differ not only in size, but also in the way of formation.

Some islands are formed as a result, others due to coral growth, and so on. A lonely island in the middle of the sea is just an island and nothing more, but if there are many of them, they are located close to each other and have common origin- then a group of islands can be safely called an archipelago.

So, we found out that an archipelago is a group of islands located close enough to each other, which were formed as a result of similar processes. The last rule has several exceptions: sometimes islands with different origins are included in the archipelago if they are located nearby.

Many archipelagos form island states: the most famous of them are Japan, Great Britain, Indonesia, the Philippines, Denmark, etc. However, most of the archipelagos are part of the mainland states, near the coast of which they are located, or whose citizens were discovered and colonized. In total, today there are about 30 archipelago states, but more than half of them, formally considered independent, are actually under the protectorate of the United States or Great Britain.

Types of archipelagos

The main criterion by which archipelagos are classified in geography is the method of their formation and the geological structure.

In accordance with it, the following types of archipelagos are distinguished.

— Mainland groups of islands were once part of the land, but due to tectonic processes of subsidence, parts of the earth's crust were separated from the mainland by a body of water. This British Isles, New Zealand, New Earth and etc.

— Volcanic archipelagos formed as a result of what happened millions of years ago volcanic activity. Every island is a peak giant volcano, the ejection of lava from which was so great that the resulting cone protruded from the water. Volcanic origin It has Hawaiian archipelago, Kuril archipelago and etc.

— coral archipelagos are chains of islands formed as a result of the vital activity of corals. Often such islands form a semicircle or a ring with a lagoon in the middle. The most famous archipelagos of this type are Marshall Islands V pacific ocean, Maldives in the Indian Ocean, etc.

— Alluvial archipelagos- groups of islands of artificial origin. These are quite complex and large-scale hydraulic structures located in close proximity to the mainland and used as recreational areas. The most famous alluvial archipelago is Palm Island in the United Arab Emirates, which is a group of small islands that, when viewed from above, resembles a palm tree.

As a rule, the islands of one archipelago are closely connected with each other not only by a common geological origin, but also common history, traditions of the peoples inhabiting them, economic and cultural relations.

The largest archipelagos

There are more than 150 archipelagos of various sizes on our planet. The largest in terms of area are:

— Malay archipelago, consisting of a total of more than 10 thousand islands and covering an area of about 2 million square kilometers between the Pacific and Indian oceans, on the territory of which there are three island states– Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia;

— Canadian Arctic Archipelago, with an area of more than 1.4 million square kilometers, located in the waters of the Arctic and partially Atlantic oceans and inhabited for the most part by Eskimo peoples;

— Japanese archipelago , covering an area of about 350 thousand square kilometers and entirely state-owned Japan;

— british archipelago , whose area is 315 thousand square kilometers, British-owned and parts of Ireland.

Archipelagos - full list archipelago countries and archipelagos belonging to different states broken down by oceans and parts of the world.

What is an archipelago and what are they

Archipelago – it is a complex of islands located close to each other. By geological structure archipelagos are similar. According to their origin, they are all:

Mainland

This is the name of the archipelagos, which were originally part of the mainland, but as a result of the movement tectonic plates separated from the land and formed a complex of islands. Most a prime example mainland archipelago - the British Isles. Also, they include Novaya Zemlya, New Zealand.

Volcanic

These island complexes were formed as a result of volcanic activity, or they themselves are volcanoes. Most often, in this case, the island is the top of a huge underground volcano, which looks out from under the water. The brightest representatives of the volcanic archipelagos are the Hawaiian Islands.

coral

A complex of islands that arose as a result of the growth and death of underwater corals. Islands can be in the form of a ring or a semicircle - they are called atolls. Most of the coral archipelagos are located in the Pacific Ocean. The most famous coral archipelago is the Marshall Islands.

alluvial

The island complex natural origin. They are complex hydraulic structures that are installed in water areas. Alluvial islands formally do not have the status of archipelagos and islands, since they are not natural objects. The most famous man-made archipelago is Palm Island located in the Emirates.

Of course, they are not deserted and many have small states. The islands that make up the territory are in contact with each other and have a geographical and political unity.

On this moment in the world there are about 30 state-tv located on the archipelagos. They include the Philippines, Indonesia, Fiji. Archipelagic lines are used for contact between the islands. All body of water within these lines belongs to the archipelago-state.

The largest archipelagos

There are a huge number of archipelagos on our planet. The largest of them are

Malay
Japanese Islands
British Isles.

The Malay Archipelago is considered the best and largest in the world. Its area is 2 million square kilometers, and it includes more than 10,000 islands. Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are located on the lands of this giant. On the Malay archipelago, there are many volcanoes and mountains, as well as many gas and oil fields. Fishing and agriculture predominate among the population.

The second largest archipelago in the world is the Canadian Arctic. It is located in the Arctic Ocean. The area of this archipelago is approximately 1.3 million sq. km. The main population is the Eskimos. This complex includes the islands of Ellesmere, Victoria, Baffin Island. The relief of the archipelago is made up of various trains, mountains and plateaus.

The next major archipelago is known to everyone - these are the very Japanese islands. They include many small islands, each of which is interconnected. Most of them are occupied by mountains and volcanoes, as well as coniferous forests. The very geological situation there is extremely unstable - there are earthquakes, tsunamis. The bulk of the population is located directly Japanese island. The marine industry is highly developed - the extraction of fish and crabs.

And last but not least, the archipelago is the British Isles. Its area is approximately 320 sq. km, the archipelago includes Great Britain, Ireland and many other small cities. Great Britain and Ireland are two states that are located on this territory.

List of archipelagos

This list contains all the existing archipelagos of the world. For our convenience, I divided them on a territorial basis - the oceans where they are located, as well as into territorial subgroups of islands. Each of the lists is alphabetical order for your comfort. If there is a state on the territory of the archipelago, this will be noted in the list. You can find every archipelago on the planet, learn about it and maybe consider it as a holiday destination.

Archipelagos of the Arctic Ocean –

complex northern islands located close to the Arctic. Cold climate and low population density :

Franz Josef Land
Canadian Arctic Archipelago
New Siberian Islands
Belcher Islands
Severnaya Zemlya
New Earth
Svalbard
Queen Elizabeth Islands

Archipelagos of the Atlantic Ocean

a vast complex of clusters of islands scattered in the Atlantic Ocean. This includes a number of European and African archipelagos, as well as the island complexes of North and South America. This includes the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and of the British Isles:

archipelagos along the coast of Europe

British Isles
Inner Hebrides
Outer Hebrides
hebrides
channel islands
Isles of Scilly St Kilda
Faroe islands
Shetland

Archipelagos along the African coast

Bay of beautiful islands
Archipelago dos Bihagos
Bajuni Islands
Saint Helena
Saad al-Din
Sao Tome
Tristan da Cuna

Bermuda
Outlands
Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tierra del Fuego
Magdalena Islands
St. Peter and Paul Rocks
Fernando de Noronha
South Sandwich Islands
islands

Macarenesian archipelagos -

Åland Islands
Azores
wild islands
Canary Islands
Madeira Islands

Archipelagos of the Baltic Sea

Ostergetland archipelago
Södermanland archipelago
Småland archipelago
Calix Archipelago
Turku Archipelago
Pitea Archipelago
Lulea Archipelago
Skellefteo Archipelago
Haparanda archipelago
Heregrande Archipelago
Sea of the archipelago
Western Estonian archipelago
Stockholm archipelago
Swedish east coast archlag

Archipelagos of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean

Archipelago of Los Roques
Greater Antilles
West Indies
Virgin Islands
islands
Lesser Antilles
windward islands
ABC islands
Leeward Antilles
Puerto Rican Islands
Leeward Islands
Florida Keys

The archipelagos of the Mediterranean

Campanian archipelago
Maddalena archipelago
Balearic Islands
Venetian lagoon
Dodecanese
ionian islands
Cyclades
sporades
Tuscan archipelago

Archipelagos of the North Sea

Frisian Islands

Archipelagos of the Indian Ocean

The complex of archipelagos located on the territory Indian Ocean. Differ tropical climate and heat. The archipelagos here consist of a large number of small islands. One of the brightest representatives is the artificial World Archipelago :

Andaman Islands
Archipelago Bonaparte
Pirate archipelago
Chagos Archipelago
archipelago research
Mergui Archipelago
Zanzibar archipelago
Amirant Islands
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Comoros
Langkawi
Lakshadweep
Kerguelen Islands
Mascarene Islands
World Archipelago
Nicobar Islands
Mozambique Channel Islands
Socotra
Houtman Abrolhos

Archipelagos of the Red Sea

Hurghada archipelago
Farasan Islands
Dahlak Archipelago

archipelagos of the pacific ocean

this is the most large complex archipelagos. This includes a huge number of islands and all the world's largest archipelagos. Of particular interest are the Asian archipelagos - the number of islands that make them up is the largest in the world. This complex includes both the archipelagos of the Americas and the aforementioned Asian ones, as well as the archipelagos of the circumtropical countries. The climate varies from temperate to tropical:

Archipelagos along the coast of the Americas

Andreyanovsky Islands
Aleutian Islands
Alexandra Archipelago
Chiloe archipelago
Archipelago Guatecas
Guayaneco archipelago
Chonos archipelago
Peytagonic Archipelago
Wellington archipelago
Queen Adelaide Archipelago
Fox Islands
Channel Islands California
Islands of the Four Mountains

archipelagos along the coast of Asia

Ryukyu archipelago
Asian islands
Gorong Archipelago
Rio archipelago
Tambelan Archipelago
Tadjuh archipelago
Watubela Archipelago
Cuio Archipelago
Sulu Archipelago
Chumphon archipelago
Solor archipelago
Big Islands of Sunda (Sunda)
Arc Gang

There is such a thing as an "archipelago country". What does it mean? What states can be attributed to this type? And which country is located on 474 islands? The answers to all these curious questions are in our article!

Archipelago as a geographical concept

If you look at the map of the Pacific Ocean, focusing on its southwestern part, you can see a huge number of islands of different sizes. Very often they are located in groups, forming the so-called archipelagos.

The term itself is of ancient Greek origin and consists of two words: pelages - "sea" and arche - "old, ancient". Initially, this term denoted precisely the group of islands of Ancient Greece.

Islands within the same archipelago, as a rule, have a common genesis and are located on the same plinth (bottom). There are archipelagos of continental, volcanic and coral origin.

Archipelago countries (list)

Each country has its own geographical position. Some states are located within the mainland, other countries - on the islands.

Under the archipelago countries are meant those states that occupy those located close to each other. And we are talking about island groups. That is, for example, it is difficult to attribute Croatia to this type, because its main part is located on the mainland.

The following are all archipelago countries (list):

Great Britain;
New Zealand;
Indonesia;
Kiribati;
Marshall Islands;
Solomon islands;
Seychelles;
Palau;
Tuvalu;
Tonga;
Japan;
Philippines;
Denmark.

It is worth noting that most of States from this list is located in South-East Asia and Oceania - the most "island" regions of the planet.

Which country is located on 474 islands?

As we see, in modern world there are more than a dozen archipelago states. In this list, one country is located on 474 islands. What is it called?

This country is Denmark. She is in Northern Europe, just between the mainland and Scandinavian peninsula. Indeed, this country is located on 474 islands. All of them are characterized by low-lying relief and sandy soils. Only 70 of these islands are inhabited by people. The largest of them are Zeeland, Bornholm, Lolland.

Denmark is one of the oldest powers in Europe. formed in the tenth century. By the way, the national flag of Denmark is also the oldest in the world. A banner with a white cross on a red background has been known since the 13th century.

Modern Denmark is in the top ten of many world rankings. We are talking about the level of education, health care, democracy, human development and GDP per capita. In addition, the Danes have repeatedly been called the happiest nation in the world.

We offer you some more interesting facts about Denmark:

located in the Danish capital Copenhagen famous park recreation "Tivoli", which served as a prototype of the famous "Disneyland";
Denmark is the first country in which same-sex marriage became legal;
The Faroe Islands, as you know, belong to Denmark. However, few people know that he won them at cards from the Norwegian monarch;
Strøget boulevard in the center of Copenhagen is the longest walking street in Europe;
it was in Denmark that one of the most famous and recognizable writers on the planet, Hans Christian Andersen, lived and worked;
Danes are forced to pay one of the highest personal car taxes in the world;
Perhaps the most famous Danish product on the world market is the Lego children's designer.

Finally...

Now you know which country is located on the 474 islands. There are 15 archipelago states in the world, which are located in different parts of the world.

I remember as a child I heard the title of the piece "The Gulag Archipelago". And so at first I thought that the archipelago was such a prison. And I was very surprised when I found out that this word has a completely different meaning. So that readers are also not confused, I want to consider this concept in more detail.

Definition of "archipelago"

An archipelago is a group of several nearby islands that have a common origin and a similar structure. An archipelago can be either part of a state or completely constitute its territory. In this case, the waters between the islands (archipelagic waters) are most often not neutral, but belong to the country located on the islands. But this rule has an exception. So, in Japan and in the UK, the maritime inter-island space refers to neutral waters.

archipelago examples

We list the most large archipelagos.

Four adjacent archipelagos: Franz Josef Land, northern land, Novaya Zemlya, New Siberian Islands. These groups of islands are in the North Arctic Ocean and belong to Russia.
Japan. This state consists of four large and several thousand
small islands in the Pacific Ocean. The country is famous not only for its cars and household appliances, but also beautiful nature.
. It is also a separate state, located on
Southeast Australia in the Pacific Ocean. Tourists are waiting here, in addition to modern cities, untouched nature and exotic customs of the natives.
. The country is located near New Zealand, also has a developed tourism infrastructure.
British Isles. Located in Europe, washed by North Sea And
Atlantic Ocean. The largest of them are and.

Advantages and disadvantages of living in the archipelago

Living in the archipelago Interesting. Here you can always quickly get to the sea. You can drive around your entire island, find places for outdoor recreation and get a lot of photos. But there are also disadvantages. The fact is that many islands are subject to high risk of earthquakes and tsunamis.