Largest Islands in the world

10. Ellesmere, Canada (196,235 km²)

Ellesmere Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Lying within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago it is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, with Cape Columbia being the most northerly point of land in Canada. It comprises an area of 196,235 km2 (75,767 sq mi), making it the world’s tenth largest island and Canada’s third largest island. The Arctic Cordillera mountain system covers much of Ellesmere Island, making it the most mountainous in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The Arctic willow is the only woody species to grow on Ellesmere Island.

9. Victoria Island, Canada (217,291 km²)

Victoria Island (or Kitlineq) is an island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the eighth largest island in the world, and at 217,291 km2 (83,897 sq mi) is Canada’s second largest island. It is nearly double the size of Newfoundland (111,390 km2 (43,008 sq mi)), and is slightly larger than the island of Great Britain (209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi). 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.

8. Great Britain (218.595 km²)

The Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland with the Acts of Union 1707 on 1 May 1707 under Queen Anne. In 1801, under a new Act of Union, this kingdom merged with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After the Irish War of Independence, most of Ireland seceded from the Union. Currently the kingdom is named the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

7. Honshu, Japan (230.500 km²)


Honshū (本州?, literally “Main State”) ([hoɴɕuː]; also spelled Honshu) is the largest island of Japan. The nation’s main island, it is south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Strait. It is the seventh largest island in the world, and the second most populous after Java in Indonesia.

The island is roughly 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) long and ranges from 50 to 230 km wide, and its total area is 227,962.59 km², 60% of the total area of Japan. It is larger than the island of Great Britain, and slightly larger than the state of Minnesota. Its area has been expanding with land reclamation and coastal uplift in the north, but global sea level rise has diminished these effects. Honshū has 5,450 kilometres (3,390 mi) of coastline.

6. Sumatra, Indonesia (443.065,8 km²)

Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit names of Swarnadwīpa (“Island of Gold”) and Swarnabhūmi (“Land of Gold”), due likely to the gold deposits of the island’s highland. The first word mentioning the name of Sumatra was the name of Srivijayan Haji (king) Sumatrabhumi (“King of the land of Sumatra”), who sent an envoy to China in 1017. Arab geographers referred to the island as Lamri (Lamuri, Lambri or Ramni) in the 10-13th centuries, in reference to a kingdom near modern day Banda Aceh which was the first landfall for traders. Late in the 14th century the name Sumatra became popular, in reference to the kingdom of Samudra, which was a rising power. European writers in the 19th century found that the indigenous inhabitants did not have a name for the island.



5. Baffin, Canada (507.451 km²)

Baffin Island (Qikiqtaaluk, French: Île de Baffin, Old Norse: Helluland) in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest member of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world, with an area of 507,451 km2 (195,928 sq mi) and has a population of 11,000 (2007 estimate). Named after English explorer William Baffin, it is likely that the island was known to Pre-Columbian Norse of Greenland and Iceland and may be the location of Helluland spoken of in the Icelandic sagas (the Saga of Erik the Red (Eiríks saga rauða) and the Grœnlendinga saga).

4. Madagascar (578.000 km²)

As part of East Gondwana, the territory of Madagascar split from Africa approximately 160 million years ago; the island of Madagascar was created when it separated from the Indian subcontinent 80 to 100 million years ago. Malagasy mythology portrays a group of African pygmy like people called the Vazimba as the original inhabitants of Madagascar, however most archaeologists estimate that the human settlement of Madagascar happened between 200 and 500 A.D., when seafarers from southeast Asia (probably from Borneo or the southern Celebes) arrived in outrigger sailing canoes. Bantu settlers probably crossed the Mozambique Channel to Madagascar at about the same time or shortly afterwards. However, Malagasy tradition and ethnographic evidence suggests that they may have been preceded by the Mikea hunter gatherers. The Anteimoro who established a kingdom in Southern Madagascar in the Middle Ages trace their origin to migrants from Somalia.

3. Kalimantan, Indonesia (726.000 km²)


In English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term “Kalimantan” refers to the whole island of Borneo. The Indonesian territory makes up 73 percent of the island by area, and 70 percent (12,000,000) by population. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are of Brunei (609,000) and East Malaysia (6,000,000). The region is also known as Indonesian Borneo.

2. Papua (800.000 km²)

Papua New Guinea (pronounced /ˈpæpuːə njuː ˈɡɪni/ PAP-oo-ə new-GIN-ee, also /ˈpɑːpuːə/ PAH-poo-ə or /ˈpæpjuːə/ PAP-yew-ə; Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini) (PNG), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua). It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. The capital is Port Moresby.

1. Greenland (2.166.086 km²)


Greenland (Kalaallisut: Kalaallit Nunaat meaning “Land of the Kalaallit people”; Danish: Grønland) is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Physiographically, it is a part of the continent of North America. The largest island in Greenland is also named Greenland, and makes up most of the country’s land area.

Greenland has been inhabited, though not continuously, by indigenous peoples since 2500 BC. There were Norse colonies in Greenland from AD 986 until sometime most likely in the 15th century. In the early 18th century contact between Scandinavia and Greenland was re-established and Denmark established rule over Greenland.