An island /ˈaɪlənd/ or isle /ˈaɪl/ is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or an island in a lake may be called an eyot /ˈaɪ.ət/ (also ait /ˈeɪt/), or holm. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago.
An island may still be described as such despite the presence of an artificial land bridge, for example Singapore and its causeway, or the various Dutch delta islands, such as IJsselmonde. Some places may even retain "island" in their names for historical reasons after being connected to a larger landmass by a wide land bridge, such as Coney Island. Conversely, when a piece of land is separated from the mainland by a man-made canal, for example the Peloponnese by the Corinth Canal, it is generally not considered an island.
There are two main types of islands: continental islands and oceanic islands. There are also artificial islands.
Read more about Island: Etymology, Size, Difference Between Islands and Continents, Natural Vs Artificial Islands
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... Fermanagh is Enniskillen (Inis Ceithleann, 'Ceithleann's island') ... The island town hosts a range of attractions including the Castle Coole Estate and Enniskillen Castle, which is home to the museum of The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers ... include Belleek Pottery Castle Archdale Crom Estate Devenish Island Florence Court Lough Navar Forest Park Marble Arch Caves ...
... Most of the Earth's islands are natural and have been formed by tectonic forces or volcanic eruptions ... However, there are also artificial or man-made islands ... An example of an artificial island is an island in Osaka Bay off the Japanese island of Honshu, on which Kansai International Airport is located ...
... La Española Haitian Creole Ispayola) is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti ... The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt ... It is the ninth-most-populous island in the world, and the most populous in the Americas ...
... Norway, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Ireland, Great Britain, France, and northern Spain ... For their nesting colonies the Great Auks required rocky islands with sloping shorelines that provided access to the seashore ... Only six breeding colonies are known Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands, St ...
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Famous quotes containing the word island:
“If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from others lands, but a continent that joins to them.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
“In all things I would have the island of a man inviolate. Let us sit apart as the gods, talking from peak to peak all round Olympus. No degree of affection need invade this religion.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)