Feature photo by Uninen. Photo above by nattu.
These geographic wonders have a wealth of beauty.
An archipelago is an “expanse of water with many scattered islands,” or a cluster of islands, typically found in the open sea. Although generally the result of volcanic activity, archipelagos are also shaped by other forces of nature, including erosion and rising or falling sea tables; as dynamic land masses, archipelagos tend to offer dramatic scenery.
Here are some of the most amazing examples worldwide:
Tierra del Fuego
Photo by longhorndave.
At the southern end of South America, the last echoes of the Andes Mountains collapse into the sea. Tierra del Fuego, the Land of Fire, is renowned for its snowy peaks rising from turbulent waters above Antarctica. The Patagonian forests are complex and mystical with huge cypress trees and pudu-pudu, a deer that’s only 20 inches tall.
Tristan da Cunha
Photo by brunosan.
The volcanic rocks of Tristan da Cunha are the most remote scraps of land on Earth. The closest land is the island of Saint Helena, where Napoleon was exiled, and that’s still 1,500 miles away. Africa and South America are both 2,000 miles away.
A handful of flightless birds seen nowhere else in the world keep the 250 inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha company while stalwart British fishermen keep a wary eye on the volcano that destroyed their only settlement 70 years ago.
The landscape of the islands is austere. While there are no glaciers, the bare ground of Gough Island—a UNESCO World Heritage Site—seems surreal. What lies behind the high cliffs of the aptly named Inaccessible Island?
The Thousand Islands
Photo by Alberto OG.
In the Saint Lawrence River between New York State and Canada, the Thousand Islands have long been home to the rich and famous; in fact, many of the islands are privately owned. The curiosities inhabitants have left behind make the 1,800+ islands of the archipelago as strange as they are beautiful.
Heart Island supports an actual castle with towers, a yacht house, and a stained glass dome. The crumbling ruins of a Revolution-era fort adorn one island; Yale University’s secret society, Skull and Bones, owns another.
Other islands are so tiny that they can barely support a single house, though all of the islands must be above water 365 days a year and must support at least two trees to be considered part of this archipelago.
Svalbard
Photo by gogoolplex.
Svalbard, meaning “cold edge,” describes a group of islands found halfway between Norway and the North Pole. Though geographically large, the Svalbard has only 2,500 permanent inhabitants.
Local law requires residents and visitors alike to carry hunting rifles outside the settlements at all times—a last-resort defense against the 500 polar bears that roam the islands. Svalbard has no trees, but during the four months of constant daylight, Arctic wildflowers bloom everywhere.
Truly entrepreneurial spirits should know that citizens of countries signatory to the Svalbard Treaty may go to Svalbard without a visa and legally open their own coal mine.
The Artificial Islands
Photo by Pete the painter.
The Dubai harbor has more than doubled its size in five years; massive dredging has created very large and expensive artificial islands off the coast of the city-state whose exploits approach mythic proportions.
Between the three Palm Islands, the vast artificial Waterfront, and the massive archipelago called The World, Dubai’s new land will house over 3 million people when done. The islands already look like nothing else in the world.
The artificial islands are resorts, their beauty entirely artificial and entirely commercial. Whether it is a tremendous waste of resources, or greedy profiteering, or mere vain showmanship, Dubai has done the impossible and made land where there was none.
The Dodecanese
Photo by Michelos.
Many of the world’s most beautiful archipelagos gained their renown for pristine beaches, clear oceans, or stunning terrain. The famous Dodecanese, off the southwest coast of Turkey, have all of these in abundance, but they also bear the stunning marks of 3,000 years of advanced culture.
The islands have been ruled by the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Ottomans, Italians, and — finally — by the Greeks again, and all of these cultures have left their mark with spectacular ruins and structures.
The Colossus of Rhodes, a Wonder of the World, briefly stood guard near (or, more whimsically, over) the most famous island’s harbor. John of Patmos allegedly received the visions which became the Book of Revelation on Patmos. The Knights Hospitaller built a massive Crusader fortress on Rhodes, and churches abound.
COMMUNITY CONNECTION:
Are you a lover of under-visited, isolated islands? Check out Matador contributing editor Tim Patterson’s picks for the Top 6 Most Enchanting Undeveloped Islands in the World. Or, read up on Japan’s often overlooked south, in Shima to Shima: Southern Islands of Japan.
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7 Comments... join the discussion!
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Nice post, I'd never heard of Tristan da Cunha before. Svalbard is also notable as the site of Norway's Global Seed Vault. ” target=”_blank”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed...
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Fernando de Noronha!
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Si Pan Don … the archipelago of the Mekong river in southern Laos… deffinitely top 5.
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Indonesia’s Thousand Islands?
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I just want to throw out there the Aleutian Islands. It contains over 57 volcanoes, stretch out 6,821 miles, and are the northern part of the Ring of Fire. The opposite of tropical, but none the less amazing.
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that artificial islands crap is really like selffish and for some reason it just ughh it gets me so mad. scientists or geologists or whoever “created” those islands are trying to play god and its very unnneccessary, yea trying to build another world cuz they are killing off the current 1? well uhh excuse me, if u damage the world. ALL of it will me damaged. duhh. like really? get some people around the world who think this adventure is exciting or whtever and turn thm into test bunniez? like really? what kind of twisted nation is this becoming? trying to escape from their problems? trying to create a more sterile un-polluted place? no, go back and FIX the problem. dont run away. we live in a democracy thats not really a democracy, sure we get to vote and stuff but no real freedom. anything that the government doesnt want to be put out is censored. long back thn they didnt have munitions and weapons or people tryna create bombs or making innapropriate chatter, so we didnt need the hostile “reinforcements” we have now. their turning the world into some playing field even wen god is watching over thm. yea ohh dont believe in god, blelieve in science. well not really. who do u think created the universe? “oh duhh. the big bang?” NO, who do you think created the big-bang? ppl r being racist to people wen we’re just only one race. racist on beliefs, color of skin? thn their gonna waste all our resources on crap like polluting cars and such and gas stations, and thn fight with the ppl who still have our resources cuz they dnt use it for crap. go out in space an the united states lights shine brighter then anybody elses, and thts not anything to be proud of.wen ppl know other ppl cant trust thm, of course their gonna do something drastic like rob a bank or sumthing, because thts the kind of things this nation teaches ppl to do. they put out “reinforcements” to watch out for things like tht so ppl actually hav the mind to do it. this nation and almost humanity itself has done nothing but turn this world into a hazardous, unsafe place to call home, destroying all the beautiful places God has made, makes me ashamed to say the pledge of allegiance at times. And u know what? theres no turning back. we cant fix the mistakes we have made. we can maintian it. but we cant fix it. never. it can never be fixed. it cant be fixed but it just has to be started over. But only the good people go to the Paradise. Yes the paradise, when Jehovah starts the world over again. A good world this time. I cant believe ppl r proud to actually post online or write inb ooks, the first person who created a bomb, and its not like they created these things to fix the world or do something good, their only purpose for created weapons are for detruction and curruption, guns were made for military, bombs were made for wars, tanks were made for armies, most of undersea equiptment, scuba gear was made for the army originally. People say their proud to be part of such an advanced civilization, when we’re the most highly novices of the game. Money is curruption. Money is paper, paper is on trees, people cut trees down.. trees provide oxygen, one day we are going to all of a sudden suffocate to death. people steal money, people beg for money, people borrow money, why? because its the only way to liv. people work for money, people DEAL for money? why? because its the only way to get around in life, its the only thing people work for! its something tht ppl thought was a good way of keeping track and organization but all itz done is giv us crack heads, drug dealers, prostitues, and suicidal attempts. people kill ove rmoney? people work underground for money for a dinner to support their kids. This nation is curruption and sometimes, im not proud at all to be here. I feel dirty, saying the pledge of alligiance sometimes. what has this world come to? nevermind, dont answer that.
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