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Island or
place
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Misinformation
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Reality
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Easter Island (Rapa
Nui, or Isla de Pascua)
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False claim: It is the most isolated
inhabited island in the world.
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Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic is 1,320 miles / 2,120 km
from the island of St. Helena, the nearest inhabited land, and 1,700 miles
/ 2,740 km from the nearest continent, Africa.
Easter Island is closer to inhabited
land (Pitcairn I.) than Tristan da Cunha,
and closer to a continent than many islands of the central Pacific. It also
receives several plane flights a week, making it easier to get to than
thousands of inhabited islands.
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Saint Martin, Caribbean
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False claim: It is the smallest island
divided between two countries.
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There are many smaller islands crossed by international borders. Saint Martin may be the smallest inhabited
island so divided.
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Cocos Island (Isla del Coco)
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False claim: Cocos
Island is the largest uninhabited island in the world.
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There are scores, and probably hundreds,
of larger uninhabited islands, some thousands of square miles. The largest
is Devon Island, the 27th largest island in the world, at 21,331 square
miles / 55,247 sq km. Cocos is only 18 sq mi / 47
sq km.
If Cocos is counted as uninhabited--there are now people living
there--it is one of the larger tropical oceanic uninhabited islands, but
not the largest in this category either. For instance, Kahoolawe,
in Hawaii, is larger.
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Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles
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False claim: Aldabra
is the world's largest raised coral atoll.
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The largest raised coral atoll is Lifou (Lifu) in the Loyalty (Loyauté) Islands of New Caledonia, with an area of 443
sq miles / 1,146 sq km. Aldabra is also smaller
than Rennell Island (255 / 660) in the Solomon
Islands.
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Kodiak Island, Alaska
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False claim: It is the largest island in
the U.S.
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Hawaii is the largest of all U.S. islands.
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Akutan Island, Aleutians, Alaska
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False claim: It rises to 4275m / 14,026
ft.
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Akutan is only 4275 feet / 1303 meters high, making it
the 204th highest island, not the second highest.
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Majuli Island, Assam, India
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False claim: It is the world's largest
river island.
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Many river islands in Brazil and
elsewhere are larger, beginning with Bananal at
7,720 sq mi / 20,000 sq km. Majuli is only 340 sq
mi / 880 sq km.
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Whidbey Island, Washington
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False claim: It is the longest island in
the lower 48 states of the U.S.
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The Seattle Times reports that it
is the 5th longest, behind Long I., Isle Royale,
and two islands in Texas. It is the longest island on the Pacific Coast of
the contiguous United States.
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Hinchinbrook Island, Australia
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False claim: It is the largest island
national park in the world.
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Isle Royale,
Lake Superior, Michigan, is the largest island national park in the world,
at 209 square miles / 541 square km.
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Monte Isola
(or Montisola or Monteisola),
Lago d'Iseo, Italy
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False claim: It is the largest lake
island in Europe.
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Many lake islands in Scandinavia are
larger than its 4.5 sq km / 1.7 sq mi. It is the largest lake island in
Italy.
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Monte Isola
(or Montisola or Monteisola),
Lago d'Iseo, Italy
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False claim: It is the highest lake
island in Europe.
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Gudfjellöya, in Tunnsjöen, Norway,
rises 459m / 1506 ft above the lake, about 44m / 144 ft higher than Monte Isola.
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La Palma, Canary Islands (Islas Canarias)
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False claim: It is the world's tallest
island, either absolutely or in relation to its surface area.
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Forty-five islands are taller, and two
of those have a smaller surface area than La Palma.
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Isla Ometepe, Lake Nicaragua
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False claim: It is the world's largest
lake island.
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It is 10th largest. Manitoulin island in
Lake Huron, Ontario, is the largest of the world's lake islands, at 1,068 sq miles / 2,766 sq km.
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Tetepare, Solomon Islands
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False claim: Tetepare
is the world's largest uninhabited island.
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Tetepare is only 46 sq miles / 118 square kilometers. The
largest is Devon Island, at 21,331 square miles / 55,247 sq km.
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Goodenough Island, Papua New Guinea
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False claim: Goodenough
I. is the highest island of its size in the world.
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Heard Island rises to 9,006 feet / 2,745
m, but is smaller than Goodenough I. at 146 sq
miles / 378 sq km. Goodenough is 265 sq miles /
687 sq km, and only rises to 8,419 feet / 2,566 m.
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Teresa Island, Atlin
Lake, British Columbia
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False claim: It is the world's tallest
island in a freshwater lake.
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Isla Ometepe, in Lake Nicaragua, is the
world's tallest. Teresa Island is the second-tallest.
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Wrightson Island
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False claim: It exists.
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Wrightson I., purported home to the Arcania
tree and the giant sea sparrow, was invented by a biologist and
accidentally reported as real by other writers.
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Woodford Island, NSW, Australia
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False claim: it is the largest river
island of the Southern Hemisphere.
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At about 14 sq miles / 37 sq km,
Woodford Island is smaller than many river islands in South America and
Africa.
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East Redonda
Island, British Columbia
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False claim: It is the world's highest
island per circumference.
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East Redonda
is not even the highest by area -- five smaller islands rise higher, and
some have circular and thus short circumferences. East Redonda
has an unusually convoluted shoreline, further downgrading its rank by
circumference.
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Denmark
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False claim: Denmark has more islands
than any other European country.
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Denmark only claims to have about 500
islands. Sweden counts 221,800 and Finland 179,584. Norway, Greece and Croatia
also claim more than Denmark.
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Isla Coiba,
Panama
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False claim: It is the largest island of
the American Pacific.
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Coiba is only 191 sq mi / 494 sq km, making it smaller
than many islands in Alaska and Chile. The largest island of the Pacific coast
of the Americas is Vancouver Island, Canada, at 12,079 sq mi / 31,285 sq
km.
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Sears Island, Maine
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False claim: It is the largest
uninhabited island in Maine.
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Long Island in Blue Hill Bay seems to be
the largest uninhabited island in Maine, and Sears Island is currently
joined to the mainland by a solid causeway, and is thus a peninsula.
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