What is the largest island in the world?
Greenland is the largest island in the world, covering about 2.17 million square kilometers. Australia is larger but is counted as a continent, not an island.
Most of Greenland lies under an ice sheet that is up to about 3 kilometers thick. Only the coastal strips are free of ice, and that is where almost all of its roughly 57,000 people live. Greenland is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.
The next largest islands are New Guinea, Borneo and Madagascar. New Guinea is shared by Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and Borneo by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, making it the only island divided among three countries.
Why it is called Greenland
According to Norse sagas, Erik the Red named the island Greenland around the year 985 to attract settlers. Its southern coasts do turn green in summer, but the name was partly a piece of early marketing. Iceland, despite its name, is much greener and milder.
Did You Know?
Because of the way flat maps stretch the far north, Greenland often looks as big as Africa. In reality, Africa is about 14 times larger.