Archipelagos

An archipelago is a group of islands that are close together in the ocean, a sea, or a lake. Some archipelagos have just a few islands. Others have thousands. They can be formed by volcanoes, rising sea levels, or the movement of the Earth's crust.

How Archipelagos Form

Many archipelagos are created by underwater volcanoes. When a volcano erupts on the ocean floor, lava builds up until it rises above the water and forms an island. Over time, more volcanoes erupt nearby and create a chain. The Hawaiian Islands were formed this way.

Famous Archipelagos

Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world with over 17,000 islands. The Philippines has more than 7,000 islands. Japan is an archipelago made up of four main islands and many smaller ones. The Galapagos Islands are a famous archipelago near South America.

Fun Facts

• Indonesia has so many islands that many of them do not even have names.
• The Maldives is an archipelago of about 1,200 small islands in the Indian Ocean.
• Some archipelagos stretch for hundreds of miles across the ocean.

Did You Know?

The word archipelago originally meant the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, which is full of islands!