This is a list of island nations, political entities that are located on islands or archipelagoes.
Current
By political status
Independent
Independence under dispute
Autonomous, colonies and semi-autonomous
By geographic configuration
Centered on one major island
Spread over group of islands (including parts of archipelagoes and island arcs)
Island shared between two or more states
See List of divided islands
Continental shelf
Oceanic ridges or atolls
Former nations
Historical
- Andros
- Delos
- Dominion of Newfoundland - note 3
- Duchy of the Archipelago
- Khios
- Kingdom of Cyprus
- Kingdom of Great Britain
- Kingdom of Hawai‘i
- Kingdom of Ireland
- Kingdom of Man
- Irish Free State
- Lesbos
- Majapahit Empire
- Merina
- Milos
- Minoans
- Pholegandros
- Rhodes
- Republic of Formosa
- Republic of Hawai‘i
- Ryukyu Kingdom
- Samos
- Sese Islands
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Venice
- West Indies Federation, split up into Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Barbuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tobago, Trinidad, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
- Zakynthos
Former colonies, possessions, protectorates and territories
- Cape Breton Island, now part of Nova Scotia, Canada
- Danish West Indies, now the United States Virgin Islands
- Territory of Hawai‘i, a US territory from 1898 to 1959, now part of the United States.
- Hong Kong (1841-1860), now a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. - note 4
- Labuan, briefly part of British North Borneo, the Strait settlements and Sabah, now a federal territory of Malaysia
- Macau (1557-1999), now a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China.
- Newfoundland (1583-1809), now Province of Newfoundland and Labrador of Canada - note 3
- New Hebrides, now Vanuatu
- Prince Edward Island, now a province of Canada
- Réunion, now an overseas department of France
- Tasmania, now a part of Australia
- Vancouver Island, now a part of British Columbia, Canada
- Zanzibar and Pemba, now parts of Tanzania
Notes
¹ The Cook Islands and Niue are in
free association with New Zealand. See
Niue Constitution Act 1974 (NZ). Tokelau is a territory of New Zealand.
² In association with the
United States.
3 The Colony of Newfoundland covers the island of
Newfoundland before 1808. In 1808, part of the
peninsula of
Labrador was transferred to Newfoundland from Lower Canada. In other words, before 1808, Newfoundland was an island colony. From 1808 onwards, the Colony of Newfoundland, and later the Dominion of Newfoundland, had been an island plus an area on the continent of
North America.
4 The Crown Colony of
Hong Kong covers only
Hong Kong Island from 1841 to 1860.
Kowloon south of
Boundary Street on the continent was added in 1860, and extended to include the
New Territories in 1898.
5 See also
History of the Republic of China - Civil War,
political status of Taiwan and
legal status of Taiwan.
6 Australia is considered by geographers to be a continent and thus not an island, however in popular usage it is often referred to as an 'island continent'.
External links
Lists of countries | Island nations
Listo de insulaj nacioj | 島国一覧 | Lista de países insulares | Luettelo saarivaltioista | உலகின் தீவு நாடுகளின் பட்டியல் | 岛屿国家列表