The World's Most Isolated Islands

THE WORLD'S MOST ISOLATED UNINHABITED ISLANDS

BOUVET ISLAND

The world's most isolated uninhabited island is Bouvet Island, pictured below, situated in the south Atlantic Ocean. The island lies in the middle of an area which is surrounded by 8.6 million square miles of water. The island's nearest neighbour is an uninhabited part of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, which is situated one thousand miles away to the south and it's nearest inhabited neighbour is Port Elisabeth in South Africa, one thousand, six hundred and seventy miles away to the north east.

The island was discovered in 1739 by French naval officer, Jean - Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, who at first thought he had discoverd the northernmost tip of Antarctica. Instead he had discovered a volcanic, glaciar covered island of just nineteen square miles.

Today the island is an uninhabited territory of Norway which has been designated as a nature reserve and used as an automated meteorological station.

The island can be seen on the above map next to the blue cross.

THE WORLD'S MOST ISOLATED UNINHABITED ISLAND GROUPS

THE KURGUELEN ISLANDS

This small island group, pictured above, also known as the Desolation Islands, makes up part of the French overseas territory known as the French Southern and Antarctic Lands and is situated in the southern Indian Ocean. The islands, which have a small semi permanent population who work on the island group's largest island, Grand Terre, are located one thousand miles east of Queen Maud Land on Antarctica and two thousand and fifty one miles south of Port Elisabeth in South Africa.

The islands were discovered by French navigator, Yves - Joseph de Kurguelen de Tremarec in 1772 and have been a French protectorate ever since.

The islands can be seen on the above map next to the red cross.

Other isolated uninhabited island groups include;

THE KERMADEC ARCHIPELAGO - This small group of uninhabited islands, which are an administrative division of New Zealand, are situated in the south Pacific Ocean, six hundred miles north east of New Zealand's North Island and around the same distance south of Tonga's island group.

THE PRINCE EDWARD ISLANDS – This small group of uninhabited islands are a South African territory situated in the southern Indian Ocean. The island group is a designated national park situated five hundred miles north of their nearest neighbours the uninhabited French island group, The Crozet Islands, and one thousand and ninety nine miles south of Port Elisabeth in South Africa.

The islands can be seen on the above map next to the green cross.

THE WORLD'S MOST ISOLATED INHABITED ISLANDS

TRISTAN DA CUNHA

Tristan Da Cunha, pictured below, is the world's most isolated, inhabited island. It is situated in the south Atlantic Ocean, one thousand, five hundred and nine miles south of it's nearest neighbour, the inhabited island of St Helena.

Tristan da Cunha was named after the Portugese naval Admiral, Tristao de Cunha (1406 - 1540), who was a friend of Jaoa de Nova (1460 - 1509), the Spanish born, Portugese explorer who discovered the island in 1506.

The island measures sixty four square miles in area and has a resident population of two hundred and seventy five people, all of which are descended from the island's first settlers who set up a British Naval garrison there in 1816.

Other isolated inhabited islands include;

EASTER ISLAND - This Chilean island national park, renowned for it's hundreds of stone monoliths, is situated in the south Pacific Ocean, one thousand, two hundred and forty two miles east of Chile's mainland.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND - This island territory of Australia is situated in the Indian Ocean, five hundred and sixty miles east of it's nearest neighbour, the tiny inhabited island group known as the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

DIEGO GARCIA - Is a tiny coral atoll which makes up part of the British Indian Ocean Territory. The atoll, which is inhabited by a semi permanent population of United Kingdom and United States military personnel, is the only inhabited island in the sixty island chain known as the Chagos Archipelago, which is located five hundred miles south of the Maldives and one thousand, one hundred and twelve miles south of the mainland of India.

PITCAIRN ISLAND - This British Overseas Territory is situated in the south Pacific Ocean, two hundred and ninety eight miles south of it's nearest neighbour, the French Polynesian island of Mangareva in the Gambier Islands.

ICELAND - This Nordic island republic is Europe's most isolated island and is situated in the north Atlantic Ocean. It is located one hundred and eighty miles west of it's nearest neighbour Greenland and two hundred and sixty miles west from the rest of Europe.

THE WORLD'S MOST ISOLATED INHABITED ISLAND GROUPS

SAINT HELENA, ASCENSION AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA

The world's most isolated island group is the British Overseas Territory of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha situated in the south Atlantic Ocean. The three inhabited islands, along with three uninhabited islands, are collectively known as the Tristan da Cunha Archipelago, and are situated one thousand, seven hundred and five miles from the west coast of Africa and two thousand and ninety miles from the east coast of South America. Each of the islands are also situated one thousand miles away from one another.

Between them the island group has a population of five thousand, six hundred people, most of which have British ancestry. The islands, despite their being located thousands of miles from the United Kingdom, are situated on the GMT time zone and like their Motherland are also members of the European Union.

The islands were all discovered between 1501 and 1506 by the Spanish born, Portuguese explorer Jaoa da Nova (1460 - 1509) who was commanding a fleet of four ships from India to Portugal.

ST HELENA, Image courtesy of Mejuto, wikimedia commons

Other isolated inhabited island groups include;

HAWAII - This Polynesian chain of hundreds of small islands and eight larger, inhabited islands are the United States' smallest and only island state. Situated in the north Pacific Ocean the island group lie nine hundred and ninety four miles east of continental USA.

THE SOMERS ISLANDS - Better known as the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, this island group is situated in the Sargasso Sea, an arm of the north Atlantic Ocean and are located six hundred and sixty seven miles west of the coast of North Carolina in the USA.

THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS - This group of islands which are renowned for their giant tortoises, which the islands were named after, are an administrative division of Ecuador. The island group, which lie either side of the equatorial line, are situated in the south Pacific Ocean, six hundred and four miles east of the coast of Ecuador.

TONGA - This multi island nation, which is the Pacific Ocean's only kingdom, is situated five hundred and fifty two miles north east of it's nearest neighbour, the tiny, south Pacific island republic of Samoa.

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS - This controversial British Overseas Territory is situated in the south Atlantic Ocean, two hundred and eighty seven miles west of the Argentinian coast of south America.

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