Islands of Chile

The islands of Chile encompass the various islands that the government of Chile has sovereignty over. By far the majority of these are the islands in the south of the country. Chile has one of the world's longest coastlines, and one of the most dangerous for boats; it is more than 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) long and has at least 5,000 rocky islands.[1]

Classifications vary for isla ("island"), islote ("islet"), roquerío ("rocks"), farallón ("cliff") and archipiélago or grupo ("archipelago"). The Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy has begun to consider island a surface greater than 100,000 m2 (1,100,000 sq ft).[2]

Island territory

The Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy has counted 5,919 "units" of land between the 18° 15'S and 56° 32'S latitudes, with a total area of 105,561 square kilometres (40,757 sq mi), that is, 14% of Chile's territory (not including its Antarctica claims). The biggest eight islands and archipelagos (Tierra del Fuego, Chiloé, Wellington, Riesco, Hoste, Santa Inés, Navarino and Magdalena), each measuring over 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi) in area, represent 56% of the island territory of Chile. The 381 biggest islands – all those over 10 km2 (3 7⁄8 sq mi) in area – represent 97% of the island territory of Chile.

A map of Chile
Location of the Archipelagoes of Patagonia

Geographic classification

The Chilean "Instituto Geográfico Militar de Chile" classifies the Chilean Islands according to their coordinate position on the coast of Chile:[3]

Ocean islands
Main article: List of islands of Chile

River and lake islands

Phantom islands

Elizabeth Island, Bodesta, Pactolus Bank and some reefs have been mentioned in the past as lying near Chilean territories but they are phantom islands. Gable Island is listed by National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Country Files (GNS)[4] as a Chilean Island, but it is actually part of Argentina.

Literature islands

Several reports, novels and tales have the islands of Chile as geographic background:

See also

References
  1. Russ Rowlett, Lighthouses of Southern Chile, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  2. Ana María Errázuriz K. and Reinaldo Rioseco H. in Las islas de Chile, retrieved on 25 February 2013
  3. Chile y sus Islas
  4. The data was retrieved on 19 January 2013
  5. Adelbert von Chamisso (1981) Gesammelte Werke (Collected works), Band 2 (Vol. 2), Leipzig, p. 291
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