Islands of Chile

Chile has one of the world's longest and most dangerous coastlines; it is more than 4000 km (2500 mi) long and has at least 5000 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 superface greater than 100,000 m2 (1,100,000 sq ft).[2]

Island territory

They have counted 5,919 "units" between the 18°15'S and 56°32'S latitude, with a total area of 105,561 square kilometres (26,085,000 acres), that is 14% of the Chilean Territory (not included the Antarctica claims). The biggest eight islands (Tierra del Fuego, Chiloé, Wellington, Riesco, Hoste, Santa Inés, Navarino and Magdalena), every one bigger than 2,000 km2, represent 56% of the island territory of Chile. The 381 biggest islands, every one bigger than 10 km2, 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 accordig their position to the continental coasts of Chile:[3]

Ocean islands

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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