Y'all got me curious on this one, so I headed out into ye olde library stacks, whisked A dictionary of geography (F.J. Monkhouse, 1970) off the shelf, and here's what it had to say: island: A piece of land surrounded by water, smaller than a continent... the largest islands are Greenland (2.2 million sq. km or 840,000 sq. mi.), New Guinea (820,00 sq. km; 317,000 sq. mi.) and Borneo ((750,000 sq km; 287,000 sq mi). The Encyclopedia Ameriana rounds out the rest of the "top 10" list with Madagascar at 590,000 sq.km or 227,800 sq mi; Baffin at 476,000 sq km or 183,800 sq mi; Sumatra at 473,700 sq km or 182,900 sq mi; Honshu, Great Britain, Ellesmere, and Victoria in that order. continent One of the earth's major constituent land-mases, composed of sialic rocks, rising from the ocean floor. Structurally it includes shallowly submerged adjacent areas (the Continental shelf) and neighbouring islands; in this sense, the continents occupy 30% of the earth's surface. Actual dry land comprises about 29%. FWIW Natalie Wiest Pelican Island/Galveston Island TX USA *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Natalie, If Chris Duff reads this, you're responsible for causing his next 10 trips. jerry. At 10:20 AM 05/23/2000 -0500, Natalie Wiest wrote: >Y'all got me curious on this one, so I headed out into ye olde library stacks, >whisked A dictionary of geography (F.J. Monkhouse, 1970) off the shelf, and >here's what it had to say: > > > > > >island: A piece of land surrounded by water, smaller than a continent... the >largest islands are Greenland (2.2 million sq. km or 840,000 sq. mi.), New >Guinea (820,00 sq. km; 317,000 sq. mi.) and Borneo ((750,000 sq km; 287,000 >sq mi). > > > > > >The Encyclopedia Ameriana rounds out the rest of the "top 10" list with >Madagascar at 590,000 sq.km or 227,800 sq mi; Baffin at 476,000 sq km or >183,800 sq mi; Sumatra at 473,700 sq km or 182,900 sq mi; Honshu, Great >Britain, Ellesmere, and Victoria in that order. > > > > > >continent One of the earth's major constituent land-mases, composed of sialic >rocks, rising from the ocean floor. Structurally it includes shallowly >submerged adjacent areas (the Continental shelf) and neighbouring islands; in >this sense, the continents occupy 30% of the earth's surface. Actual dry land >comprises about 29%. > > > > > >FWIW > > > > > >Natalie Wiest > > >Pelican Island/Galveston Island TX USA > > > > > > > > >*************************************************************************** >PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not >to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission >Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net >Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net >Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ >*************************************************************************** > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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