Which is the largest island in the world?
- A.Australia
- B.Greenland
- C.New Guinea
- D.Madagascar
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Greenland. Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark lying between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean, is the largest island on earth, most of it covered by an ice sheet, and it is a continental island separated from the North American landmass. Option A is wrong, and it is the trap this question is built around: Australia has a larger area than Greenland but is counted as a continent, not an island, because it sits on its own continental plate with its own flora, fauna and tectonic identity. Option C is wrong because New Guinea, shared by Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, is the second largest island, and Option D is wrong because Madagascar, separated from Africa by the Mozambique Channel, stands fourth in the list after Borneo. Remember the order as Greenland, New Guinea, Borneo and Madagascar.
Read the full article: Major Islands and Archipelagos of the World: GK Notes
Practice Questions
View allWhich country is the largest archipelago in the world?
- A.Philippines
- B.Japan
- C.Indonesia
- D.Maldives
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Indonesia is a chain of more than seventeen thousand islands stretching along the equator between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, with Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi and the Indonesian halves of Borneo and New Guinea as its principal members, and it is the largest archipelago in the world.
Read the full explanation →Majuli, the largest river island in the world, lies in which river?
- A.Brahmaputra
- B.Ganga
- C.Godavari
- D.Mahanadi
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Majuli lies in the Brahmaputra in Assam, formed by silt deposited by the river and its tributaries, is a seat of the Vaishnava satras founded in the tradition of Srimanta Sankardeva, and has been constituted a district of Assam, the first river island district in the country.
Read the full explanation →The only active volcano in India is situated on which island?
- A.Narcondam Island
- B.Barren Island
- C.Car Nicobar
- D.Minicoy
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Barren Island in the Andaman group of the Bay of Bengal carries the only active volcano in India and indeed in South Asia, part of the volcanic arc produced where the Indian plate dips beneath the Burma plate, and it has erupted several times in recent decades.
Read the full explanation →The Ten Degree Channel separates which two island groups?
- A.Andaman and Nicobar
- B.Lakshadweep and Maldives
- C.Andaman and the Coco Islands
- D.Minicoy and the rest of Lakshadweep
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The Ten Degree Channel runs along the tenth parallel of north latitude across the Bay of Bengal and separates the Andaman group in the north from the Nicobar group in the south, which is why the Union Territory is named for both groups.
Read the full explanation →Madagascar is separated from the mainland of Africa by which water body?
- A.Palk Strait
- B.Mozambique Channel
- C.Bass Strait
- D.Cook Strait
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The Mozambique Channel is the arm of the Indian Ocean that lies between Madagascar and the coast of Mozambique on the African mainland, and Madagascar itself is a continental island that broke away from Africa and later from India, which is why its wildlife is so distinctive.
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