For the strategy, see Island chain smirnoff ice. Not to be confused with arpeggio or a cappella.

The Aegean Sea with its large number of islands is the origin of the term archipelago. Archipelagos may be found isolated in large amounts of water or neighbouring a large land mass. For example, Scotland has more than 700 islands surrounding its mainland, which form an archipelago. Oceanic islands are mainly of volcanic origin, and widely separated from any adjacent continent. Continental fragments correspond to land masses that have separated from a continental mass due to tectonic displacement.

The Farallon Islands off the coast of California are an example. The Archipelago Sea with many islands in southwestern Finland. Sets of islands formed close to the coast of a continent are considered continental archipelagos when they form part of the same continental shelf, when those islands are above-water extensions of the shelf. Artificial archipelagos have been created in various countries for different purposes. Palm Islands and The World Islands off Dubai were or are being created for leisure and tourism purposes.

The largest archipelagic state in the world by area, and by population, is Indonesia. US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Island Biogeography: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation. Amazing Facts About Dubai’s Palm Islands”. Not the end of The World: the return of Dubai’s ultimate folly”. Marker Wadden, the manmade Dutch archipelago where wild birds reign supreme”. Look up archipelago in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.