Island

Artificial islands are those made by humans, including small rocky outcroppings built out of lagoons and large-scale land reclamation projects used for development.

Islands are popular targets for tourism due to their perceived natural beauty, isolation, and unique cultures.

Decolonization has resulted in some but not all island nations becoming self-governing, with lasting effects related to industrialisation, invasive species, nuclear weapons testing, and tourism.

Sea level rise threatens to submerge nations such as Maldives, the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu completely.

Increases in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones can cause widespread destruction of infrastructure and animal habitats.

Old English ieg is actually a cognate of Swedish ö and German Aue, and more distantly related to Latin aqua (water).

In some cases, tectonic movements lifting a reef out of the water by as little as 1 meter can cause sediment to accumulate and an island to form.

[12] Barrier islands are long, sandy bars that form along shorelines due to the deposition of sediment by waves.

Barrier islands have the effect of protecting coastal areas from severe weather because they absorb some of the energy of large waves before they can reach the shore.

Changes in the flow speed, water level, and sediment content of the river may effect the rate of fluvial island formation and depletion.

[18] The field of insular biogeography studies the ecological processes that take place on islands, with a focus on what factors effect the evolution, extinction, and richness of species.

[21] Areas with high lives of biodiversity are a priority target of conservation efforts, to prevent the extinction of these species.

[20] Over the course of time, evolution and extinction changes the nature of animal life on a continental island, but only once it splits from the mainland.

An example is that of the southern beech, a tree that is present in Australia, New Zealand, parts of South American, and New Guinea, places that today are geographically distant.

[29] The classical example of this is Darwin's finches, a group of up to fifteen tanager species that are endemic to the Galápagos Islands.

[20] The species he observed on the Galápagos Islands, including tanager birds, contributed to his understanding of how evolution works.

Reaching the Indonesian islands of Flores and Timor would have required crossing distances of water of at least 29 km (18 mi).

[40] Historians have sought to understand why some remote islands have always been uninhabited, while others, especially in the Pacific Ocean, have long been populated by humans.

[36] The presence of an island is marked by seabirds, differences in cloud and weather patterns, as well as changes in the direction of waves.

[36] These historians theorize that successful explorers were rewarded with recognition and wealth, leading others to attempt possibly dangerous expeditions to discover more islands, usually with poor results.

[48] There is archeological evidence that Canary Islanders would chew the roots of ferns for sustenance, a practice that wore heavily on their molars.

These missionaries faced resistance, but found success when some local chiefs used European support to centralize power.

[51] Colonization has resulted in a decline of observance of traditional cultural practices in places such as Hawaii, where Native Hawaiians are now a minority.

However, islands may suffer from poor transportation connectivity from airplanes and boats and strains on infrastructure from tourist activity.

These islands sometimes also require consistent foreign aid on top of tourism in order to ensure economic growth.

[56] Climate change threatens human development on islands due to sea level rise, more dangerous tropical cyclones, coral bleaching, and an increase in invasive species.

[57] In 2017, a detailed review of 1,288 islands found that they were home to 1,189 highly-threatened vertebrate species, which was 41 percent of the global figure.

[58] Coral bleaching is expected to occur with more frequency, threatening marine ecosystems, some of which island economies are dependent on.

Tuvalu received media attention for a press conference publicizing the ongoing submerging of the island country.

[61] Islands have also been constructed with a permanent caisson, a steel or concrete structure built in a closed loop and then filled with sand.