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Island country that consists of an archipelago From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An archipelagic state is an island country that consists of an archipelago. The designation is legally defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In various conferences,[1] the Bahamas, Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines are the five original sovereign states that obtained approval in the UNCLOS signed in Montego Bay, Jamaica on 10 December 1982 and qualified as the archipelagic states.[2]
Archipelagic states are composed of groups of islands forming a state as a single unit, with the islands and the waters within the baselines as internal waters. Under this concept ("archipelagic doctrine"), an archipelago shall be regarded as a single unit, so that the waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, irrespective of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the state, and are subject to its exclusive sovereignty. The baselines must enclose the main islands of the archipelago and the enclosed water to land ratio must be "between 1:1 and 9:1".[3]
The approval of the United Nations (UN) for the five sovereign states as archipelagic states respect[4] existing agreements with other countries and shall recognize traditional fishing rights and other legitimate activities of the immediately adjacent neighboring countries in certain areas falling within archipelagic waters. The terms and conditions for the exercise of such rights and activities, including the nature, the extent and the areas to which they apply, shall, at the request of any of the countries concerned, be regulated by bilateral agreements between them. Such rights shall not be transferred to or shared with third countries or their nationals.[5]
As of 20 June 2015, a total of 22 sovereign states have sought to claim archipelagic status.[6]
This is a list of the current archipelagic states in the world. These 22 island countries have sought to claim archipelagic status by utilising the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea provisions.[6][7]
Bolded are the five original official archipelagic states.
State | Geographical configuration[6] | Geological type[8] | Population | Area (km2)[9] | Population density (per km2) |
Geographical location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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One archipelago with two main islands | Oceanic | 97,118 | 440 | 194 | Caribbean Sea Leeward Islands |
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One archipelago | 392,000 | 13,878 | 23.27 | North Atlantic Ocean Lucayan Archipelago | |
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518,467 | 4,033 | 125.5 | North Atlantic Ocean Macaronesia | ||
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784,745 | 2,235 | 275 | Indian Ocean Comoro Islands | ||
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One archipelago with the main island (Hispaniola) shared with another country (Haiti) | Continental | 10,652,000 | 48,442 | 208.2 | Caribbean Sea Greater Antilles |
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One archipelago with two main islands | Various[note 1] | 859,178 | 18,274 | 46.4 | South Pacific Ocean Melanesia |
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One archipelago with two main islands | Oceanic | 110,000 | 344 | 319.8 | Caribbean Sea Windward Islands |
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One archipelago with four islands (Borneo, Sebatik, New Guinea, and Timor) shared with four other countries (Brunei, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste). | Various[note 3] | 270,203,917 | 1,904,569 | 124.7 | World Ocean Maritime Southeast Asia |
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One archipelago with one main island | 2,847,232 | 10,991 | 252 | Caribbean Sea Greater Antilles | |
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Three archipelagos | Oceanic | 123,346 | 811 | 152 | Pacific Ocean Micronesia |
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One archipelago | 329,198 | 298 | 1,105 | Indian Ocean Maldive Islands | |
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Two archipelagos | 62,000 | 181 | 342.5 | North Pacific Ocean Micronesia | |
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Two archipelagos[clarification needed] with two main islands | 1,244,663 | 2,040 | 610 | Indian Ocean Mascarene Islands | |
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One archipelago with the main island (New Guinea) shared with another country (Indonesia) | Continental shelf | 6,732,000 | 462,840 | 14.5 | South Pacific Ocean Melanesia |
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One archipelago | 101,398,120 | 300,000 | 295 | North Pacific Ocean Maritime Southeast Asia | |
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One archipelago with one main island | 120,000 | 389 | 307 | Caribbean Sea Windward Islands | |
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One archipelago with two main islands | 163,000 | 1,001 | 169.1 | Atlantic Ocean Cameroon Line | |
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Four archipelagos | Oceanic | 87,500 | 455 | 192 | Indian Ocean Seychelles Islands |
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Five archipelagos | 523,000 | 28,400 | 18.1 | South Pacific Ocean Melanesia | |
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One archipelago with two main islands | Continental shelf | 1,299,953 | 5,131 | 254.4 | Caribbean Sea Lesser Antilles |
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One archipelago | Oceanic | 12,373 | 26 | 475.88 | South Pacific Ocean Polynesia |
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One archipelago | 243,304 | 12,190 | 19.7 | South Pacific Ocean Melanesia |
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