In November 1963, a new island was born in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 20 miles off the southern coast of Iceland. The island first appeared as the result of a volcanic eruption, and over the next few years it grew to have an area of one square mile. The name Surtsey was adopted in 1965 after the Icelandic government decided to name it after Surtur, the mythological fire god.

The island of Timor is a part of the Malay Archipelago — the world’s largest group of islands — but it’s split into two parts. East Timor gained independence in 1999 and has been a sovereign state since 2002. Meanwhile, the western half of the island — covering more than 6,100 square miles — is part of Indonesia's Nusa Tenggara Timur province.

Estonia has more than 2,000 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea. Saaremaa is the nation’s largest island and is home to more than 30,000 people. The nearby island of Hiiumaa, Estonia’s second-largest island, is also part of the West Estonian archipelago, but it is about a third of the size of Saaremaa. During the winter, Hiiumaa is connected to the mainland via a 15-mile drive across the longest ice road in Europe.

Djerba is a 200-square-mile island in the Mediterranean Sea, connected to mainland Tunisia by a four-mile-long causeway. The island, the largest in North Africa, is located in the Gulf of Gabes, and its sandy beaches have made it a draw with tourists. Djerba is also famous as a filming location for “Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.”

American Samoa comprises five main islands: Tutuila, Aunu'u, Ofu, Olosega, and Ta'u. Its location just east of the International Date Line in the South Pacific Ocean makes it the southernmost U.S. territory and the only inhabited region of the U.S. located south of the equator. American Samoa's primary island, Tutuila, is home to 95% of the archipelago's population, amounting to about 56,000 people.

Canada has the longest coastline in the world, measuring over 150,000 miles, so it’s no surprise that the country is home to many islands, too. Among them are three of the largest islands on Earth: Baffin Island, in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut (about 195,928 square miles in size); Victoria Island, in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (83,897 square miles), and Ellesmere, also located in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (71,029 square miles).

Greece’s third-largest island, Lesvos is located in the northern Aegean Sea. The Ottomans referred to Lesvos as “the garden of the Aegean,” and the island has a long history of producing olive oil — thanks in no small part to its approximately 11 million olive trees. Many of the trees on the island today are hundreds of years old, and olive groves cover nearly 80% of the island’s arable land.

The mountainous island of Corsica has been a French territory since 1769, which also happens to be the year Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island. Throughout history, it was ruled by Greece, Carthage, Rome, Pisa, and Genoa. Corsica is located south of the French Riviera and north of the Italian island of Sardinia.

Located north of the Arctic Circle, about halfway between Norway and the North Pole, the archipelago of Svalbard is made up of nine icy islands, the largest of which is called Spitsbergen. Russia, Norway, the U.S., Sweden, and the Netherlands have all made competing claims on the archipelago for its coal and mineral resources, but a 1920 treaty gave possession to Norway.

Approximately 60 miles southwest of mainland South Korea is Jeju Island (alternately known as Cheju Island). The 700-square-mile island in the East China Sea has been a special autonomous province of South Korea since 2006. Dominating Jeju Island’s landscape is the 6,398-foot peak of Mount Halla. The island is home to around 500,000 people.

Bonaire is a long way from the Netherlands, but the tiny Caribbean island is nonetheless a special municipality of the Dutch Kingdom. It forms part of the “ABC Islands,” the westernmost island group in the Leeward Antilles. “A” stands for Aruba, and “C” stands for Curaçao. Located about 50 miles north of Venezuela, Bonaire is only about 110 square miles.

The island of Socotra sits between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, off the tip of the Horn of Africa. Controlled by neighboring Yemen, it is the largest of the four islands in the Socotra archipelago. About a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on Earth. One of those rare plants is the umbrella-like dragon's blood tree, whose name comes from the dark red resin it secretes.

Spain has more than 60 islands, which fall into two groups: the Balearic Islands, about 50 miles off the coast of the mainland in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa. The largest island is Mallorca (also spelled Majorca), which is about 1,400 square miles — similar in size to New York’s Long Island.

Located 110 miles off the northern coast of mainland Scotland in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, the Shetland Islands are the most northerly part of the United Kingdom. Comprising rugged coastline and rolling hills, the subarctic archipelago lies between Norway, the Faroe Islands, and Great Britain. Its largest island, covering 373 square miles, is called the Mainland.

Separated from the southern tip of South America by the Strait of Magellan, the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego has a name that translates to “Land of Fire.” Ferdinand Magellan discovered the islands in 1520, naming them for the flickering lights the explorers saw on the land as they approached. According to boundaries agreed upon in 1881, about two-thirds of Tierra del Fuego belongs to Chile, while the remaining third is under Argentine control.

To Spanish speakers, it is “Isla de Pascua.” To its original inhabitants, it was “Rapa Nui.” But for much of the world, this isolated island — located in the Pacific Ocean about 2,200 miles off the coast of Chile — is called Easter Island. The island is perhaps best known for its giant stone heads called moai, which weigh as much as 80 tons, and are scattered around its shores.

Hainan, whose name means "south of the sea," is the smallest and southernmost province in China. At just 13,200 square miles, and with a population around 9 million people, Hainan only became its own province in 1988. Located about 200 miles east of Vietnam and just off the coast of China's Guangdong province, Hainan is also China's largest island, other than the controversial region of Taiwan.

Colonized by France in 1880, Tahiti is located in the South Pacific Ocean and part of French Polynesia. The largest of the Windward Islands in the Society Islands archipelago, Tahiti is composed of a pair of ancient volcanic cones, linked by the Isthmus of Taravao. Its lush coast is characterized by jagged mountains and surrounded by serene lagoons, sandy beaches, and brightly colored coral reefs.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are both located on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in the Great Antilles. The island was politically divided between the Haitian French and the Spanish Dominican Republic in 1697, after a power struggle. Around 19,000 square miles of the eastern half belongs to the Dominican Republic, while Haiti occupies 11,000 square miles of the western half.

Indonesia is composed of some 17,500 islands. While more than 7,000 of those are uninhabited, others are home to millions of people. Some of the archipelagic nation's largest islands are Java (the world’s most populous island), Sumatra, Borneo, and Sulawesi. The country is also home to the tourist destinations of Bali and Komodo.