Split between Chile and Argentina, the Tierra del Fuego archipelago is a series of islands located off the southern tip of South America, where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. The largest island in the grouping is appropriately called Isla Grande, and it is separated from the main continent by the Strait of Magallanes.

Five places on Earth have been designated “Blue Zones,” where people live much longer than average: Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; Loma Linda, California; and Okinawa, Japan. The largest island of the Ryukyu Archipelago, Okinawa features an average life expectancy of 84 for men and 90 for women. And on a per-capita basis, the island has the world’s highest rate of people who live to 100 or older.

Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera are the four largest Balearic Islands. The archipelago, located off Spain’s eastern coast, formed its own autonomous community in 1983; its capital, Palma, is located on the southwestern coast of Mallorca. The party capital of the archipelago, however, would be Ibiza, which is known for its nightlife and beaches.

Located northeast of Malaysia, the Maluku Islands were once known for being the world’s largest producers of nutmeg, cloves, pepper, and mace — earning them the nickname of the “Spice Islands.” Portuguese, Dutch, and English traders reached the islands in the 16th century, and when spices were brought to market in Europe, they often sold at enormous profit.

Greece’s Cyclades Islands — home to popular tourist destinations such as Mykonos, Santorini, and Milos — are located in the Aegean Sea southeast of the Greek mainland. The name of the archipelago translates to “circle,” referring to the shape the islands form around the island of Delos. In Greek mythology, Delos is the birthplace of Apollo and Athena.

As its name suggests, the Thirty Thousands archipelago contains a lot of islands, but it's not even Canada’s largest archipelago — the Canadian Arctic Archipelago has over 36,000 different islands. The Archipelago Sea, however, consists of approximately 40,000 islands stretching across the Baltic Sea, mostly within Finnish territorial waters.

The Thousands Islands span Canada’s St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, but with a tally of 1,864 islands, the name undersells the true breadth of the archipelago. Some of the islands, however, are quite small — in this case, an “island” is defined as a piece of land that stays above water year-round and supports a living tree. The area’s history of smuggling makes treasure hunting a popular tourist activity.

An archipelago is defined as a group of islands, and there is no larger island group in the world than the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia. Consisting of over 17,000 islands in Indonesia and more than 7,000 islands in the Philippines, this archipelago stretches 3,800 miles east to west across the equator, and over 2,200 miles from north to south.

Part of Ecuador, the Galápagos are located 600 miles off the coast of South America in the Pacific Ocean. Naturalist Charles Darwin visited the archipelago in 1835, and noticed that similar species developed different traits, even when found on two nearly identical islands. His explanation was the theory of evolution and survival of the fittest.

The Florida Keys are home to some 800 islands, and located at the southern tip of the archipelago is Key West, the southernmost city in the continental United States. The city is located 150 miles from Miami, but only 90 miles from Cuba. The 113-mile-long Overseas highway connects Key West to many of the other Keys, as well as the Florida mainland.