Contested Islands
More than ever, islands — and the resources beneath them — are the focus of geopolitical tensions between nations around the world. The biggest disputes range from the Arctic to Croatia to north of Samoa, and some of the competing claims were made centuries ago.
Places in this Collection
Senkaku Islands
The Senkaku Islands are a group of disputed, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
Serranilla Bank
Serranilla Bank is a partially submerged reef, with small uninhabited islets, in the western Cari...
Mayotte
Mayotte is an overseas department and region of France officially named the Department of Mayotte .
South Orkney Islands
The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about 604 kilometres north...
Migingo Island
Migingo is a 2,000-square-metre island in Lake Victoria. The island was the center of a low-level...
Paracel Islands
The Paracel Islands, also known as Xisha Islands, are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea.
Socotra
Socotra or Soqotra, located between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, is the largest of...
Perejil Island
Perejil Island, also known as Parsley Island, is a small, uninhabited rocky islet located off the...
Shikotan Island
Shikotan, also known as Shpanberg, is an island in the Kurils administered by the Russian Federat...
Taiping Island
Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, and also known by various other names, is the largest of t...
Matthew Island and Hunter Island
Matthew Island and Hunter Island are two small and uninhabited high islands in the South Pacific,...
New Moor Island
Shaikh Mujib Island or South Talpatty Dwip, was a small uninhabited offshore sandbar island in th...
Pratas Island
Pratas Island is an island in the northern part of the South China Sea administered as part of Ci...
Sir Creek
Sir Creek, originally Ban Ganga, is a 96-km tidal estuary in the uninhabited marshlands of the In...
North Rock
North Rock is an offshore rock located to the east of the North American continent near the bound...
Machias Seal Island
Machias Seal Island is an island in disputed water between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy...
Khuriya Muriya Islands
The Khuriya Muriya Islands are a group of five islands in the Arabian Sea, 40 km off the southeas...
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Imia/Kardak
Imia or Kardak is a pair of small uninhabited islets in the Aegean Sea, situated between the Gree...
Brazilian Island
Brazilian Island is a small uninhabited river island at the confluence of the Uruguay River and t...
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands is a volcanic archipelago in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast that stretches approxima...
Hawar Islands
The Hawar Islands are an archipelago of desert islands owned by Bahrain, situated off the west co...
Kunashir Island
Kunashir Island, possibly meaning Black Island or Grass Island in Ainu, is the southernmost islan...
Hans Island
Hans Island is a barren uninhabited island measuring in the centre of the Kennedy Channel of Nare...
Chagos Archipelago
The Chagos Archipelago or Chagos Islands are a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 indi...
Doumeira Islands
The Doumeira Islands are situated northeast of Djibouti and east of Eritrea near the Bab el-Mande...
Isla Calero
Isla Calero is the largest island in Costa Rica, as well as along the San Juan River, which marks...
Europa Island
Europa Island is a 28-square-kilometre low-lying tropical atoll in the Mozambique Channel, about...
Glorioso Islands
The Glorieuses or Glorioso Islands are a group of French islands and rocks totaling 5 square kilo...
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf.
Jabal al-Tair Island
Jabal al-Tair Island is a roughly oval volcanic island in Yemen, northwest of the constricted Bab...
Bajo Nuevo Bank
Bajo Nuevo Bank, also known as the Petrel Islands, is a small, uninhabited reef with some small g...
Greater and Lesser Tunbs
Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb are two small islands in the eastern Persian Gulf, close to the Stra...
Scarborough Shoal
Scarborough Shoal are two rocks in a shoal located between the Macclesfield Bank and Luzon within...
Corocoro Island
Corocoro Island is an island near the mouth of the Amacuro River and in the delta of the Barima R...
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