10 ​Most Populous Islands in the World.

​Most Populous Island in the world.

Island is a land that is surrounded by water, it is smaller than continent and bigger than coral reef. A group of so many islands is called archipelago. There are 4 requirements that should be fulfilled to be an island.

• It has land area and appears in the water’s surface.
• It is naturally formed, not made by human like reclamation.
• It is surrounded by water, either sea or lake
• It is above the high tide’s line.

In this world, there are 10 islands which have the most population in the world.

1. Java, Indonesia.

The population in Java is about 160.293.748 people. Its vast size is 138.793,6 km sq. it is one of the biggest islands in Indonesia beside Sumatra, Kalimantan, Celebes, Papua, etc. Java also the 13th biggest island in the world. The most population in Java is Javanese and Sundanese. Sundanese occupied in West Java, while Javanese occupied the Central, South, and East Java.

There are 6 provinces in Java island, they are West Java, East Java, Central Java, Banten, Special Region of Yogyakarta, and Special Capital Region (Jakarta). This island belongs to Greater Sunda Islands.

2. Honshu, Japan.

The population in Honshu is approximately 103 million people. Honshu is the biggest island in Japan, it is located in southern Hokkaido, another island in Japan. If it is compared to all islands in the world, Honshu is the 7th biggest island and also the 2nd most populous island in the world. the total area of Honshu is 230.500 km square, about 60% of Japan’s vast size. Most people in Honshu island lived in Kanto where 25% of the population stayed over there, and others are in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, Osaka, Sendai, Nagoya, Kobe, Hiroshima, etc.

3. Great Britain, UK.

The population in Great Britain is about 60.800.000 people. 

Great Britain is an island which located in western European coast. This island has total area approximately 218.595 km square. In this island, there are 3 states; Scotland, England, and Wales.

Great Britain is called “Great”, because it is used to differentiate with another Britain, it is region Bretagne in France. 

The name of “Great Britain” was derived from French “Grand-Bretagne”, and because the official language in Britain’s government that time is French since 1066, then this name is used until English became the official language again in this country. The name of “Bretayne the Grete” was used by the historian in 1338, but it is officially used by King James ( James VI of Scots and I of England and Ireland) on 20th of October 1604. At that time, He stated that He is the King of Great Britain, not only for Scotland and England because Wales also belongs to GB’s region.

4. Sumatra, Indonesia. 

Sumatra located in Indonesia, is the 6th biggest island in the world which its vast size is 443.065.8 km square. The population in this island is about 52.210.926 people. Sumatra also known as Percha island, Andalas, Suvarnadwipa ( from Sanskrit, it means Gold island). The name of Sumatra was from the kingdom of Samudra Pasai (located in the east coast of Aceh). It was begun since Ibnu Batutah visit that kingdom, he is an adventurer from Morocco. When Ibnu Batutah try to say “Samudra”, he instead said “Samatrah”, and then became Sumatra. The word “Sumatra” was written in the maps in 16th century made by Portuguese, it indicated this island and then it was known as Sumatra until nowadays.

5. Luzon, Philippines.

The population in Luzon is about 48.520.774 people. it is the biggest island in the Philippines and also the most important in political and economy aspect. Luzon is also one of the 3 archipelagos in this country ( Visayas and Mindanao). the total vast of Luzon is about 104.688 km square, make it as the 15th biggest island in the world. The capital of Philippines located in this island, manila is in the middle of Luzon, and also the most populous city also located here, Quezon. Mount Pulag and Mount Mayon also located in Luzon. Luzon bordered with South China Sea in the west, Philippines sea on the east and Luzon strait in the north.

6. Formosa, Taiwan.

The population in Formosa, Taiwan is about 23 million people.

Taiwan is a country in east Asia. Taiwan also used to indicate the region which is commanded by PR of China and for PR of China itself that govern Taiwan, orchid island, green island in pacific next to Taiwan coast, Penghu island in Taiwan strait, Kinmen and Matsu archipelago next to Fujian coast, land of China. A group of Formosa and Penghu island is officially governed as Taiwan province, but practically almost all authorization was done in both national and local level.

Nowadays, Taiwan is also claimed as the part of PRC despite the fact is that PRC never authorize Taiwan or any region of PRC which refers to “Taiwan”. PRC underlie its claim with the argument that PRC is the next generation of Chinese Republic since 1949, and Chinese republic had authorized Taiwan for 4 years, from 1945-1949. The word “’Formosa” was derived from Portuguese means “the beautiful island”. This island has 394 km length, and 144 km width.

7. Madagascar.

The total area of Madagascar is about 587 km square and it has large number of population, about 22.434.363 people lived there.

It is said as Repoblikan’i Madagasikara in Malagasy language, Madagascar is an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the east coast of Africa. The island of Madagascar is the 4th largest island in the world. in addition to the main island, some of the small islands around it also become the part of this republic, such as Juan de Nova island, Europa, Glorioso island, Tromelin island, and Bassas da India. 

Although geographically close to the Africa, but the history of geology, biology, and demography of Madagascar is different with the mainland continent.

Based on the geology, Madagascar located separate from the main continent of Africa. First, it separated from the Indian subcontinent, then the island was moving closer to Africa. Madagascar is an old land, like Australia, so that the soil is scarce of  mineral material due to lack of volcanic activity. Most of the soil is red, showed the condition of mildewed soil.

8. Mindanao, Philippines

The population here is approximately 21.968.174 people.

Mindanao or great Moluccas is the 2nd largest island in the Philippines and one of the three main island groups along with Luzon and Visayas.  Mindanao located in the southern part of the Philippines, is a historic residential district for the majority Muslim or Moro tribe and other ethnic groups such as Marano and Tausug. Now, the majority of the population in Mindanao is Catholic because of the land ownership pattern which is unfair and a lot of new comer to Mindanao. this triggered the Muslim’s anger over there who are poor and marginalized and also the separatist movement who had struggled for hundreds of year.

In recent years, Mindanao became the region that is considered carefully along with the appearance of Islamist terrorist organization which closely linked to the conflict in middle-east.

Mindanao is considered to be the base of the terrorist group “Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah” whose occurrence reduce the role of freedom fighters group which is more moderate and nationalistic, like Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF.

9. Ceylon, Sri Lanka.

The population in this island is about 20.700.000 people. This island is also known as Lanka, Lankadeepa (derived from Sanskrit means “the Shining land”), Simoundou, Taprobane, Serendib, and Selan in ancient era. But, under British colonialization, this island was known as Ceylon, and it is still used until nowadays. Thus, we can say that Sri Lanka located in Ceylon Island.

10. Hispaniola, Haiti and Dominican Republic.

Population: 19.920.000 people

Hispaniola or in Spanish said “La Espanola” is an island in the Caribbean archipelagos, Hispaniola is theb second largest island in the America continent, after Cuba. Christopher Columbus arrived in this island for the first time on December 5th 1492. Hispaniola was divided into two countries, Haiti (1/3 of the island) and Dominican Republic (2/3 of the island). Hispaniola is located between Cuba in the west and the island of Puerto Rico in the east. Hispaniola is the first colonies of European colonists in the new world. This island is the 10th most populous island in the world and also the most populous in America.