# Should this really count as an island? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 8, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501 "2018-07-08T00:24:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/21 "2018-07-08T12:42:01Z")
There is also [High Island, TX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Island,_Texas) which is an ‘island’ of height in a ‘sea’ of flat land. A pedant might argue that it has been a _real_ island since the Intracoastal Waterway was constructed, creating a manmade island of the entire coastline between East Galveston Bay and Sabine Pass. But it was just a high spot on the coast when it got its name. > [@](#): > > Located on the mainland, High Island’s name comes from the large salt dome under the area. This salt dome raises the elevation of the area to around 38 feet, giving High Island the third highest elevation of any point on the Gulf coast from Mobile, Alabama to the Yucatán Peninsula. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/22 "2018-07-08T13:45:56Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I suppose it technically is but less in the “Best kind of correct” sense and more in the “I’m Native American because I’m 1/64th Cherokee” sense. Sure you are, Sugar Island… sure you are. See, I’m used to it. If the call Manhattan an island and even here in Chicago we have our Goose Island, then that’s an island, too. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/23 "2018-07-08T13:53:12Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > After all, we don’t call someplace a peninsula if the beach just slightly corves back away from the overall coastline. > > [x.com](https://twitter.com/slackerinc/status/1015751655365775363?s=21) No. That is clearly a deltoid landlet. Now watch how much success I have promoting the spread of this term. ---
**Author:** ![Monocracy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monocracy/32/4493_2.png) [@Monocracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monocracy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/24 "2018-07-08T17:01:11Z")
So does that mean all of New England, Eastern New York and a piece of Canada is one big island? It’s bordered by the Hudson River, Lake Champlain, the St Lawrence River, and the Atlantic Ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/25 "2018-07-08T17:29:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > See, I’m used to it. If the call Manhattan an island and even here in Chicago we have our Goose Island, then that’s an island, too. How would Manhattan _not_ be an island? 😕 It’s not like the rivers surrounding it are shallow enough that they dry up and you can walk them or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/26 "2018-07-08T18:03:01Z")
> [@Monocracy](#): > > So does that mean all of New England, Eastern New York and a piece of Canada is one big island? It’s bordered by the Hudson River, Lake Champlain, the St Lawrence River, and the Atlantic Ocean. Personally, I would say that a canal with locks shouldn’t count for defining an island. One of the gates must always be closed which presents a solid connection across the canal. With that restriction, New England is not an island because Lake Champlain is connected to the Hudson River by the Champlain Canal. Without that restriction, the entire eastern U.S. (plus some of Canada) is an island defined by the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the Des Plaines River, the Illinois River, and the Mississippi River. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/27 "2018-07-08T18:43:32Z")
> [@Monocracy](#): > > So does that mean all of New England, Eastern New York and a piece of Canada is one big island? It’s bordered by the Hudson River, Lake Champlain, the St Lawrence River, and the Atlantic Ocean. Ha, great point. I propose that the minimum distance to the mainland in at least two directions be greater than the diameter of the island at its widest point. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/28 "2018-07-08T19:22:48Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Ha, great point. I propose that the minimum distance to the mainland in at least two directions be greater than the diameter of the island at its widest point. What exactly is the diameter of Manhattan Island? Even if you mean the width at midtown, that’s wider than the Hudson. Of course if you let me take my two directions as SW and SSW, I guess it could qualify. How many degrees must separate the two directions? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/29 "2018-07-08T21:59:27Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Does it count if it becomes an island only by human intervention? Alameda in the San Francisco Bay Area is one of those. It was connected to the mainland until a channel was dredged for shipping. Oddly, Bay Farm Island, which is right next to Alameda, was once a true island but was connected to the mainland by landfill. And yes, a piece of land surrounded by water is an island regardless of how it got that way. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/30 "2018-07-09T00:05:59Z")
Yet we say Australia is not an island. I don’t think the commonsensical understanding of “island” includes large swaths of land that happen to have rivers running in various directions. > [@OldGuy](#): > > What exactly is the diameter of Manhattan Island? Even if you mean the width at midtown, that’s wider than the Hudson. Of course if you let me take my two directions as SW and SSW, I guess it could qualify. How many degrees must separate the two directions? Fine, let’s get exacting. 😛 First, we find the geographic center of the (candidate to be an) island. All subsequent measured line segments must contain this point. The diameter is defined as the line segment which passes through the center and has the greatest span over land. “At least two directions” means two that are a minimum of 90 degrees from each other. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/31 "2018-07-09T00:19:09Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Yet we say Australia is not an island. To me, it’s absolutely unequivocally an island. Is it that common to think it isn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/32 "2018-07-09T00:49:55Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Yet we say Australia is not an island. . Do we? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/33 "2018-07-09T00:51:05Z")
> **[Is Australia an Island?](https://www.britannica.com/story/is-australia-an-island)** > > What’s the difference between an island and a continent anyway? > [@](#): > > Although Australia is sometimes called an “island continent,” most geographers consider islands and continents to be separate things. According to Britannica, an island is a mass of land that is both “entirely surrounded by water” and also “smaller than a continent.” By that definition, Australia can’t be an island because it’s already a continent. > But in that case, what’s the difference between Australia and Greenland? Why isn’t Greenland (at 836,000 square miles [2,165,230 square km]) considered a continent instead of just the world’s largest island? Unfortunately, there isn’t a strict scientific definition of a continent. Seems to me the definitions I’m advocating are no more arbitrary than these, and probably less. Also more commonsensical, since as you say it’s obvious to most people that Australia should be considered a very large island. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/34 "2018-07-09T01:14:48Z")
“No man is an island” - Irving Peninsula ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/35 "2018-07-09T01:29:13Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > “No man is an island” > > - Irving Peninsula Sorry, but when I am treading water in a swimming pool, I am an island. Incidentally, Boston was originally an island, but then landfill connected it to the mainland. Long Island is an Island, Manhattan is an island, Montreal Island is an island. Somehow, the canals that cut off the Niagara Peninsula don’t quite make it an island, not in my mind. What about Jutland together with that slice of Germany north of the ship canal? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/36 "2018-07-09T01:56:35Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Yet we say Australia is not an island. For this argument, you chose the one continent literally called ‘the island continent’? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/37 "2018-07-09T02:28:41Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Incidentally, Boston was originally an island, but then landfill connected it to the mainland. Are you sure? Everything I’ve seen of colonial-era Boston was that it was a peninsula attached by a very narrow isthmus called [Boston Neck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Neck). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/38 "2018-07-09T02:30:43Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Seems like as much of an island as Manhattan (and more so than Rhode Island) Rhode Island is separated from the mainland by a sea of ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/39 "2018-07-09T02:37:08Z")
Playing with “Measure Distance” on Google produces an area of roughly 3 square miles. That gives it a larger land area than Wake Island in the Pacific, Ellis Island in New York Harbor, and Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, among others. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501/40 "2018-07-09T03:34:09Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Rhode Island is separated from the mainland by a sea of ignorance. Technically (the very best kind of correct), the state is “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”, of which Rhode Island (informally known as Aquidneck Island) is a part. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-really-count-as-an-island/817501.md?page=3)