How many islands are there in the world?

A world map shows hundreds of islands, large and small. But: this is by no means the whole picture. An enlarged map of, say, Alaska, shows the shoreline in greater detail. We can count more islands on such a map, but even this does not give the complete picture. There are countless tiny islands that do not get onto any map at all.

Many of these sea swept islands have been forgotten or never discovered. We can, of course, list the world’s large populated islands, but no one has counted all the little islands in the rivers, lakes and lonely oceans.