From Dictionnary.com:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/strong>is\u00b7land<\/em><\/h4>\n\n- \n
A\u00a0tract\u00a0of\u00a0land\u00a0completely\u00a0surrounded\u00a0by\u00a0water,\u00a0and\u00a0not\u00a0large\u00a0enough\u00a0to\u00a0be\u00a0called\u00a0a\u00a0continent.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n- \n
Something\u00a0resembling\u00a0an\u00a0island,\u00a0especially\u00a0in\u00a0being\u00a0isolated\u00a0or\u00a0having\u00a0little\u00a0or\u00a0no\u00a0direct\u00a0communicationwith\u00a0others.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n- \n
A\u00a0raised\u00a0platform\u00a0with\u00a0a\u00a0counter\u00a0or\u00a0other\u00a0work\u00a0surface\u00a0on\u00a0top\u00a0situated\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0middle\u00a0area\u00a0of\u00a0a\u00a0room,especially\u00a0a\u00a0kitchen,\u00a0so\u00a0as\u00a0to\u00a0permit\u00a0access\u00a0from\u00a0all\u00a0sides.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n- \n
Safety island.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n- \n
A\u00a0low\u00a0concrete\u00a0platform\u00a0for\u00a0gasoline\u00a0pumps\u00a0at\u00a0an\u00a0automotive\u00a0service\u00a0station.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nIgnoring definitions 3, 4 and 5 it seems that the definition of island is mostly a circular definition, and contextualized in not being a continent. \u00a0Interestingly enough, looking at the definition of continent, we don\u2019t get much more.<\/div>\n\u00a0con\u00b7ti\u00b7nent<\/em><\/h4>\n\n- \n
one of the main landmasses of the globe, usually reckoned as seven in number (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica).<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n- \n
a comparable landmass on another planet.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n- \n
the mainland, as distinguished from islands or peninsulas.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n- \n
the mainland of Europe, as distinguished from the British Isles.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n- \n
a continuous tract or extent, as of land.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nIn short, it\u2019s either something so obvious due to its scale.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWikipedia was not much better, but actually starts to move towards an operating definition.<\/div>\n\n“Greenland is the world’s largest island with an area of over 2.1 million km\u00b2, while Australia, the world’s smallest continent has an area of 7.6 million km\u00b2, but there is no standard of size which distinguishes islands from continents,\u00a0or from islets. There is a difference between islands and continents in terms of geology. Continents sit on continental lithosphere which is part of tectonic plates floating high on Earth’s molten mantle. Oceanic crust is also part of tectonic plates, but it is denser than continental lithosphere, so it floats low on the mantle. Islands are either extensions of the oceanic crust (e.g. volcanic islands) or geologically they are part of some continent sitting on continental lithosphere (e.g. Greenland). This holds true for Australia, which sits on its own continental lithosphere and tectonic plate.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/address>\nSOURCE:\u00a0http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Island<\/a><\/em><\/address>\n<\/blockquote>\nSo in a way, we now have three rules to determine whether New England is an island.<\/div>\n\n\n- Must be surrounded by water (hard rule)<\/li>\n
- Must be in the surface area range outlined above (soft rule)<\/li>\n
- Must be an \u201cextension of the oceanic crust, or part of some continent\u201d (hard rule).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\nSo\u2026 is New England an Island? \u00a0Let\u2019s test it!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Rule 1: Surrounded by water: TRUE<\/h3>\nThe eastern section of New England is clearly water. \u00a0It\u2019s the Atlantic Ocean. \u00a0But let\u2019s anchor our area of exploration on two landmarks. \u00a0The Southernmost point being the mouth of the Hudson river in Manhattan (NYC), and the Northernmost point being the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, in Quebec City. \u00a0So the question now is can you connect New York City and Manhattan through river ways alone. \u00a0Let\u2019s start from the North. \u00a0The St. Lawrence river flows unobstructed (spare a dam or bridge here or there) from Lake Ontario all the way to Quebec City. \u00a0However, a little North of Montreal is the little town of Sorel, which has (as far as I know) no distinguishing feature other than being where the Richelieu river joins with the St. Lawrence river.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIf you follow the Richelieu river south bound, it will take you through the beautiful pastoral countryside of Quebec, and ultimately take you to the Lake Champlain (note, we\u2019re going up stream here). \u00a0Lake Champlain is where Canada, and the US come together, but also where New York and Vermont come together. \u00a0If you go to the southern most part of lake Champlain, there is the small Poultney river that reaches Whitehall, NY. \u00a0This is where the one of the NY Canals takes you from Whiehall all the way down to Fort Edward (near Glenn Falls and Hudson Falls), and runs into the Hudson river. \u00a0The Hudson river, as we know, runs all the way down to New York City. \u00a0So there you have it, we\u2019ve been able to a land mass by connecting a number of streams.<\/div>\nRule 2: Surface Area between 2.1 and 7.6 million km\u00b2 (and ideally closer to 2.1): TRUE<\/h3>\n
Using Google Maps, we can measure the surface area (I used http:\/\/www.freemaptools.com\/area-calculator.htm<\/a>)\u00a0and got the total area of 425 thousand km2. \u00a0So well within the 2.1 million km2.<\/p>\nRule 3: Part of some continent: TRUE<\/h3>\n
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A\u00a0tract\u00a0of\u00a0land\u00a0completely\u00a0surrounded\u00a0by\u00a0water,\u00a0and\u00a0not\u00a0large\u00a0enough\u00a0to\u00a0be\u00a0called\u00a0a\u00a0continent.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
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Something\u00a0resembling\u00a0an\u00a0island,\u00a0especially\u00a0in\u00a0being\u00a0isolated\u00a0or\u00a0having\u00a0little\u00a0or\u00a0no\u00a0direct\u00a0communicationwith\u00a0others.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
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A\u00a0raised\u00a0platform\u00a0with\u00a0a\u00a0counter\u00a0or\u00a0other\u00a0work\u00a0surface\u00a0on\u00a0top\u00a0situated\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0middle\u00a0area\u00a0of\u00a0a\u00a0room,especially\u00a0a\u00a0kitchen,\u00a0so\u00a0as\u00a0to\u00a0permit\u00a0access\u00a0from\u00a0all\u00a0sides.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
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Safety island.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
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A\u00a0low\u00a0concrete\u00a0platform\u00a0for\u00a0gasoline\u00a0pumps\u00a0at\u00a0an\u00a0automotive\u00a0service\u00a0station.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Ignoring definitions 3, 4 and 5 it seems that the definition of island is mostly a circular definition, and contextualized in not being a continent. \u00a0Interestingly enough, looking at the definition of continent, we don\u2019t get much more.<\/div>\n\u00a0con\u00b7ti\u00b7nent<\/em><\/h4>\n
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one of the main landmasses of the globe, usually reckoned as seven in number (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica).<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
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a comparable landmass on another planet.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
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the mainland, as distinguished from islands or peninsulas.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
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the mainland of Europe, as distinguished from the British Isles.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
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a continuous tract or extent, as of land.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
In short, it\u2019s either something so obvious due to its scale.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWikipedia was not much better, but actually starts to move towards an operating definition.<\/div>\n\n“Greenland is the world’s largest island with an area of over 2.1 million km\u00b2, while Australia, the world’s smallest continent has an area of 7.6 million km\u00b2, but there is no standard of size which distinguishes islands from continents,\u00a0or from islets. There is a difference between islands and continents in terms of geology. Continents sit on continental lithosphere which is part of tectonic plates floating high on Earth’s molten mantle. Oceanic crust is also part of tectonic plates, but it is denser than continental lithosphere, so it floats low on the mantle. Islands are either extensions of the oceanic crust (e.g. volcanic islands) or geologically they are part of some continent sitting on continental lithosphere (e.g. Greenland). This holds true for Australia, which sits on its own continental lithosphere and tectonic plate.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/address>\nSOURCE:\u00a0http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Island<\/a><\/em><\/address>\n<\/blockquote>\n
So in a way, we now have three rules to determine whether New England is an island.<\/div>\n\n- \n
- Must be surrounded by water (hard rule)<\/li>\n
- Must be in the surface area range outlined above (soft rule)<\/li>\n
- Must be an \u201cextension of the oceanic crust, or part of some continent\u201d (hard rule).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\nSo\u2026 is New England an Island? \u00a0Let\u2019s test it!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Rule 1: Surrounded by water: TRUE<\/h3>\n
The eastern section of New England is clearly water. \u00a0It\u2019s the Atlantic Ocean. \u00a0But let\u2019s anchor our area of exploration on two landmarks. \u00a0The Southernmost point being the mouth of the Hudson river in Manhattan (NYC), and the Northernmost point being the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, in Quebec City. \u00a0So the question now is can you connect New York City and Manhattan through river ways alone. \u00a0Let\u2019s start from the North. \u00a0The St. Lawrence river flows unobstructed (spare a dam or bridge here or there) from Lake Ontario all the way to Quebec City. \u00a0However, a little North of Montreal is the little town of Sorel, which has (as far as I know) no distinguishing feature other than being where the Richelieu river joins with the St. Lawrence river.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIf you follow the Richelieu river south bound, it will take you through the beautiful pastoral countryside of Quebec, and ultimately take you to the Lake Champlain (note, we\u2019re going up stream here). \u00a0Lake Champlain is where Canada, and the US come together, but also where New York and Vermont come together. \u00a0If you go to the southern most part of lake Champlain, there is the small Poultney river that reaches Whitehall, NY. \u00a0This is where the one of the NY Canals takes you from Whiehall all the way down to Fort Edward (near Glenn Falls and Hudson Falls), and runs into the Hudson river. \u00a0The Hudson river, as we know, runs all the way down to New York City. \u00a0So there you have it, we\u2019ve been able to a land mass by connecting a number of streams.<\/div>\nRule 2: Surface Area between 2.1 and 7.6 million km\u00b2 (and ideally closer to 2.1): TRUE<\/h3>\n
Using Google Maps, we can measure the surface area (I used http:\/\/www.freemaptools.com\/area-calculator.htm<\/a>)\u00a0and got the total area of 425 thousand km2. \u00a0So well within the 2.1 million km2.<\/p>\n
Rule 3: Part of some continent: TRUE<\/h3>\n
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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/8a\/Plates_tect2_en.svg\/800px-Plates_tect2_en.svg.png\")
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