Everyone in the world knows what an island is. We picture ourselves on an island now and then. But do we know what smaller islands are called? Are they islands at all?
An “island” is a landmass formed in two ways: by volcanic action or via continental plates floating on top of the Earth. A “cay” is a low elevation landmass formed on top of a coral reef. “Islands” and “cays” look the same and are both surrounded by water. The difference lies in their formation.
It is accurate to call a “cay” an “island,” but an” “island” is not a “cay.” Cays are possible thanks to loose sediment that accumulates and builds up. It’s smaller than an island.
A “cay” is known as a small island. A small island made up of sand and coral. Wildlife fertilizes the sediment accumulated and gives life to vegetation.
An “island” is way bigger and is a contiguous area of land that is smaller than a continent. Several countries are an island or a series of islands. For example, the Dominican Republic and Haiti share an island, while the Bahamas is a series of islands.
Cays tend to be fragile to weather changes. In some cays, locals have built sea walls to protect them. In other more extensive and more vegetative cays, red mangroves serve as natural sea walls.
To understand the formation of a cay and an island, one must appreciate corals. Corals are calcareous skeletal deposits from various marine invertebrates. They look like underwater leafless trees.
Coral accumulates sediment from the sea, including a mass of sand. This eventually breaks the sea’s surface, resulting in a cay.
When we were young, we drew an island as a small mass of sand with a single palm tree, a burning sun in the sky, and maybe someone drifting away. That was a cay.
We know that an island is an immense landmass created by volcanic action or land that has been divided. It is believed that a long time ago, there was only one giant continent that eventually broke apart into smaller pieces of land.
To be defined as a cay, the settlement has to be made mostly of sand and coral.
Are There Any Famous Cays?
Cays are heavenly destinations. Any time you picture yourself alone on an island enjoying the sun and a tropical drink, it is probably a cay. These are one of the world’s favorite destinations to vacation. Or at least, to want to, because traveling to cays can be very expensive.
Some Of The Most Famous Cays Are
The Florida Keys. These are composed mainly of ancient coral reef and sediment stone beds that are formed behind the reef. They begin on the southeastern side of the Florida Peninsula, about 15 miles south of Miami.
Heron Island is located in Australia. It is a majestic coral cay in the Great Barrier Reef.
Prickly Pear Cays are a pair of small islands located six miles from Road Bay, Anguilla. These cays are uninhabited.
Rama cay is in the Bluefields Lagoon of Nicaragua. The island was awarded to the Rama people by the more powerful Miskito for helping them fight Indians around the 1700s or 1800s.
Cayo Levantado is on the coast of Samana in the Dominican Republic. This cay was a haven for pirates and corsairs centuries ago.
Cay Caulker is one of the most famous cays. It is located on the coast of Belize. With a population of 2000 people, it is a favorite destination for backpackers and tourists.
Ambergris Caye is the most impressive island of Belize and the largest cay in existence. It is about 25 miles long and 2 kilometers wide. It is also one of the most famous and visited cays.
What Are The Florida Keys? Is That Another Type Of Small Island?
The Florida Keys is the name of the cays that are in South Florida. Key, like caye, is another word for cay. Cay, no matter how you write it, it’s pronounced “Key.”
In the United States, a cay is called a key. Hence the Florida Keys and Key West in the south of the country.
If you traveled outside the United States, especially to the Caribbean, you would find that almost everyone calls them cay.
Which One Is The Biggest Island In The World
There are plenty of islands around the world, and many of them are quite large. One particular great piece of land has been the subject of this debate. That is Australia.
At a whopping 3 million square miles, Australia is the smallest continent on Earth. Australia’s size is closer to Greenland than it is to South America.
Australia has been called an “island continent,” but most geographers consider islands and continents to be different things. Australia can be viewed as an island because it is surrounded by water.
However, the definition of an island also says that it “is smaller than a continent.” So it is safe to say that Australia is not an island because it is already considered a continent.
This leaves the “biggest island title” to Greenland.
Greenland has an area of 836,330 square miles. It belongs to Denmark, but a home government runs local affairs. In comparison, Texas is three times smaller than Greenland.
New Guinea is the second-largest island with 317,150 square miles, more than 500,000 square miles less than Greenland. It is one of the wettest and least inhabited places on Earth. Located on New Guinea’s eastern side is the majority of Papua New Guinea, a country formed in 1975.
Borneo has 288,869 square miles making it the third-largest island. Borneo is covered in a rain forest and has one of the Earth’s most diverse flora and fauna. For example, the Monster Flower, the biggest on Earth, can be found only in Borneo.
Madagascar is located on the coast of Africa and has 226,756 square miles. Madagascar is home to all lemur species and has one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. In 2005 “Madagascar,” an animated movie, premiered in theaters. One of its most famous characters, King Julien, is a lemur.
What Islands Are Countries?
There are 47 island countries on Earth. They are found in every sea and continent. Most of them are small and have very few inhabitants.
Indonesia is the largest and most populated island country in the world. Indonesia is not on the list of the largest islands because it comprises 17,508 islands, according to a 2015 statistic. Indonesia is the fourth most populated country on Earth, with 258,705,000 people.
By population size, these are the 10 island countries that follow Indonesia:
- Japan with 126,920,000.
- The Philippines with 100,981,000.
- The United Kingdom with 66,000,000.
- Madagascar with 21,842,000
- Sri Lanka with 21,203,000.
- Cuba with 11,239,000.
- Haiti with 10,912,000.
- Dominican Republic with 9,980,000
- Papua New Guinea with 7,270,000
- Singapore with 5,535,000.
Technically the Dominican Republic and Haiti share an island called Hispaniola. It is an island with two countries with a total of 20,892,000 people living in it.
Conclusion
To summarize, a “cay” is an “island” made by coral reefs and sand and not by volcanic action or continental plates floating. The largest cay is 25 miles long, which proves cays and islands differ in size.
If you were curious about the name because you heard it on your last trip to paradise, now you have an idea of what the term means. However, staying on an island or cay won’t harm anyone even if they don’t see the difference between them.
Shawn Manaher is the founder and CEO of The Content Authority. He’s one part content manager, one part writing ninja organizer, and two parts leader of top content creators. You don’t even want to know what he calls pancakes.