Large islands of the Mediterranean Sea: list and brief description

Many islands of the Mediterranean Sea are full of mysteries. So far, scientists have not been able to unravel all the secrets. On them lived and disappeared whole civilizations, objects of life which archaeologists dig up and now.

Count all the islands in this sea is very difficult. In total there are more than a few thousand. For example, only those that are administratively related to Greece, about 1,400. Most of these islands are uninhabited land areas with rocky terrain. Also in the Mediterranean there are also those that belong to Italy, Spain, France and other countries. For example, the islands of Malta. It's not just Comino, Filfla, Cominotto. All of these together form a large archipelago, which includes hundreds of islands of different sizes, some of them even uninhabited.

At present, the islands of the Mediterranean, or rather most of them, are the most famous resorts. Every year a lot of tourists come to these places. Why do they use such popularity? But the answer to this question lies on the surface. A unique climate, a clean sea coast, a large number of comfortable beaches - all this maximizes the development of tourism.

Large islands of the Mediterranean Sea: a list

More than 100 islands in the Mediterranean Sea have an area of more than 10 square kilometers. Approximately forty of them have a population of over 10,000 people. Let's look at the largest of them.

• Sicily. Country: Italy. The island is more than 25 thousand square kilometers. The largest city is Palermo. Population: over 5 million people.
• Sardinia. Country: Italy. Area: almost 24000 km ² . Largest city: Cagliari. Population: over 1.6 million people.
• Cyprus. Country: Republic of Cyprus, Great Britain, Northern Cyprus. Area: 9,2 thousand km ² . Largest city: Nicosia. Population: almost 1.1 million people.
• Corsica. The island is the territorial unit of France. Area: almost 9000 km ² . Largest city: Ajaccio. Population: 302,000 people.
• Crete. Country: Greece. Area: more than 8,3 thousand km ² . The largest city: Heraklion. The population of the island is about 622,000 people.
• Euboea. Country: Greece. Area: almost 3,7 thousand km ² . The largest city is Chalkida. The population of the island is about 200,000 people.
• Mallorca. Country: Spain. Area: 3,6 thousand km ² . The largest city is Palma de Mallorca. The population of the island is about 869,000 people.
• Lesbos. Country: Greece. Area: 1632 km ² . The largest city: Mytilini. Population: more than 90,000 people.
• Rhodes. Country: Greece. Area: 1.4 thousand km ² . The largest city is Rhodes. Population: more than 117,000 people.
• Chios. Country: Greece. Area: 842 km ² . The largest city is Chios. Population: almost 54,000 people.

Sicily

The island of Sicily (Italy) is the largest in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located near the Apennine peninsula (south direction). Has a triangular shape. Comfortable bays are located on the eastern and north-western sides. The coastline has a length of about one thousand kilometers. The relief is predominantly hilly, mountain formations predominate. The banks are steep, slightly cut. In Sicily there is the volcano Etna. In height, it exceeds the mark of 3,3 thousand meters. In Europe it is the most active.

The climate on the island is Mediterranean. Winter is short and warm. The temperature never drops below 0 degrees. The average is a mark of +11 ° C. The greatest amount of precipitation falls on the period from October to March. Summer is hot, the average temperature is +27 ... +30 ° С.

The island is mostly dominated by handicraft vegetation. Forests here occupy less than 4%. They mostly grow on mountain slopes.

Sardinia

Describing the large islands of the Mediterranean, one can not remain silent about Sardinia. Administratively, the island belongs to Italy. It has 8 provinces. Sardinia is located near the island of Corsica. Between them they are separated by the Bonifacio Channel. On the eastern side, the coastline is represented by steep rock formations. The relief is predominantly mountainous. On the west side of the coast are lowlands.

The climate in Sardinia is subtropical. The rainy season falls on the winter season. In January there is a significant cooling. The temperature during this period is reduced to + 7 ... + 10 ° С. The peak of the heat is in July. The average temperature of this month is a mark of +26 ° C.

Cyprus

If you look at the map the geographical position of this island of the Mediterranean, it can be seen that it belongs to Asia. Its coordinates are: 35 ° 10'00 "s. W. 33 ° 21'00 "in. Etc. Cyprus is located in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, inferior in size to only two islands - Sardinia and Sicily. It has a length of 240 km, and its width is 100 km. Administratively the territory of the island belongs to three states: more than half are controlled by the Republic of Cyprus, about 30% belong to partially recognized North Cyprus, approximately 7% are divided between the United Kingdom and the UN buffer zone.

The prevailing relief here is mountainous. On the north side is the chain of Kyrenia, and in the southwestern part - the Troodos massif. The climate in Cyprus is Mediterranean. The temperature in winter days can reach +20 ° C, and at night it decreases to 5-12 ° C. In the summer season, very hot heat is recorded. The temperature rises to +40 ° C during the day, it decreases by 5-10 degrees at night. In Cyprus, a very rich animal kingdom. Here live moufflons, chameleons, lizards, snakes and others.

Corsica

Corsica is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Its history is more than 250 million years old. The relief here is mountainous. The shape of the island stretches from south to north. The length of the coastline, on which there are numerous beaches, exceeds the 1000 km mark. Its length is 183 km, width - 83 km. Mining educations deal with 3/4 of the whole territory. The island is rich in inland water resources, which are represented by rivers, springs and streams.

The climate in Corsica varies from sea to highland. There is an insignificant amount of precipitation here. In January, the temperature averages +14 ° C. In early summer, it rises to +21 ° C, and in July it exceeds the mark of +36 ° C. In this area, the water in the sea warms up to a comfortable temperature of +26 ° C.