The island off Africa that is the world’s fourth-largest island is Madagascar.
Madagascar lies in the Indian Ocean roughly 400 kilometres off the southeastern coast of Africa, separated from Mozambique by the Mozambique Channel. With an area of about 587,000 square kilometres, it ranks behind Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo among the world’s largest islands.
Its long isolation produced extraordinary biodiversity. Madagascar separated from the African mainland during the breakup of Gondwana and later became isolated from the Indian subcontinent. More than 90 percent of its wildlife is endemic, meaning it occurs naturally nowhere else. Lemurs, chameleons, and the fossa are among its best-known native animals.
Madagascar is both an island and a country; its capital is Antananarivo. A frequent mix-up is ranking it as the third-largest island by counting Australia, but Australia is generally classified as a continental landmass rather than an island. Madagascar is also the world’s second-largest island country after Indonesia.