Which island is the world’s largest when continents are excluded?

Greenland is the world’s largest island when continents are excluded, with an area of about 2.17 million square kilometres.

Greenland lies between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and is geographically part of North America. Politically, it is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Nearly 80 percent of its surface is covered by the Greenland ice sheet, the second-largest ice body on Earth after Antarctica’s ice sheet.

The island’s population is concentrated along the ice-free coast, especially on the southwest coast. Nuuk is the capital and largest city. Greenlandic Inuit communities have lived on the island for centuries, while Norse settlements existed in the southwest from the late 10th to the 15th century.

Greenland is sometimes mistakenly described as a continent because of its size, but standard geographic classification treats it as an island. Australia is larger, but it is generally classified as a continent, which is why it is excluded from this record.