Islands of the Atlantic Ocean



The islands of the Atlantic Ocean are - except for those in one concentrated region - scattered far and wide, with little in common but their relative obscurity. On the other hand some of the islands below are very popular holiday destinations, more precisely, beach destinations.

The most numerous group of islands are the so-called West Indies and their neighbors, located southeast of the United States of America, east of Central America, and north of South America. Although part of the Atlantic, this sea forms its own region: the Caribbean. On the other side of the ocean, the Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores and Cape Verde form an area known as Macaronesia.

The near-polar islands to the far north and south are covered here among the islands of the Arctic Ocean and Subantarctic Islands.

The remaining islands of the Atlantic run rather intermittently from the southwestern tip of Europe, past West Africa, across the equator, to the open waters of the South Atlantic:

Northern hemisphere


Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands (and to some extent Bermuda) are close to the Caribbean islands and as such are often considered part of the Caribbean.