Talk:Islands of the Atlantic Ocean

Is the Caribbean really in the Atlantic?. Or are they separate seas and oceans?. -- (WT-en) Chris j wood 10:44, 5 Aug 2004 (EDT)

Great Britain and Ireland
Should the islands of Great Britain and Ireland count as islands of the Atlantic Ocean? --(WT-en) The.Q 12:18, 31 October 2007 (EDT)


 * No. This is meant for obscure little bits that don't have a better place to go.  (Note that eg. Iceland and Greenland are also "missing".) (WT-en) Jpatokal 13:15, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

Purpose
An anonymous editor made several edits that start to add every single island in the Atlantic. I've reverted that but wanted to leave a note here. The original purpose of this article was to create a place to list landmasses that didn't fit under any other container - South Georgia Island (for example) isn't a part of any continent, and we needed a place to list it. I think we want to stick with that model, but perhaps it needs to be called out more explicitly in this article? -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 22:27, 23 December 2009 (EST)


 * I've re-reverted that, essentially. Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:26, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Purpose of this article
As per the above Wikitravel-era discussion, "[t]he original purpose of this article was to create a place to list landmasses that didn't fit under any other container". However, most islands listed are breadcrumbed into nearest countries and continents (Azores and Madeira are breadcrumbed into Portugal, Bahamas and T&C Islands are breadcrumbed into the Caribbean and so on). The only islands of the Atlantic that don't fit under any other continents are Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Similarly, in Sub-Antarctic Islands, the only sub-Antarctic islands that don't fit under any other continents are Bouvet Island, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the Sub-Antarctic islands of French Southern and Antarctic Lands (although Antarctica is a possible candidate for these islands). Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 11:08, 26 January 2024 (UTC)


 * On the other hand, Britain and Ireland are missing from this list, which are the largest islands of the Atlantic, because "[t]his is meant for obscure little bits that don't have a better place to go". However, as I've shown above, most islands of the Atlantic are breadcrumbed into respective countries and continents. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 11:17, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Heard Island and McDonald Islands also don't belong in any category. It's 4000 km from the Australian mainland which is greater than the distance between metropolitan France and St Pierre and Miquelon. SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 11:40, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
 * We could alternatively categorise St Helena, etc. under Africa. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 11:41, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
 * You're right, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha can be categorised under Africa, especially under the non-existent West African Islands, where Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe can also be categorised. Heard Island and McDonald Islands are currently categorised under Sub-Antarctic islands, which can be merged with Antarctic islands (excluding Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego) and categorised under Antarctica. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 12:26, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
 * This means, the original purpose of the Islands category tree is largely obsolete, and broadly speaking, we can categorise all islands under nearest continents. Wikipedia and Commons categorise islands in this way. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 12:32, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
 * 100 per cent agreed. There is very little practicality between separating Antarctic and Subantarctic islands as things currently stand. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 12:34, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
 * I've created User:Sbb1413/Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands in my userspace as the resultant region after merging the two regions. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 14:15, 26 January 2024 (UTC)

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Realistically, 98% or so of travellers visiting these islands will go through South Africa. I think it us mire useful to group them under the Southern Africa region. Ground Zero (talk) 04:06, 30 January 2024 (UTC)