Former island facts for kids

This picture shows how Hurricane Walaka in 2018 changed East Island, a tiny Pacific island.

A former island is a piece of land that used to be an island but has changed its status. This can happen in two main ways. Sometimes, an island connects to a larger landmass, like a mainland or another island. Other times, it gets covered by water and disappears.

Islands can join other land due to natural events like volcanoes or moving sand. People can also connect islands through projects called land reclamation. Islands might disappear under the sea because the land sinks (this is called subsidence), or due to tectonic activity (like earthquakes), erosion by waves, or when sea levels go up. For example, the New Moor island in Bangladesh existed in the 1970s but was completely covered by the Bay of Bengal by 2011.

Famous Former Islands

Islands That Joined Land

• Eldøyane in Norway: This area was once an island. It became connected to the mainland partly because of human construction and development.
• Harriet Island in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul, Minnesota: This island is no longer separate. It has joined the mainland of Saint Paul.
• Mount Muria in Java, Indonesia: This mountain was once separated from Java by a narrow waterway called the Muria Strait. Over time, the strait became shallow, and the land connected to Java.
• Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera in Spain: This Spanish territory was an island. Today, a sandy strip of land, called an isthmus, connects it to the Moroccan shore.
• Sakurajima in Japan: This famous volcano was an island. It connected to the mainland of Kyushu after a powerful eruption in 1914.
• Sevan Island in Armenia: This island in Lake Sevan is now a peninsula. This change happened because the water level of the lake lowered over the years.

Islands Created by Human Projects

• Urk and Schokland in the Netherlands: These were two islands in a large bay called the Zuiderzee. As part of the amazing Zuiderzee Works project, people drained the water to create new land, called a polder. Now, these former islands are part of the Noordoostpolder.
• Walcheren in the Netherlands: This was also an island. It is now connected to Zuid-Beveland as part of the Delta Works. This huge project was built to protect the Netherlands from flooding.

Islands in Rivers

• There were several Islands in the River Thames in England. Many of these are no longer separate islands. They have become part of the riverbanks over time due to natural changes and human activity.

Discover More

• Ghost Island (disambiguation)
• List of lost lands
• Phantom island
• Tied island