ABSTRACT
The word archipelago is an international geographical term that characterizes a geological formation consisting of a chain or cluster of islands. Essentially it means “first sea”, from the two Greek words archon (leader / first) and pelagos (sea). Typically, archipelago is defined as either a large group of islands, or a sea containing a large number of scattered islands. Some definitions consider the distance from the mainland and suggest that the islands need to be far away from the mainland coast. Many of the world’s islands are part of archipelagos (Bardolet and Sheldon, 2008). For the purpose of this chapter, an archipelago is defined as a cluster of islands in a common area of water.
