The world's most remote islands with beautiful glaciers and hardly any tourists
From volcanic outposts in the Pacific to icy Arctic glaciers, these eight islands are the most remote in the entire world.
Even in today's age, there are still some areas of the world that remain strikingly remote and untouched by mankind. Among the most intriguing are eight islands that are so isolated they seem almost frozen in time and disconnected from the modern world. From icy Arctic archipelagos to lonely Pacific isles, Britannica highlights eight such destinations that continue to fascinate adventurers, scientists, and storytellers alike.
According to Britannica, the eight most remote islands in the world are the Kerguelen Islands, Spitsbergen, Pitcairn Island, Novaya Zemlya, Tristan da Cunha, Easter Island, South Georgia Island, and Diego Garcia. The first is the Kerguelen Islands in the sub-Antartic region.
Even Antarctic cruises don't approach the islands, as they are located far off the typical expedition routes.
Often also called the "Desolation Islands", these form part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF), a French overseas territory located over 1,200 miles from the nearest landmass and are home to several species of penguins, seals, and seabirds, including albatrosses and terns.
The largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago, located in the Arctic Ocean, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, Spitsbergen is an island covered in glaciers, mountains, and frozen tundra which is also home to p olar bears, Arctic foxes, reindeer, and seabirds.
Despite its extreme remoteness, Spitsbergen plays a critical global role as the site of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which is the world’s largest backup facility for crop seeds, designed to safeguard the future of the global food supply in the event of a major catastrophe.
The main town, Longyearbyen, is one of the world’s northernmost permanent settlements and home to about 2,500 people inclduing scientists from around the world who come to the island to do climate and polar research.
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The Pitcairn Islands, located in the remote South Pacific, are another of these most remote parts of the world and they are also known as the refuge of the HMS Bounty mutineers in 1790 and Pitcairn is now the only inhabited island in the group and is home to fewer than 50 residents though it is also home to one of the world’s largest marine reserves.
Novaya Zemlya is also one of the most remote zones on the planet which consists of Severny Island and Yuzhny Island, in Russia and was even used by the Soviet Union as a nuclear testing site during the Cold War, with over 100 nuclear tests conducted there from 1954 to 1990.
Easter Island is another intriguing place but this time with warmer weather. 1,290 miles off the coast of Chile, which administers, the island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its isolation and unique history with over 600 its moai statues, gigantic stone heads carved by the island's indigenous Rapa Nui people between the 13th and 16th centuries.
Here is the full list of the eight most remote islands in the world according to Britannica:
- Kerguelen Islands
- Spitsbergen
- Pitcairn Island
- Novaya Zemlya
- Tristan da Cunha
- Easter Island
- South Georgia Island
- Diego Garcia
