1,338 articles
Rangiroa
Rangiroa (Paumotu for 'great sky') is the largest atoll of French Polynesia's Tuamotus and the world's second largest atoll, with a 1,600 km2 lagoon, Tiputa and Avatoru passes, famed diving, and active marine protection.
Raoul Island
Raoul Island (Rangitāhua), largest of New Zealand's Kermadec Islands, 1,000 km northeast of the mainland; an active caldera volcano (eruptions 1814, 1870, 1964, 2006) staffed by DOC rangers and a nature reserve.
Rarotonga
Rarotonga: volcanic high island and largest island of the Cook Islands, capital Avarua, 67 km², population 13,095 (2011), home to Rarotonga International Airport and the Kakerori flycatcher.
Ratak Chain
Ratak Chain, the eastern "sunrise" chain of atolls in the Marshall Islands, parallel to the Ralik Chain; includes Majuro, Arno, Wotje, Likiep, and Mili, with 30,925 residents in 1999.
Renaud Island
Renaud Island (Isla Renaud, Île Renaud), largest island of the Biscoe Islands off the west Antarctic Peninsula; ice-covered, 511 km², discovered by Biscoe in 1832, named by Charcot's French expedition after hydrographer M.-J.-A. Renaud.
Rennell Island
Rennell Island, locally Mugaba or Mu Nggava, is a raised coral atoll in the Solomon Islands that UNESCO calls the largest raised coral atoll in the world.
Republic of Minerva
The Republic of Minerva was a short-lived libertarian micronation proclaimed January 19, 1972 by Michael Oliver on the Minerva Reefs (Teleki Tokelau, Teleki Tonga), two Pacific atolls, until Tonga annexed them in 1972; the reefs remain disputed between Tonga and Fiji.
Resolution Island (island, Canada)
Resolution Island (Tudjaat) is an uninhabited 1,015 km² island off southeastern Baffin Island, Nunavut, in Davis Strait, named by Thomas Button after his ship; it hosted Cold War Pinetree and DEW Line radar sites and underwent major PCB remediation.
Rhion
Rhion (Ῥίον, Rhium) was an Achaean promontory at the western entrance of the Corinthian Gulf, opposite Antirrhium, with a temple of Poseidon; defended by Phormio in 431-421 BC, now modern Río, Greece.
Rhodes (Ρόδος)
Rhodes (Ρόδος) is the largest Dodecanese island in the southeastern Aegean, 1,401 km² with 125,113 residents. Its city, founded 408 BC, was held by the Knights of St John 1309–1522, then Ottoman and Italian rulers; the Medieval City is a UNESCO site.
Ridley Island
Ridley Island: name of two islands, one off King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica (charted by Bransfield, 1820), and one near Prince Rupert, British Columbia, named for Bishop William Ridley in 1924.
Riiser-Larsen Peninsula
Riiser-Larsen Peninsula (Riiser-Larsenhalvøya), also called Cook Peninsula, is a large peninsula in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, at 68°55'S 34°00'E, forming the western portal to Lützow-Holm Bay and separating the Princess Ragnhild and Prince Harald Coasts; discovered by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen from the Norvegia on 21 February 1931.
Rikers Island
Rikers Island: 415-acre New York City jail complex in the East River between Queens and the Bronx, operated by the DOC since 1935; bought in 1884, now slated for closure by 2027 under federal oversight.
Ringvassøya
Ringvassøya (Ráneš) is Norway's sixth largest mainland island, 661 km², in Tromsø and Karlsøy municipalities north of Tromsø, linked by the Kvalsund Tunnel, with Hansnes as Karlsøy's administrative center.
Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island: island in Dare County, North Carolina, between Roanoke and Croatan Sounds, not a barrier island; site of the 1585 and 1587 English colonies including the Lost Colony, home to Manteo and Wanchese.
Roatán
Roatán is the largest of Honduras's Bay Islands, about 65 km offshore between Útila and Guanaja, on the Mesoamerican Reef. Known for diving, cruise tourism (1.27 million cruise passengers in 2018), English-Spanish bilingual culture, and recent coral loss from the 2023–2025 bleaching event.
Robben Island
Robben Island, in Table Bay about 11 km off Cape Town, served as a prison, hospital, and military base from the 17th to 20th centuries; its apartheid-era maximum security prison held Nelson Mandela for 18 years, and it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.
Robert Island
Robert Island (South Shetland Islands) is an 18 km-wide, ice-capped Antarctic island between Nelson and Greenwich Islands, sighted in 1819 and named for the brig Robert; also Ostrov Polotsk.
Robertson Island
Robertson Island: ice-covered Antarctic island, 13 mi long and 6 mi wide, at the east end of the Seal Nunataks off the Antarctic Peninsula; discovered by C.A. Larsen in 1893 and named for William Robertson of Hamburg.
Robinson Crusoe Island
Robinson Crusoe Island (Isla Robinson Crusoe), formerly Más a Tierra, is a 48 km² Chilean island in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, 650 km offshore, famed for endemic flora, Selkirk's 1704–1709 marooning, and 1935 national park status.
Robinsons Island
Robinsons Island (Rustico Island), a barrier island in Prince Edward Island National Park, Canada, farmed by the Robinson family in the 1800s and now eroding rapidly into the Gulf of St. Lawrence; distinct from Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile.
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar, also called Mons Calpe, is a 6-km limestone promontory at the southern tip of Iberia, a British territory and nature reserve rising 1,396 ft.
Rockall
The granite islet of Rockall lies 162.7 nautical miles west of St Kilda; it is subject to annexation disputes and fisheries conflicts between the UK and other nations.
Rodrigues
Rodrigues, also called Rodrigues Island, is a 108 km2 autonomous volcanic island of Mauritius in the Mascarenes, 650 km northeast of Mauritius, named for Diogo Rodrigues (1528), French from 1735, British from 1809, autonomous since 2001.
Rongé Island
Rongé Island (De Rongé, Ile) is a rugged 5-mile Antarctic island at 64°43'S, 62°41'W, largest on the west side of Errera Channel, Graham Land; discovered 1897–99 by de Gerlache's Belgian expedition, named for Madame de Ronge; gentoo and chinstrap penguin colonies.
Rongelap Atoll
Rongelap Atoll, Marshall Islands coral atoll contaminated by the 1954 Castle Bravo fallout; its people were evacuated, resettled in 1957, left again in 1985, and resettlement remains contested.
Roosevelt Island
Roosevelt Island, formerly Blackwell's Island and Welfare Island, is a two-mile-long East River island in Manhattan, New York City, once home to prisons and hospitals, now a residential community with the Cornell Tech campus, the 1976 aerial tramway, and a master lease running to 2078.
Rosamel Island
Rosamel Island (Isla Rosamel), also called Christmas Island, is a 435 m Antarctic island in the southeast entrance of Antarctic Sound between Andersson and Dundee islands, charted by d'Urville's expedition in 1838 and named for Baron de Rosamel.
Rosenthal Islands
Rosenthal Islands, group of about 80 small islands off west Anvers Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica; charted by Dallmann 1873/74, named for Albert Rosenthal; Restricted Zone in ASMA 7 with penguin colonies.
Roslagen
Roslagen is the coastal and archipelago region of Uppland, Sweden, north of Stockholm; name from the medieval rowing district Roden, known for Walloon ironworks, seafaring, and 15,000 islands.