Europa Island
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Europa Island (French: Île Europa) is a 28 km² low-lying tropical island in the Mozambique Channel, about a third of the way from southern Madagascar to southern Mozambique, at . It has 22.2 kilometers of coastline, but no ports or harbours. Anchorage is possible offshore. The airstrip is 1,500 metres long.
The island is surrounded by coral beaches and a fringing reef and encloses a mangrove lagoon of around 9 km². Its vegetation also consists of dry forest, scrub, euphorbia and the remains of a sisal plantation.
Europa Island is a nature reserve and host to migratory seabirds. It is one of the world's largest nesting sites for green turtles (Chelonia mydas). It is also home to goats introduced by settlers in the late 18th century.
The island takes its name from the British ship Europa which visited it in 1774. It has been a possession of France since 1897, but is also claimed by Madagascar. Ruins and graves on Europa island attest to several attempts at settlement from the 1860s to the 1920s.
Its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is contiguous with that of Bassas da India, is 127,300 km². The island, garrisoned by a detachment from Réunion, has a meteorological station and is visited by scientists.
Bassas da India · Europa Island · Glorioso Islands · Juan de Nova Island · Tromelin Island
Overseas departments1 | Overseas communities | Special status
Guadeloupe · French Guiana · Martinique · Réunion | Mayotte · French Polynesia (Clipperton) · Saint-Pierre and Miquelon · Wallis and Futuna | New Caledonia
Uninhabited lands
French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Amsterdam Island • Saint-Paul Island • Crozet Islands • Kerguelen Islands • Adélie Land • Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean)
1 These overseas departments are also overseas regions (régions d'outre-mer).
Territories under European sovereignty but closer to or on continents other than Europe (see inclusion criteria for further information) | |
Denmark | Greenland |
France |
Clipperton Island · French Guiana · French Polynesia · French Southern and Antarctic Lands · Guadeloupe · Martinique · Mayotte · New Caledonia · Réunion · Saint-Pierre and Miquelon · Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean · Wallis and Futuna |
Italy | Pantelleria · Pelagie Islands |
Netherlands | Aruba · Netherlands Antilles |
Norway | Bouvet Island |
Portugal | Azores · Madeira |
Spain | Canary Islands · Plazas de soberanía (Ceuta, Melilla) |
United Kingdom |
Anguilla · Ascension Island · Bermuda · British Virgin Islands · Cayman Islands · Falkland Islands · Montserrat · Saint Helena · Tristan da Cunha · Turks and Caicos Islands · British Indian Ocean Territory · Pitcairn Islands · South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands |