So what in the world is archipelago? I mean I have heard of the term before but thought it was generally just one place, essentially the Galapagos Islands. Well in a sense I was right but in another I was very wrong.

Basically it is a term used to describe a group of islands that were formed tectonically. So there are several of these island chains all over the world. The Galapagos Islands were considered one, but there were many more. I was right yet so wrong. Shocker!

Basically underground volcanoes form these whenever they erupt under the ocean. Now it seems this process can take some time and most of these have even been around since the beginning of time.

Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand and the UK are the areas where the most archipelagoes can be found. These are the best areas to take a tourist trip to these beautiful islands to see exactly how they look, how they were formed, and what makes them so different from other island chains.

So the next time you hear in a conversation about this unique and wondrous chain of islands, chime in, you will sound a lot more educated than I did when I started to look into what these even were.