Islands of Chile

The islands of Chile encompass the various islands that the government of Chile has sovereignty over. By far the majority of these are the islands in the south of the country. Chile has one of the world's longest coastlines, and one of the most dangerous for boats; it is more than long and has at least 5,000 rocky islands.
Classifications vary for "isla" ("island"), "islote" ("islet"), "roquerío" ("rocks"), "farallón" ("cliff") and "archipiélago" or "grupo" ("archipelago"). The Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy has begun to consider "island" a surface greater than .
Island territory.
The Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy has counted 5,919 "units" of land between the 18° 15'S and 56° 32'S latitudes, with a total area of , that is, 14% of Chile's territory (not including its Antarctica claims). The biggest eight islands and archipelagos (Tierra del Fuego, Chiloé, Wellington, Riesco, Hoste, Santa Inés, Navarino and Magdalena), each measuring over in area, represent 56% of the island territory of Chile. The 381 biggest islands – all those over in area – represent 97% of the island territory of Chile.
Geographic classification.
The Chilean "Instituto Geográfico Militar de Chile" classifies the Chilean Islands according to their coordinate position on the coast of Chile:
Phantom islands.
Elizabeth Island, Bodesta, Pactolus Bank and some reefs have been mentioned in the past as lying near Chilean territories but they are phantom islands. Gable Island is listed by National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Country Files (GNS) as a Chilean Island, but it is actually part of Argentina.
Literature islands.
Several reports, novels and tales have the islands of Chile as geographic background: