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Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of acountry orcontinent, not including the islands around it [regardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity]."^[1] The term is oftenpolitically, economically and/or demographically more significant thanpolitically associatedremote territories, such asexclaves oroceanic islands situated outside thecontinental shelf.

In geography, "mainland" can denote thecontinental part of anypolity or the main island within anisland nation. Ingeopolitics, "mainland" is sometimes used interchangeably with terms likemetropole as an antonym tooverseas territories. In the sense of "heartland", mainland is the opposite ofperiphery. In some language a separate concept of "mainland" is missing and is replaced with a "continental portion".

The term is relative: inTasmania,continental Australia is the mainland, while to residents ofFlinders Island, the main island of Tasmania is also "the mainland", though thegeologicalAustralian continent includes all the former plus the island ofNew Guinea and all the smaller islands (e.g. theTorres Strait Islands) in between.

This list denotes prominent usages of the term "mainland" to distinguish the islands of a continent from the mainland of a continent through a geopolitical lens.

• Mainland Africa, from the perspectives ofCape Verde,Comoros,Madagascar,Mauritius,São Tomé and Príncipe andSeychelles, as well asMayotte (France) andRéunion (France)
• Mainland Asia, from the perspectives ofBahrain,Brunei,Cyprus (inc.Akrotiri and Dhekelia andNorthern Cyprus),East Timor,Indonesia,Japan (inc.Okinawa Prefecture), theMaldives, thePhilippines,Singapore,Sri Lanka, andTaiwan (inc.Kinmen, theMatsu Islands, andPenghu), as well as theAndaman and Nicobar Islands (India),Christmas Island (Australia), theCocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia),Coloane andTaipa (Macau),East Malaysia (Malaysia),Hainan (China),Hong Kong Island (Hong Kong),Islands District (Hong Kong),Jeju Island (South Korea),Lakshadweep (India) andSakhalin Oblast (Russia)
  • In the future, if theSalwa Canal is built, also from the perspective ofQatar
• Mainland Europe, from the perspectives of Cyprus,Iceland,Ireland,Malta, theUnited Kingdom (inc.Guernsey, theIsle of Man, andJersey), as well asÅland (Finland), theFaroe Islands (Denmark),Jan Mayen (Norway),Svalbard (Norway),Corsica (France),Sardinia (Italy),Sicily (Italy),Danish islands (Denmark),Azores (Portugal),Madeira (Portugal),Canary Islands (Spain),Balearic Islands (Spain),Gotland (Sweden),Estonian islands (Estonia),Greek islands (Greece) andRussian islands (Russia)
  • Also note that severalEuropean countries possess colonies or outposts all around the world (often small islands) in all other continental regions includingNorth America,South America,Africa,Oceania,Asia andAntarctica
• Mainland Europe, from the perspective ofScandinavia, a peninsula
• Mainland Southeast Asia, from the perspective ofMaritime Southeast Asia
• Mainland North America, from the perspectives ofCuba,Greenland andJamaica
• Mainland South America, from the perspectives of theFalkland Islands

This list denotes prominent usages of the term "mainland" to distinguish between distinct regions within a single country based on an "islands-to-mainland" relationship. Note that the "mainland" can sometimes consist of a large island rather than a continental landmass.

• Mainland Argentina, as opposed toTierra del Fuego Province (includingArgentinian Antarctic claims), as well as otherislands of Argentina
• Mainland Australia, as opposed to theisland of Tasmania and otherAustralian islands, especiallythose not part of Australia proper.
• Mainland Brazil, as opposed toAbrolhos,Fernando de Noronha,Ilhabela,Saint Peter and Saint Paul andTrindade and Martim Vaz.
• Mainland Britain, as opposed to the many smallerislands of the United Kingdom. The largest islands within theNorthern Isles are calledOrkney Mainland andShetland Mainland, respectively.
• Mainland Canada, as opposed toCanadian Islands, particularly those in theMaritimes or in theArctic
  • theMainland Colony was the mainland part ofBritish Columbia, prior to its merger with Vancouver Island; today, the term "Lower Mainland" refers the southernmost part of thecoast of British Columbia
  • thecontinental part of Nova Scotia, as opposed toCape Breton Island and otherNova Scotian islands
• Mainland Chile, as opposed toremote islands of theChilean Sea,Tierra del Fuego Province andChilean Antarctic claims, as well as offshoreislands of Chile such as theChiloé Archipelago andEaster Island
• Mainland China, a term that usually refers to all territories, irrespective of geography, that are administered by thePeople's Republic of China (PRC), aside fromHong Kong andMacau, which are both administered by the PRC assemi-independentspecial administrative regions
• Mainland Colombia, as opposed to the overseasarchipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina.
• theCuban Mainland, as opposed to theCanarreos Archipelago and otherislands of Cuba
• Mainland Denmark, as opposed to overseas parts of theDanish Realm; geographically, Denmark proper consists of a continental portion calledJutland and nearbyDanish Isles
  • themain island is Greenland, excludingDisko Island and otherislands of Greenland
• Mainland Ecuador, as opposed to theGalápagos Islands and otherislands of Ecuador
• Mainland Equatorial Guinea, as opposed to the non-continentalislands of Equatorial Guinea.
• Mainland Estonia, as opposed to theWest Estonian archipelago with two of the fifteencounties and otherislands of Estonia
• Mainland Finland, as opposed toÅland; historically,Finland Proper made up the southwestern portion of the mainland
• Mainland France, as opposed toCorsica andother islands withinEuropean France; also used loosely as an antonym ofOverseas France, despite the fact that the termMetropolitan France is more apt
  • themain island of New Caledonia, as opposed to theLoyalty Islands and otherislands of New Caledonia
• Mainland Greece (including the island ofEuboea), as opposed to theGreek islands
• themain island of Iceland, as opposed to otherislands of Iceland
• Mainland India, as opposed to its insularunion territories or any otherislands of India
• Mainland Italy, as opposed toits insular regions or any otherislands of Italy
• Mainland Japan, as opposed to the otherhome islands, or to remoteislands of Japan, such as theNanpō Islands
• Mainland Korea as opposed toJeju Island and other islands ofNorth Korea orSouth Korea
• themain island of Madagascar, as opposed to otherislands of Madagascar
• Mainland Malaysia as opposed toEast Malaysia or to anyislands of Malaysia
• Mainland Malta, as opposed toGozo and otherislands of Malta
• Mainland Netherlands as opposed to theDutch Caribbean; the Netherlands proper contains numerousoffshore islands
• Mainland New Zealand, is the two islands, the north and south islands. TheSouth Island of New Zealand is sometimes jokingly called the Mainland or the main island, especially by South Islanders themselves. Though it has a far smaller population, it is larger than theNorth Island. "Mainland New Zealand" more commonly refers to thearchipelago made up of the North and South Island and smaller nearby islands, often excluding more outlying islands such as theChatham Islands, and always excluding remote insular parts of theRealm of New Zealand.
• Mainland Norway, as opposed toSvalbard and otherislands of Norway, includingits overseas dependencies
  • the main island of Svalbard, as opposed toNordaustlandet and otherIslands of Svalbard
• themainland part of Papua New Guinea, as opposed to theIslands Region or to any otherislands of Papua New Guinea
• Mainland Portugal, as opposed toits insular regions, or more broadly to anyislands of Portugal; until 1975, the term "mainland" was used loosely as an antonym ofoverseas Portugal
• Mainland Spain as opposed to theBalearic andCanary Islands and otherlands under Spanish sovereignty; cf. the colonial-era termpeninsulares
• themain island of Sri Lanka, as opposed to otherislands of Sri Lanka
• Mainland United States, as opposed to nearby islands belonging to a certainU.S. state, theHawaiian Islands,^[2] and to U.S.island territories in thePacific orCaribbean. The terms "contiguous United States" (48 adjoining states in the continent ofNorth America which does not includeAlaska) or "continental United States" (any U.S. state that is part of the North American continent which includes Alaska) are widely used instead, despite including adjacent islands on thecontinental shelf in both definitions.^[3]
  • Mainland Alaska (which is a part on the North American continent and a component of the U.S. mainland), as opposed to the approximately 2,670 namedoffshore islands (many of which are part of theAlexander Archipelago orAleutian Islands chain).
  • Point Roberts (apene-exclave ofWashington state) viewsBellingham as "the mainland".^[4] The closure of international borders due to theCOVID-19 pandemic has rendered it (de facto) an island in all but name.
• Main or Big Land—inRussia—as opposed to Minor Land, islands, or other isolated territories that are connected by water or air travel but not by paved road.
• Mainland TanzaniaTanzania-as opposed to Zanzibar the semi autonomous islands off the coast of Tanzania when the two countries merged in 1964 between Tanganyika(Now known as Tanzanian Mainland) and Zanzibar.

This list denotes prominent internal usages of the term "mainland" that are disputed.

• Mainland Taiwan, as opposed toKinmen,Matsu,Penghu and otherislands of Taiwan
  • The cause of the dispute isTaiwan's uncertain sovereignty. Nevertheless, if theRepublic of China on Taiwan is regarded as an independent country, it is geographically one large island surrounded by several smaller islands. Politically, Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu arede facto top-levelsubdivisions within Taiwan, classified ascounties.
• Mainland Ukraine, as opposed toCrimea, which is nonethelessgeographically part of the European mainland.^[5]
  • The cause of this dispute is theannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. From aRussian perspective, Russia is the mainland to Crimea.
• Mainland Britain, as opposed toNorthern Ireland
  • This is politically charged term in Ireland, mainly used by pro-UK unionists and generally avoided byIrish nationalists.

This list denotes prominent usages of the term "mainland" to distinguish between distinct regions within anirredentist region

• The relationship between thede facto independent state ofRepublic of China (ROC; commonly called Taiwan) and the PRC as that of an island to its mainland. This is done in order to tacitly support thePRC's territorial claim to Taiwan.^{[citation needed]} This is highly controversial among supporters ofTaiwanese independence. Within Taiwan,Pan-Blue politicians who support the ROC's constitutional territorial claim to the Chinese mainland have popularised this phrase as well.
• Mainland Greece as opposed to the Greek part ofCyprus

• "Mainland Province", the southern portion of theSpanish Main
• Etymology of the toponym "Maine"
• Cartographic generalization
• Inclusion of Taiwan in maps of "China"
• Omission of Tasmania from maps of Australia
• Mainlander (disambiguation)

• Metropolitan or continental parts of states
• Enclaves and exclaves

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