ARCHIPELAGO, in geography, a sea interspersed by a great number of islands. See SEA, ISLAND. The most celebrated, and that to which the name is, to some measure, appropriated, is that between Greece, Macedonia, and Asia, wherein are the islands of the Aegean Sea: which is called the White Sea, in contrast to the Euxine, which they call the Black Sea.
The modern geographers mention other archipelagos;as, that of Sargasso, near the coast of Malabar and adjacent to the archipelago of Mexico; that of the Caribbean, wherein are above 1200 islands; that of the Philippines,containing 1100 islands; those of the Moluccas, of Celebes, etc.
The word is formed, by corruption, of ἀρχιπέλαγος, q.d. Aegean Sea; which, again, is formed of ἁγία,holy or sacred sea; a name originally given it by the Greeks on account of the Cyclades, for which they had a very high veneration.
