Surprise Event 21

[Callia]

Keep it fun and take a guess!! No googling! I can't wait to see the answers!

What was the largest island in the world before Australia was discovered?


Surprise!!!
Game will run for 24 hours and end at 1:30a Friday Morning!

[Cyrus]

I thought Australia was a continent by itself.
And no googling!? Eh...

Madagascar?

I'm definitely sure I'm wrong on this.
Then again, I sort of "live in my own world (or island)"

Edit:
So I went to google and boy was I wrong
But wasn't too far off

[Cikala]

I think Greenland is the largest, although technically Australia is a continent, not an island.

[Icefairy2]

hm, i'd say Australia is a Kontinent too.
Madagaskar is a good guess, but Papua Neuguinea ist realy big too, as i was there once, my guess would be Neuguinea. But as far as i know, discovery does not change the size

[moonchild]

Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo are 3 of the biggest islands in the world
Moonchild

[Bagzoo]

Greenland by a large margin would be my first guess (and proximity to the major sea-faring powers suggests it was 'on record' before Australia was)

[meme1]

Australia is the smallest continent in the world and Greenland is the largest island in the world

[Stormöga 1]

GRÖNLAND (Greenland)

[Mel]

Greenland (Grönland) is the lagest Island in the world,
followed by New Guinea (Neuguiena), which is a third of the size
and then Borneo, not much smaller than New Guinea.

[Esethielle]

Australia is a continent, not an island ....
The basic question in the topic header can be confusing, but if we ignore the island / continent error, the answer is:

Officially, it was Erik THORVALDSON named "The Red", banned from Norway and then from Iceland for murder, who was the first European to discover the island in 982.
He then christened this island, Greenland ...
And the first European to visit Australia is the Portuguese explorer Cristóvão de Mendonça in 1522.
So, Greenland is the largest island in the world ... and it was discovered before anyone discovered Australia