Greenland

Greenland isn't green. Instead, an ice sheet that measures an average of 1,000 feet thick covers 84 percent of the world's largest island. (Australia is bigger, but geographers generally categorize it as a continent rather than as an island.) Norse explorer Eric the Red reputedly gave Greenland its name in order to make it sound more appealing to would-be settlers. Besides, it's not often called Greenland any more, at least not by its residents. After being granted home rule by Denmark in 1979, residents took on the name Kalaallit Nunaat.