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a large group or chain of islands:
the Malay Archipelago.
any large body of water with many islands.
the Archipelago, the Aegean Sea.
Contemporary Examples

There were three Dutch voyages to the Arctic archipelago in the 16th century.
Pale Fire and the Cold War: Redefining Vladimir Nabokov’s Masterpiece Michael Weiss October 12, 2013

Power has withered at the center and devolved to an archipelago of fiefdoms where warlords rule without the burdens of governing.
The Curse of CAR: Warlords, Blood Diamonds, and Dead Elephants Christopher Day May 24, 2014

The largest of an archipelago of islands, Santorini is the vestige of a single volcanic landmass that erupted around 1600 BC.
Book a Room for Two in a Santorini Cave Joanna Eede June 9, 2014

There are political mutinies happening all across America: America is an archipelago of political insurrection.
Expect a Political Cleansing Tunku Varadarajan May 16, 2010

They looked like maps of an archipelago, their natural pink-white hue splotched with huge, coppery splats.
Spray-Tan Horror Stories Anneli Rufus July 6, 2010

Historical Examples

Pilots were taken by the several vessels, and the fleet entered the archipelago, through which it was to sail for thirty miles.
Up The Baltic Oliver Optic

It lies near the sea, as it were at the head of the archipelago.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. II Francis Augustus Cox

The Turkish fleet, which had been for some time cruising in the archipelago, has returned to Constantinople.
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, No. VII, December 1850, Vol. II Various

In that story I had not gone back to the archipelago, I had only turned for another look at it.
Notes on My Books Joseph Conrad

The semibarbarous inhabitant of the archipelago, born and bred in this position, naturally becomes a pirate.
The History of Sulu Najeeb M. Saleeby

noun (pl) -gos, -goes
a group of islands
a sea studded with islands
n.

c.1500, from Italian arcipelago “the Aegean Sea” (13c.), from Greek arkhipelagos, from arkhi- “chief” (see archon) + pelagos “sea” (see pelagic). The Aegean Sea being full of island chains, the meaning was extended in Italian to “any sea studded with islands.” Klein, noting the absence of arkhipelagos in ancient or Medieval Greek (the modern word in Greek is borrowed from Italian) believe it is an Italian mistake for Aigaion pelagos “Aegean Sea” (Medieval Latin Egeopelagus), or influenced by that name.
archipelago
(är’kə-pěl’ə-gō’)

A large group of islands.

A sea, such as the Aegean, or an area in a sea containing a large number of scattered islands.

archipelago [(ahr-kuh-pel-uh-goh)]

A group of islands near one another.