さて、私は部分的な解決策があると思います。
基本的な考え方は、drawcoastlines（）で使用されるパスは、サイズ/領域で並べ替えられるというものです。つまり、最初のN個のパスは（ほとんどのアプリケーションで）主要な陸地と湖であり、後のパスは小さな島と川です。
問題は、area_threshが適用されているかどうか、湖または小さな島などが必要かどうか、最初のN個のパスが投影（たとえば、グローバル、極地、地域）に依存することです。つまり、微調整する必要があります。これはアプリケーションごとです。
from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
mp = 'cyl'
m = Basemap(resolution='c',projection=mp,lon_0=0,area_thresh=200000)
fill_color = '0.9'
# If you don't want lakes set lake_color to fill_color
m.fillcontinents(color=fill_color,lake_color='white')
# Draw the coastlines, with a thin line and same color as the continent fill.
coasts = m.drawcoastlines(zorder=100,color=fill_color,linewidth=0.5)
# Exact the paths from coasts
coasts_paths = coasts.get_paths()
# In order to see which paths you want to retain or discard you'll need to plot them one
# at a time noting those that you want etc.
for ipoly in xrange(len(coasts_paths)):
print ipoly
r = coasts_paths[ipoly]
# Convert into lon/lat vertices
polygon_vertices = [(vertex[0],vertex[1]) for (vertex,code) in
r.iter_segments(simplify=False)]
px = [polygon_vertices[i][0] for i in xrange(len(polygon_vertices))]
py = [polygon_vertices[i][1] for i in xrange(len(polygon_vertices))]
m.plot(px,py,'k-',linewidth=1)
plt.show()
描画を停止するための関連するipoly（poly_stop）がわかったら、次のようなことを行うことができます...
from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
mproj = ['nplaea','cyl']
mp = mproj[0]
if mp == 'nplaea':
m = Basemap(resolution='c',projection=mp,lon_0=0,boundinglat=30,area_thresh=200000,round=1)
poly_stop = 10
else:
m = Basemap(resolution='c',projection=mp,lon_0=0,area_thresh=200000)
poly_stop = 18
fill_color = '0.9'
# If you don't want lakes set lake_color to fill_color
m.fillcontinents(color=fill_color,lake_color='white')
# Draw the coastlines, with a thin line and same color as the continent fill.
coasts = m.drawcoastlines(zorder=100,color=fill_color,linewidth=0.5)
# Exact the paths from coasts
coasts_paths = coasts.get_paths()
# In order to see which paths you want to retain or discard you'll need to plot them one
# at a time noting those that you want etc.
for ipoly in xrange(len(coasts_paths)):
if ipoly > poly_stop: continue
r = coasts_paths[ipoly]
# Convert into lon/lat vertices
polygon_vertices = [(vertex[0],vertex[1]) for (vertex,code) in
r.iter_segments(simplify=False)]
px = [polygon_vertices[i][0] for i in xrange(len(polygon_vertices))]
py = [polygon_vertices[i][1] for i in xrange(len(polygon_vertices))]
m.plot(px,py,'k-',linewidth=1)
plt.show()
