|
Melanesia includes the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia,
Tuvalu, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Admiralty Islands, and
Fiji. Papua New Guinea is sometimes included in Melanesia.
The Melanesians are largely of Australoid stock.
Australia
Fiji
New Caledonia
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands
Vanuatu
Micronesia includes the Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands,
Mariana Islands and Guam, Gilbert Islands, and Nauru.
Its main archipelagic units are the Caroline Islands composing
most of the Federated States of Micronesia as well as Palau
(or, Republic of Belau); the Glibert Islands (Kiribati); the
Mariana Islands, including Guam and the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI); the Marshall Islands (Republic
of); and the single island of Nauru (Republic of). The inhabitants
are of Australoid and Polynesian stock.
Federated States of Micronesia
Marshall Islands
The larger islands are volcanic; the smaller ones are generally
coral formations. The principal groups are the Hawaiian Islands,,
Samoa, Tonga, and the islands of French Polynesia. Ethnologically
though not geographically, Polynesia embraces New Zealand.
The region known as Polynesia (from the Greek, meaning "many
islands") is vast in terms of sea area, covering approximately
39 million square kilometers - excluding New Zealand and Hawaii,
territories originally settled by Polynesians but containing
predominantly non-Polynesian populations. In contrast, the
total land area of the region is only about 8,260 square kilometers,
the largest island being Tahiti at 1,042 square kilometers.
The total population of the region in the early 1990s was
approximately 511,000. Only French Polynesia and Western Samoa
have populations of over 100,000, and tiny Pitcairn Island's
population was only 100 in 1987
Cook Islands
French Polynesia
Hawaii
New Zealand
Samoa
Tonga
|
|
To get a grasp of the expanse of Islands and peoples see
the following list of the geopolitical breakdown of the Pacific.
|
• Admiralty Islands
• Agana
• American Samoa
• Antipodes, islands, New Zealand
• Apia
• Ascension Island
• Atuona
• Auckland Islands
• Austral Islands
• Australia
• Baker Island
• Banaba
• Bikini
• Bismarck Archipelago
• Bora-Bora
• Bougainville
• Butaritari
• Canton Island
• Caroline Islands
• Chatham Island
• Chatham Islands
• Christmas Island, in the Pacific Ocean
• Chuuk
• Cocos Islands
• Cook Islands
• D£Entrecasteaux Islands
• Dangerous Archipelago
• Duke of York Islands
• Easter Island
• Efate
• Ellice Islands
• Enderbury Island
• Entrecasteaux Islands, D£
• Equatorial Islands
• Escholtz Islands
• EspIritu Santo
• Fanning Island
• Fiji
• Fly, river, New Guinea
• French Polynesia
• Friendly Islands
• Funafuti
• GalApagos Islands
• Gambier Islands
• Gilbert and Ellice Islands
• Gilbert Islands
• Goodenough£s Island
• Guadalcanal
• Guam
• Hiva Oa
• Honiara
• Howland Island
• Humphrey Island
• Iwo Jima
• Jaluit
• Jarvis Island
• Johnston Atoll
• Johnston Island
• Kaiser-Wilhelmsland
• Kanton
• Kazan-retto
• Keeling Islands
• Kermadec Islands
• Kingman Reef
• Kiribati
• Koror
• Kwajalein
• Ladrones Islands
• Lae
• Lagoon Islands
• Lavongai
• Line Islands
• Lord Howe Island
• Louisiade Archipelago
• Low Archipelago
• Loyalty Islands
• Madang
• Majuro
• Makatea
• Makin
• Mangareva
• Manihiki
• Manu£a
• Mariana Islands
• Marianas
• Marquesas Islands
• Marshall Islands
|
• Melanesia
• Micronesia
• Micronesia, Federated States of
• Midway
• Moorea
• Nauru
• Navigators£ Islands
• Neu Hannover
• Neu Lauenberg
• Neu Mecklenburg
• Neu Pommern
• New Britain, island, Papua New Guinea
• New Caledonia
• New Guinea
• New Guinea, Territory of
• New Hanover
• New Hebrides
• New Ireland
• New Zealand
• Niue
• Norfolk Island
• Northern Mariana Islands
• NoumEa
• Nuku Hiva
• Nukualofa
• Ocean Island
• Oceania
• Oreor
• Pago Pago
• Palau
• Palmyra, atoll, Pacific Ocean
• Pangopango
• Papeete
• Papua New Guinea
• Papua, Territory of
• Paumotu
• Penrhyn
• Phoenix Islands
• Pines, Isle of, island, New Caledonia
• Pitcairn Island
• Pitt Island
• Pohnpei
• Polynesia
• Ponape
• Port Moresby
• Rabaul
• Rai£atea
• Ralik Chain
• Rarotonga
• Ratak Chain
• Saipan
• Samarai
• Samoa
• Sandalwood Island, alternate name for Vanua Levu,
Fiji
• Santo
• Savai£i
• Society Islands
• Solomon Islands
• Sulphur Island
• Suva
• Swains Island
• Tahiti
• Tarawa
• Tinian
• Tokelau
• Tonga
• Trobriand Islands
• Truk
• Tuamotu Archipelago
• Tubuai Islands
• Tutuila
• Tuvalu
• Ulithi
• Upolu
• Vanua Levu
• Vanuatu
• Viti
• Viti Levu
• Vitu Islands
• Volcano Islands
• Wake Island
• Wallis and Futuna Islands
• Washington Island, former name of Teraina, Kiribati
• Western Samoa
• Witu Islands
• Yap
|
|
