Pacific Islands

Pacific Islands, also Oceania, consisting of the 20,000 to 30,000 islands scattered over thousands of square miles of the Pacific Ocean. The outer limits of Oceania, known as the Pacific Rim, are defined by the archipelagos of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan on the Asian side, and by the Aleutians, Galapagos, and other island groups close to the northern and southern continents on the American side. The southern limit is Australia. Within the Rim is a vast area of ocean with numerous islands, but divided into three distinct regions: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

Land and climate

Melanesia consists of New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuata, and Fiji. Micronesia, consisting of some 2,000 islands, is situated north of Melanesia. Its principal islands include Guam, the Caroline Islands, the Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Gilbert Islands, and Nauru. Polynesia is the largest division of Oceania. It extends some 5,000 mi (8,047 km) north to south from midway to New Zealand and some 4,000 mi (6,437 km) east to west from Easter Island to New Zealand and includes the Hawaiian Islands, Samoa, the Marquesas, and the Society Islands.

The Pacific islands are of two types, high islands or low islands. High islands are distinguished by hills and mountains, some of them snow covered. New Britain, New Caledonia, New Guinea, and New Zealand are all high islands. Low islands, the type most frequent in Polynesia, are coral islands. Many are atolls, coral reef surrounding a lagoon. They are low-lying islands and some of the lesser ones are only a few feet above sea level. Typical low islands are the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands, Phoenix, Tuamotu, and the Tuvalu groups.

The prevailing climate throughout the Pacific Islands is tropical and it is warm the year round. On high islands, it is cool in the mountains, and the lowlands are often dense with tropical rain forest. Throughout the region, rainfall varies. Most islands have a wet and dry season, and typhoons are frequent.

People

The three divisions of Oceania are ethnically as well as geographically distinct. It is believed that the peoples who originally settled the islands were from southeast Asia. Over the long period of dispersion throughout the islands, different cultures developed, but all of them centered on village life. Kinship bonds have been and remain important and the community was traditionally led by a chief. People's diets were principally fish and native plants. There are some 26,500,000 people living in the islands, many of them still in traditional villages. Throughout the islands some 1,200 native languages are spoken. Of non-native languages, English is the most common in the region, but Japanese, French, and Pidgin English are also used. Christianity is the dominant religion, but in many areas the system of native beliefs remains quite strong, particularly in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Cannibalism is still practiced among certain of the natives in New Guinea.

Economy

Hawaii, New Zealand, and Nauru have modern economies and most of their people are wage earners. But on the other islands, most people live in traditional and self-sufficient economies and earn little or no money, though recently, more and more islanders have begun moving to towns to join the money economy. Beyond those of Hawaii and New Zealand, there are few towns or cities, principally Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, Apia in Western Samoa, Nouméa in New Caledonia, Papeete in French Polynesia, and Sura in Fiji. The islands are, in general, not suitable for farming and have few minerals for export. Among the exceptions are New Caledonia, whose nickel, chromium, and iron ore are mined, Nauru which exports phosphates, and New Guinea. Bougainville, New Guinea, is the site of one of the world's largest copper mines. Otherwise, agriculture is the main industry and copra, dried coconut meat, the main export. Some coffee, sugar, cocoa, and bananas are grown, too. Tourism is also a source of income, but has met with resistance from people concerned about its adverse effects upon native cultures and the environment.

History

The first European to visit the islands was Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. The Dutchman, Abel Janszoon Tasman, discovered New Zealand in 1642 and the Englishman, James Cook, explored the region in the 18th century. The missionaries followed the explorers and the islands were opened for exploitation which, at the time, included the slave trade. In the 19th century the United States competed with France, Germany, and Spain for dominance in the region. Australia and New Zealand became independent in the early 20th century, and, following World War I and Germany's defeat, Japan took control of its Pacific possessions and became a presence in the region. In World War II Japan made a bid for dominion in the region; its defeat led to major changes. In the decades since the 1960s a number of individual islands and island groups have become independent. Others have joined in what is called free association, an arrangement in which an island is internally self-governing but leaves external affairs to a larger stronger partner such as New Zealand or the United States. After World War II, islands taken from Japan were placed by the United Nations under U.S. administration as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Since the war, islands within the Trust Territory have become independent within a free-association arrangement wherein the United States retains control over foreign affairs and guarantees the islands' security.