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The Pacific World in Transition
The Pacific Islands region consists of thousands of tropical islands scattered across the vast Pacific Ocean. While some islands are high volcanic islands with fringing and barrier reefs, others are low-lying coral atolls that formed on sunken volcanic peaks. Major powers colonized many islands over centuries, though France retains the largest Pacific colonial empire today. The islands are divided into three culturally distinct regions - Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia - comprising many independent nations and territories across a massive expanse of ocean.
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The Pacific World in Transition
- 3. Includes tens ofthousands of tropical islands, most of them located in the southern and western parts of the Pacific Ocean. This water world is larger than all the world’s land areas combined. Major powers colonized many of these islands over the course of three centuries.
- 4. Only France retainsa colonial empire in the Pacific. Countries are part of a region of strategic importance where the sea dominates the land, where places are isolated from one another, and where distances between them are enormous.
- 6. High Islands/Volcanic Islands Volcanic Islandsare the peaks of mountains that rise from the sea floor. These high islands have coral platforms, or Fringing Reefs, attached to their shores. It also have coral Barrier Reefs that ring the high island and encircle a Lagoon.
- 7. Low Islands/Atolls Atolls arecoral Barrier Reefs that continued to build after the volcanic peak that they once surrounded sank beneath the sea, leaving a circle of low-lying coral reefs surrounding an empty Lagoon.
- 8. Example of a VolcanicIsland
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- 11. Melanesia • Melanesia, whichis located in the southwest Pacific north and east of Australia and New Zealand, has more land area and more people than either Micronesia or Polynesia.
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- 18. New Caledonia Tourist Attraction:Coeur De Voh
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- 21. Papua New GuineaTourist Attraction: Rouna Falls
- 22. Micronesia • North ofMelanesia and east of the Philippines is Micronesia, which includes 2,000 or more tiny islands strewn across an expanse of ocean as large as the United States.
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- 26. Palau Tourist Attraction: JellyFish Lake
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- 35. N. Mariana IslandsTourist Attraction:Suicide Cliff
- 36. Polynesia • Polynesia islocated east of Melanesia and Micronesia in the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Polynesia has a large number of islands. Its boundaries form a huge triangle extending from New Zealand to Hawaii to Chile’s Easter Island.
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- 42. Tonga Tourist Attraction:Blowholesof Tongatapu
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- 51. Pitcairn Islands TouristAttraction: Fletcher Christian Cave
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- 53. Easter Islands Tourist Attractions:Te Pito O Te Henua
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- 58. Europeans, Aborigines, and Maori •Most European settlers who came to Australia and New Zealand were convinced of the superiority of European culture. In Australia, native Aborigines were viewed as lesser people, pushed off the best land, and finally housed on reservations.
- 59. The Australian Aborigines •Australia’s aborigines are a Melanesian people who lived as Hunters and gatherers in Australia for thousands of years. They lived in more than 500 territorial groups, each with its own language.
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- 63. The Maori ofNew Zealand • The Maori lived primarily as hunters and gatherers in New Zealand, although they also tended gardens. When British reached New Zealand, about 200,000 Maori lived there, mainly on North Island. They had a well-organized society with experienced traders.
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