I.

Introduction

Pacific Islands or Oceania, the more than 25,000 islands and islets of 25 nations and territories spread over the western and central Pacific Ocean. Although the Pacific Islands are scattered across millions of square kilometers, their total land area is just 1,261,456 sq km (487,051 sq mi)—slightly larger than South Africa, slightly smaller than Peru, and four-fifths the size of Alaska. The islands of New Guinea, New Zealand, and Hawaii constitute 93 percent of the land area, while the remaining thousands of islands have a total land area of 89,339 sq km (34,494 sq mi), slightly less than the American state of Indiana. New Guinea, shared by the Indonesian province of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) and the nation of Papua New Guinea, is the second largest island in the world, after Greenland. New Zealand’s South Island and North Island, Oceania’s next largest islands, are the world’s 12th and 14th largest islands, respectively.

II.

Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia

The Pacific Islands are usually divided into three subregions: Melanesia (the prefix mela, meaning dark or black, refers to the dark complexion of many Melanesian people), Micronesia (the prefix micro, meaning small, refers to the small size of Micronesia’s islands and atolls), and Polynesia (the prefix poly, meaning many, refers to the many islands of Polynesia).

Melanesia stretches in a 5,600-km (3,500-mi) arc off the northern and eastern coast of Australia. From northwest to southeast, Melanesia includes New Guinea, lying just north of Australia; the Bismarck Archipelago, belonging to Papua New Guinea; smaller archipelagos of Papua New Guinea; the Solomon Islands, some of which belong to Papua New Guinea but most of which are part of the nation of Solomon Islands; the many islands of the nation Vanuatu; the islands of New Caledonia and Dependencies, a French territory; and the Fiji Islands (an island nation commonly known as Fiji).

The tiny islands and atolls of Micronesia are scattered widely across a large area north of Melanesia and east of Asia. Micronesia has four main island groups. The Caroline Islands lie north of the equator from New Guinea and belong mostly to the Federated States of Micronesia, a self-governing country in free association with the United States. A small portion of the Carolines belongs to Palau, also a self-governing country in free association with the United States. To the north of the Carolines are the Mariana Islands, which make up the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a self-governing U.S. commonwealth, and Guam, an unincorporated U.S. territory. To the east of the Marianas are the Marshall Islands, an island group and republic in free association with the United States. Southeast of the Marshalls is the nation of Kiribati, which straddles the equator. The tiny nation of Nauru, a single island west of Kiribati, is also counted as part of Micronesia. Micronesia’s islands are so small that their land area totals just 3,240 sq km (1,250 sq mi). Even among the smaller islands of Oceania—that is, Oceania excluding New Guinea, New Zealand, and Hawaii—Micronesia makes up just 3.6 percent of the total land mass.

Polynesia, lying in the central and southern Pacific, encompasses a vast triangle stretching east from Melanesia and Micronesia. Polynesia is larger than both Melanesia and Micronesia combined. The southwestern tip of the Polynesian triangle is the nation of New Zealand, lying southeast of Australia and far south of the tropic of Capricorn. The southeastern tip is Easter Island, part of Chile lying just south of the tropic of Capricorn three-fourths of the distance from Australia to South America. The triangle’s northwestern tip is Hawaii, straddling the tropic of Cancer halfway between North America and Asia. These three tips, however, are outliers: Most of Polynesia is clustered just east of Melanesia south of the equator. From north to south, the Polynesian islands immediately east of Melanesia form the nation of Tuvalu; Wallis and Futuna, a French territory north of Fiji; and the nation of Tonga. Farther east, from north to south, are Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand; the independent nation of Samoa (formerly Western Samoa); American Samoa, a U.S. territory; Niue, a self-governing island in free association with New Zealand; and the Cook Islands, a self-governing island group also in free association with New Zealand. Still farther east lie the five archipelagos of the French territory French Polynesia: the Austral Islands, the Society Islands (with well-known Tahiti and Bora-Bora), the Tuamotu Archipelago (including the Gambier Islands), and the Marquesas Islands. Beyond French Polynesia is Pitcairn Island, a dependency of the United Kingdom.

Oceania is sometimes defined to include Australia, but because of Australia’s continental size and its distinct geography, climate, and cultures it is more often considered a separate region of the world. Similarly, the Philippine, Indonesian, and Japanese archipelagos, which border Melanesia and Micronesia, bear a greater resemblance to the rest of Asia than the Pacific Islands do. Other, smaller island groups on the far northern and eastern edges of the Pacific (for example, the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador) are usually classified with the nearby regions of the Western Hemisphere.

III.

The Natural Environment

The islands of the Pacific are often classified according to their altitudes as high or low islands.

A.

Types of Islands: High Islands

High islands are further classified as either continental or oceanic. The continental high islands were once part of the eastern edge of the Australian and Asian continents and are composed of substances similar to their former continents: ancient metamorphic rocks and sediments as well as rocks such as schist, gneiss, clay, and sandstone. Continental islands include New Guinea and most islands of Melanesia, which together account for more than three-fourths of Oceania’s land area.

The oceanic high islands, sometimes called volcanic islands, are divided from the continental high islands by a north-south boundary of rock formations beneath the sea called the Andesite line. The oceanic islands are composed of volcanic materials that were forced upward through cracks, or fissures, in the ocean floor and from newly deposited sediments. The islands, then, are merely the tops of undersea mountains. Typically, the mountains (and thus the islands) extend in curving chains. These high oceanic islands are common in Polynesia and Micronesia. The island of Hawaii, in Polynesia, contains the peaks Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, which are considered the world’s largest mountains in terms of mass and height above the ocean floor. Although both peaks rise less than 4,300 m (14,000 ft) above sea level, they rise about 10,000 m (33,000 ft) from the sea floor. Other examples of high oceanic islands in Polynesia include the Samoas, Tahiti and the Marquesas, and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. In Micronesia, Kosrae and Pohnpei of the Caroline Islands are examples.

B.

Types of Islands: Low Islands

Like the high islands, low islands are also further classified into two subgroups: eroded volcanic islands and atolls. The eroded volcanic islands are much like the oceanic, or volcanic, high islands, only they have been eroded to such a point that they are barely above sea level. Examples of these islands include the smaller, lower islands of Hawaii.

Atolls are a series of islands that form a rough ring enclosing a central body of water called a lagoon. The various islets of the ring are called motus and are separated by sea channels that lead into the lagoon. An atoll is continually built upward from an underlying coral reef, itself formed from the skeleton of a tiny, lime-secreting animal called a polyp. Typically, some parts of an atoll are above sea level while other parts remain below. Many scientists believe that atolls were once the fringing reef around volcanic islands that have subsided below the ocean surface. In a subset of atolls, known as raised atolls, geologic action has elevated the coralline limestone above the surrounding sea. Nauru and Niue are examples of raised atolls. Examples of other atolls include most of the Marshalls, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tokelau, and the Cook Islands. Although most atolls are tiny, some—probably those that once surrounded large volcanic peaks—are quite large. Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands, is the world’s largest atoll in terms of its diameter around the lagoon, with a length of 130 km (80 mi) and a width of 32 km (20 mi). Kwajalein’s land area, however, is only 16 sq km (6 sq mi). Kiritimati, in Kiribati, is the largest atoll in terms of land area, with a total area of about 390 sq km (150 sq mi).

C.

Surface Features

The larger islands, typically continental and oceanic islands, have narrow coastal plains with spectacular volcanic mountains and plateaus rising abruptly from the coast. The highest of these are in New Guinea, Hawaii, and New Zealand. Although New Guinea lies just south of the equator, it has snowcapped peaks. The highest peak is Puncak Jaya in Indonesia’s province of Papua, at 5,030 m (16,503 ft). New Zealand’s North and South islands have more than 200 mountains higher than 2,300 m (7,500 ft). Rivers on these larger islands flow rapidly from the rugged mountain interiors to the sea, carrying sediments that form large river basins and deltas. The basins and deltas are fertile farmlands that can play an important role in the island’s economy. Such rivers include the Fly in Papua New Guinea and the Rewa and Sigatoka on Fiji’s Viti Levu Island. By contrast, coral atolls have no rivers.

D.

Climate

With the exception of New Zealand and Easter Island, the Pacific Islands lie within the rainy tropics or the humid subtropics. In such areas there are no abrupt seasonal changes as occur in regions of temperate climate. Temperatures typically average close to 27°C (80°F) most of the year. At higher elevations, temperatures typically drop at the rate of 1.7°C (3°F) for every rise in elevation of 300 m (1,000 ft).

In parts of the central and western Pacific, monsoon climates prevail. In monsoon climates, moisture-bearing winds reverse direction once a year, creating a distinct wet season and a dry season. Because of monsoon conditions and differences in elevation, amount of rainfall, seasonal and annual, varies greatly from island to island and even on different parts of larger islands. The windward (usually eastern) slopes of the high islands sometimes receive as much as 6400 mm (250 in) of rainfall annually. The leeward (usually western) slopes of these islands are relatively dry. Many coral islands are arid or semiarid because little moisture falls as air masses pass over low-lying elevations. In recent years, most notably in the early 1980s and late 1990s, an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon called El Niño brought great aridity to parts of the Pacific Ocean.

In the area from about 30° north of the equator to about 30° south of the equator, the westward-moving trade winds prevail. Centuries ago these steady winds carried the sailing vessels of European traders, hence their name. Where the northern and southern trade winds meet near the equator they cancel each other out, creating the doldrums, a region of little or no wind more formally called the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ).

The western Pacific is also a breeding ground for tropical cyclones, which are called typhoons in some areas and hurricanes in others. North of the equator most such storms occur between July and November. South of the equator the stormy season begins about November and ends about March. The heavy wind and rains brought by these storms often cause devastating loss of life and property.

E.

Soils and Vegetation

The vegetation of the Pacific Islands varies by island type. The continental islands have vegetation typical of tropical climates: Mangrove forests rim the island, further inland lie nipa and other palms, and the interior is typically rain forest or monsoon forest. At higher elevations are temperate forests, including pine trees. The highest elevations of New Guinea even have alpine forests. In some areas of continental islands and larger volcanic islands, soil fertility can be high, especially in river basins and deltas.

Soils on coral atolls are thin, sandy, and much less fertile. Sparse vegetation consists of shrubs, small trees, grasses, and the very common coconut palm. However, on low islands that receive heavier rainfall, some forests exist. As with other islands, mangroves and other salt-tolerant plants line the coasts of atolls.

F.

Animal Life

Because most of the Pacific Islands are relatively distant from major land areas, they have little animal life except for birds and insects. Many seabirds, including albatrosses, terns, gulls, and cormorants, nest on the islands, while other seabirds reside briefly on them during migration. Land birds, such as parrots and birds-of-paradise, inhabit the larger islands of the western Pacific. The only native mammals on most of the islands are bats, but there are several native species of land reptiles, including lizards and, in Fiji, iguanas. Many animals, including cattle, goats, pigs, rats, myna birds, and mongoose, have been introduced by people. The poisonous brown tree snake, probably introduced accidentally by airplanes, has infested much of Guam and other islands, devastating local populations of birds and small mammals. The large continental islands, such as New Guinea and New Zealand, have a much greater variety of native animals. Mammals in New Guinea, for example, are the same as or similar to those found in Australia. They include marsupials such as wallabies and tree kangaroos; monotremes such as spiny anteaters; and reptiles such as crocodiles, venomous snakes, and a variety of lizards, including the giant monitor. Marine life on and around the Pacific Islands is abundant, including many kinds of fish such as tuna, marlin, swordfish, shark, and grouper; shellfish such as lobster, prawns, shrimp, clams, and oysters; and other animals of the sea such as octopuses, squid, and turtles. Insects abound. In Melanesia the malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito is common.

IV.

The People of the Pacific Islands

Several different racial and ethnic groups make up the people of the Pacific Islands, reflecting various migrants to the region over several thousand years. These peoples include Melanesians, Micronesians, and Polynesians, whose origins can be traced to Southeast Asia; Europeans and Americans; Chinese; and Indians, found mostly in Fiji. More recent immigrants include Vietnamese to New Caledonia and Vanuatu, and Filipinos to Micronesia.

Not counting the languages introduced since the first Europeans arrived—languages such as English, French, Hindi, and Vietnamese—some 1,200 languages are spoken throughout the Pacific Island region, more than 700 in New Guinea alone. These languages belong to two language groups, Papuan and Malayo-Polynesian. Papuan languages are spoken on New Guinea, while Malayo-Polynesian languages dominate elsewhere. Most native islanders speak at least one of the many native Malayo-Polynesian languages. English or French, however, is usually the official language of most island nations or territories as well as the language of instruction in schools. English is an official language of Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and the Micronesian nation-states. French is an official language of French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.

Although the great diversity of the Pacific Islands makes it difficult to generalize, a few traits of island life are common throughout the region. Islanders who live in rural areas—and the Pacific Islands are still predominantly rural—depend on subsistence farming and, especially on the coasts, on fishing. Diets are composed of various kinds of marine life, and plants such as taro, cassava, yams, breadfruit, bananas, and several other fruits. The soft center of the sago palm is used make bread. The ubiquitous coconut palm is important on both large plantations and small plots, where its nut, leaves, and trunk are all put to use. In some areas where water is scarce, coconut milk is an important beverage. Clothing is typically lightweight. In Fiji, for example, native peoples wear a traditional sulu, an all-purpose garment worn by men and women that to Westerners resembles a skirt. Houses on the islands are typically constructed from concrete blocks or thatch.

A.

People and Culture of Melanesia

Although there are several distinct types of native peoples in Melanesia, virtually all are dark-skinned (the prefix mela means dark or black) and have tightly curled hair. The original inhabitants of New Guinea migrated to the island more than 30,000 years ago. Their descendants are few in number and survive only in the remote, mountainous interior. A second group, Papuans, are the predominant population of New Guinea. A third group, Melanesians, are found principally along the northern coast of New Guinea and throughout the other islands of Melanesia. All three groups are thought to be descended from Australoid peoples who populated Australia and parts of Southeast Asia, although there has been considerable and varied mixture with other groups over time. An exception to the dominance of black-skinned Melanesians is in Fiji, where many of the native peoples of Fiji’s easternmost islands resemble taller, lighter-skinned Polynesians. Also, many Fijians are of Indian ancestry, descendants of Indians imported on British ships between 1879 and 1916 to work on sugar plantations. Most Melanesians are subsistence farmers, and their societies are basically patrilineal—that is, descent is traced through the male line. Melanesian art includes pottery and, in Fiji, tapa cloth, which is made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree.

Indigenous Melanesian religious beliefs are based on spirit worship. While most Melanesians and Papuans have been converted to Christianity, many continue to also practice elements of traditional faiths. More than 90 percent of Papua New Guinea’s population is at least nominally Christian, including Catholics, Lutherans, and Baptists. The vast majority of ethnic Fijians are also Christians, most commonly Methodists, and the majority of New Caledonians are Roman Catholics. Newer immigrants to Melanesia, such as the Indo-Fijians of Fiji, tend to maintain the religion of the their homeland, in this case Hinduism or Islam.

Since the late 19th century semireligious movements called cargo cults have existed among native populations who have had only limited contact with Western civilization. The central belief in these cults is that modern manufactured goods, which the natives call “cargo,” were sent from the spirit world of their ancestors but were kept from them by white people. At some future time, a great shipment of cargo is supposed to arrive for their use. The islands where cargo cults still have some influence are typically those most affected by World War II (1939-1945), such as Papua New Guinea. Vanuatu is also known for its cargo cults.

B.

People and Culture of Micronesia

The islands of eastern Micronesia are inhabited by people with marked Polynesian, or Mongoloid, characteristics such as lighter skin and dark hair that is straight or wavy but not curled. In the westernmost islands, however, tan-skinned Malays and dark-skinned Melanesians are found.

Reflecting their emphasis on fishing and interisland trade by sea, Micronesians generally live in coastal villages that seldom have more than a few hundred people. Typical dwellings are thatched, single-room houses with separate cooking huts. Except in Kiribati, Micronesian families are mostly matrilineal—that is, descent is traced through the mother’s family. In all areas families tend to be close-knit, and obligations between family members are strong. In most of Micronesia, prestige is measured by wealth.

In precolonial times, religion in Micronesia was pantheistic (consisting of many gods). Gods were believed to control weather, health, and other conditions, and chiefs were believed to be descended from the gods. European and American missionaries have since converted most Micronesians to Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism. Micronesian art includes shell ornaments, floor mats, tattoos, and woodcraft.

C.

People and Culture of Polynesia

Of Melanesians, Micronesians, and Polynesians, Polynesians are the most homogeneous in culture, language, and physical appearance. Polynesians, whose features are Mongoloid, are of tall stature and are generally lighter-skinned than Micronesians or Melanesians. Their hair is dark and either straight or wavy but not curled. Although the ancestors of present-day Polynesians had no metals, they were able to develop an advanced civilization by using materials available to them. For example, Polynesians put the coconut palm to a variety of uses: they made matting and roof thatch from the leaves of the palm, baskets from the fibrous material covering the coconuts, household containers and other utensils from the shells, and various foods and beverages out of the meat and liquid. Precolonial Polynesians also devised a variety of fishing implements, including snares, traps, nets, harpoons, and special hooks that do not snag on the jagged reefs. Polynesians were responsible for giant stone statues on Easter Island and for polished, exquisitely carved war clubs. People who were expert at craftsmanship often handed down their skills through their families and so today craft items remain an important industry, especially for the tourist trade. Tapa, a kind of tree bark made into cloth, is typical of such crafts. Other art forms include ceremonial dancing and singing, which is practiced throughout Polynesia and the rest of the Pacific Islands.

In precolonial times, Polynesians worshiped many gods, each of whom represented some aspect of their environment. Polynesians often believed their founding ancestors were gods, and Polynesians had altars and houses for them as well as places of worship for their ancestors. Offerings to the gods sometimes included human sacrifices. Valuable tools or strong chiefs or warriors were sometimes thought to possess mana, a force that gave an object or person excellence. Like most other Pacific Islanders, Polynesians today are mostly Christians. The majority are Protestants of various groups, but there is a large minority who are Roman Catholic. French Polynesia is typical: 55 percent of its population is Protestant, with the largest number belonging to the Protestant Evangelical Church, while 36 percent are Catholic.

D.

Outside Influences

Pacific Islanders have adopted many elements of Western lifestyles, including styles of dress and jobs such as store clerk, factory worker, miner, or plantation laborer. Typically, Western influences are greatest in larger cities, and members of many native groups, such as New Zealand’s Maori or the Papuans of Papua New Guinea, either have regular contact with large cities or have moved there altogether. A few rural, isolated places remain where Western influences are minor. Examples include the interior of large islands such as New Guinea and Fiji’s Viti Levu, and tiny, remote islands. In most nations, tension is common between the richer, Western-influenced cities at the nation’s core (usually the capital) and the poorer, more traditional rural areas at the nation’s periphery. In recent years, rural residents, especially those in coastal villages, have been influenced by a growing number of Western and Japanese tourists. Other Western effects include improved programs in health and education, the introduction of new agricultural and fishing techniques, and better transportation and telecommunications.

V.

Economic Activities

The economies of New Zealand and Hawaii are not discussed in this section. For information on those economies, see the articles on New Zealand and Hawaii.

The economies of Pacific Island nations are still largely dependent on the primary sector—that is, on agriculture, fishing, and mining—and industrial activity is minimal. Most Pacific Islanders are subsistence farmers and fishers. On some of the larger islands, plantation agriculture, mining, and forestry are also important commercial activities. Tourism and cash remittances from the many citizens who live abroad are also increasingly important sources of foreign revenue. Indeed in some places, such as Niue and Tonga, more citizens live abroad than reside at home. Some of the smallest political units of Oceania, including Niue, Tokelau, and the Cook Islands, earn significant sums of foreign income by selling postage stamps to collectors worldwide.

A.

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing

Most Pacific Islanders grow crops that they use themselves. Farmers on the high islands, where soil is generally richer and rainfall heavier, are able to grow bananas, breadfruit, and root crops such as sweet potatoes, yams, cassava, and taro. During the colonial period, plantation agriculture and commercial crops were introduced to the high islands, especially the larger continental islands. Coffee plantations are important in New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea; sugarcane is Fiji’s principal export crop; vanilla is raised for export on Tahiti; and cacao, the source of chocolate, is important in Melanesia. Ginger, oil palm, and rubber were also introduced during the colonial period and continue to be of local significance on a few islands.

The most common crop of low islands is coconut. Coconut plantations are a widespread source of copra, or dried coconut meat, which is sometimes the major export of such islands. Low-lying Vanuatu and Kiribati, for example, rely heavily on copra exports.

Extensive rain forests, and thus timber, are found only on the larger high islands. The majority of New Guinea is covered in either mangrove, rain forest, or alpine vegetation, and sawn timber from the rain forests accounts for about 5 percent of Papua New Guinea’s export revenues. Forest products are also important exports of Solomon Islands and Fiji.

Fishing is an important source of food for almost all Pacific Islanders living near coastal waters. It is also a major export earner for some economies, such as Solomon Islands. Other products from the sea such as pearls are important in some areas, as in French Polynesia, where cultured pearls provide export revenues. Occasionally the nations of the Pacific Islands have had fishing disputes with larger nations such as the United States and Japan. In 1986 a treaty signed between the United States and the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency ended a long-running dispute over the size of U.S. fish catches in the Pacific.

B.

Mining and Manufacturing

Minerals are a valuable source of income on some Pacific Islands. Kiribati’s Banaba (Ocean Island) and Nauru have been major sources of phosphate rock. However, phosphate has been exhausted on Banaba and is nearly gone on Nauru. New Caledonia has rich deposits of nickel, chromite, and iron ores. Fiji and New Guinea mine gold. One of the world’s largest copper deposits and considerable reserves of oil and natural gas are found on New Guinea. The Pacific seabed has also begun to be exploited for its vast mineral resources. Large reserves of petroleum lie in the continental shelves along the Pacific Rim. On patches of the ocean floor lie fields of “manganese nodules,” potato-sized nuggets of iron and manganese oxides that sometimes also contain copper, cobalt, and nickel. Programs are under way to examine the feasibility of mining these deposits.

In most of the Pacific Islands, manufacturing is limited to handicrafts and food processing. However, some of the more developed economies, such as Fiji’s, have also established export-oriented industries, including textiles and garments.

The contribution of mining and manufacturing to the earnings and employment of the Pacific Islands varies but is generally small, especially compared with agriculture. In Papua New Guinea, for example, industrial employment (including mining, manufacturing, construction, and utilities) accounted for 4 percent of jobs in 2000 although the industrial sector made up 45 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007. Manufacturing, construction, and power in Fiji accounted for 34 percent of total employment in 1998 and 25percent of GDP in 2007. A few of the islands are extremely dependent on a single commodity. One example is Nauru, whose only significant export is phosphate rock, derived from rich deposits of guano.

C.

Trade

Pacific Island countries receive imports from and deliver exports to their former and current colonial powers—which include the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, and France—as well as Canada, and increasingly, Japan. In the early 1990s the three leading markets for Papua New Guinea’s exports were Japan and two former colonizers, Australia and Germany. Papua New Guinea received most of its imports from Australia, Japan, the United States, and Singapore. Most countries in the region export primary commodities such as crops and minerals and import manufactured goods and mineral fuels. The vast majority of Pacific Island nations experience a trade deficit. In the mid-1990s, for example, the cost of Fiji’s imports was about 1.5 times the earnings from its exports; Tonga’s imports were nearly 5 times its exports; and Vanuatu’s imports were more than 4 times its exports. Papua New Guinea was a rare exception, with mining-led exports far outpacing imports.

In 1981 several nations of the South Pacific signed the South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement (SPARTECA) with Australia and New Zealand. In the hope of addressing the huge trade imbalances of the Pacific Islands, SPARTECA was designed to ease restrictions in Australia and New Zealand on imports from the islands.

D.

Tourism

Tourism has become one of the major income earners and employers of local workers in the Pacific. Fiji attracts more tourists than any other Pacific Island nation, with 540,000 visitors in 2007. In 1989 tourism surpassed sugar as Fiji’s prime source of foreign income. French Polynesia was the second most popular tourist destination. In 2007 it had 218,000 visitors, the majority of whom stayed on Tahiti. As with trade goods, tourists come to the Pacific Islands from former colonial powers and nearby larger countries. Thus many travelers from Japan, the United States, Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand vacation in the Pacific Islands. Recently, Japan has become the largest single source of visitors, especially to the island nations in Micronesia closest to Japan.

Most tourist facilities are owned by foreigners, however, and much of the profit from tourism leaves the Pacific. Furthermore, many of the products used for tourism (such as food, drinks, and hotel furnishings) are often imported and further drain already poor economies. Although tourism is an important source of employment, jobs are often seasonal, and typically only low-skill jobs are open to islanders. Another problem related to tourist activities is environmental degradation, especially of coral reefs and rain forests. Many once-pristine coastal areas have been taken over by buildings and other developments.

E.

Transportation and Communications

Most of the fragmented nations such as Fiji and Solomon Islands have well-developed shipping networks that carry cargo and passengers between the hundreds of inhabited islands and atolls. Many of the smaller islands can be reached only by ferries, copra boats, or other interisland cargo vessels. In most of the countries of Oceania, the major seaport and airport are located at the capital, which is usually the largest city. Examples of this type of capital include Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Papeete, French Polynesia; Pago Pago (which boasts one of the world’s finest natural harbors), American Samoa; Apia, Samoa; Honiara, Solomon Islands; Port Vila, Vanuatu; and Nouméa, New Caledonia. Among the larger island nations, only Fiji has its major airport and its seaport in different cities: the international airport is at Nadi, and the major seaport is at Suva, the capital and largest city. More than 800 ships call at Suva’s port each year, including many passenger liners and cruise ships catering to Fiji’s tourist industry.

Most Pacific Island nations are well served by satellite technology, and their access to telephone, television, and radio services is adequate to good.

F.

Energy

With the exception of Papua New Guinea, Pacific Island nations do not produce any oil or natural gas. Most fuels must be imported. Some islands could produce their own hydroelectricity by building dams, but so far only Fiji and Papua New Guinea have done so. In rural households, wood from forests is an important source of energy. Annual per capita energy (electricity) consumption is quite low in the Pacific Islands: 259 kilowatt hours per person in Papua New Guinea, 599 in Samoa, 1,240 in the Cook Islands, 859 in Fiji, 1,752 in French Polynesia, and only 107 in Solomon Islands. These figures compare with consumption rates in 2003 of 12,574 kilowatt hours per person in the United States and 9,545 in New Zealand.

VI.

Government

The Pacific Islands include ten independent nations (Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Samoa); three political units that are incorporated parts of larger nations (Hawaii is a state of the United States, Papua is a province of Indonesia, and Easter Island is part of Chile); six self-governing entities that maintain some association with their former colonial power (Cook Islands and Niue with New Zealand; the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, and Northern Mariana Islands with the United States); and seven entities either fully or partly administered by other nations. Since the early part of the 21st century, French Polynesia and New Caledonia have been designated overseas countries that largely run their own domestic affairs while foreign policy, defense, and the judiciary are administered by France. During the same period, Wallis and Futuna became an overseas collective of France. Tokelau is administered by New Zealand, Pitcairn Island is administered by Britain, and American Samoa and Guam are administered by the United States.

The governments of the Pacific Islands vary widely. Generally, however, the independent nations have replaced hereditary chiefs of the past with constitutions providing for executives and legislatures. One exception to this type of government is in Tonga, where politics are effectively controlled by a hereditary king, who serves as head of state and appoints the head of government.

Among the nations that have entered compacts of free association with the United States or New Zealand, the pattern is for local self-government with matters of defense overseen by the foreign power. The Marshall Islands, for example, operate under a locally written constitution providing for a popularly elected president and legislature. In 1983, voters chose to assign military matters to the United States. Since 1991 the Marshall Islands has been a member of the United Nations. The Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, which also maintain a compact of free association with the United States, are members of the United Nations as well.

Among the territories of overseas powers, internal self-government is also the rule, with popularly elected legislatures and executives. A small number of popularly elected representatives are also sent to national legislature in the overseas capital. For example, Guam sends one nonvoting member to the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., while French Polynesia sends one voting member to each house of the French National Assembly in Paris. The territories are typically extremely dependent on the mainland government for economic subsidies, and they often have little control over major political decisions. For example, despite widespread protests by French Polynesians, France continued to detonate nuclear bombs on uninhabited atolls in French Polynesia until 1996.

VII.

History

A.

Origins of the Pacific People

The Pacific Islands were first settled by migrants from Southeast Asia. Although researchers do not know exactly when these migrations began, it is clear they took place sometime in the last ice age, during the Pleistocene Epoch (which ended 10,000 years ago). During the ice age, ocean levels were much lower than they are now, exposing the Sunda Shelf and the Sahul Shelf—continental shelves, or extensions of continents that lie only a few hundred meters beneath the surface of the ocean. The Sunda Shelf is an extension of the coastal shelf of Southeast Asia and includes many of the islands of western Indonesia, such as Java and Sumatra. The Sahul Shelf is an extension of the coastal shelf of Australia and includes New Guinea and the Aru Islands of Indonesia. When the Sunda and Sahul shelves were exposed, New Guinea was attached to Australia and to Indonesia’s easternmost islands by a land bridge, although it was separated from Indonesia’s central islands by water. Dark-skinned peoples, ancestors to the Australoids, sailed in early boats to New Guinea and other islands of Melanesia. Tests using radiocarbon dating on sites in the Bismarck Archipelago, near Papua New Guinea, show this group reached the area at least 30,000 years ago.

The next wave of migrants, Asian people who spoke a Malayo-Polynesian language, populated New Guinea and gradually spread to the southeast by means of oceangoing sailing canoes. They reached the islands of Fiji about 3,500 years ago. The settlers brought with them their own pottery-making style, pigs, and techniques for growing fruits and vegetables. Beginning perhaps 5,000 years ago another wave of migrants, taller and lighter skinned, journeyed eastward from Indonesia and the Philippines to the islands of Micronesia.

The last of the Pacific Islands to be settled were Polynesia. The Polynesians, with their Asian characteristics, almost certainly originated from Southeast Asia. (Some anthropologists have contended that early Polynesians may have arrived from the Americas. However, most scholars disagree, citing linguistic and agricultural similarities with Southeast Asia.) The Polynesian voyagers covered vast areas of the Pacific, using the stars as guides. They completed the settlement of Oceania with the discovery of Hawaii sometime between the 7th and 13th centuries ad, probably having departed from somewhere in the Marquesas and Society Islands. Because nearly all groups who populated the Pacific Islands passed through Melanesia, that area has experienced the greatest intermixing of peoples.

B.

European Exploration and Colonial Rule

The first European to see the Pacific was Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, who crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513. Seven years later Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, sailing under the flag of Spain, rounded the southern tip of South America and thus became the first European to sail on the Pacific. He eventually reached the islands of Tuamotu and Guam. Other European explorers, including Dutch sailors Jakob Le Maire and Abel Janszoon Tasman, traveled through the Pacific in search of commerce beginning in the 17th century. Although all of these journeys advanced knowledge of the Pacific, it was English navigator Captain James Cook who did the most to open Oceania to Europe. Cook made three prolonged voyages to the region in the late 18th century, producing detailed maps and studies of plants and animals. Among many firsts, Cook was the first Westerner, in 1778, to reach the Sandwich Islands, later named the Hawaiian Islands.

Westerners brought both tragedy and innovation to the Pacific Islanders. Western diseases such as smallpox, tuberculosis, and measles devastated populations in Oceania, particularly in Polynesia. In some areas whole islands were nearly depopulated. Diseases did not finish running their course until the beginning of the 20th century. During the 19th century, France, Britain, Germany, and the United States annexed most of the islands of the Pacific that had not been previously claimed by colonial powers. Colonization brought great increases in trade, whaling, and missionary activity—and with them, tensions between Westerners and native peoples. In 1834 Fijians killed the entire crew of an American merchant ship, the Charles Dogett. Eventually, however, Westerners subdued the islanders. Many chiefs were converted to Christianity, and Western forms of government slowly replaced traditional forms, bringing great cultural changes. Again, Fiji was typical. In 1854 Cakobau, one of Fiji’s most powerful chiefs, converted to Christianity, bringing to an end Fiji’s centuries-old practice of cannibalism. Amid disorder and scattered uprisings, Europeans placed Cakobau in charge of a newly created national government, but when the disorder continued Cakobau requested Britain to annex the islands. By the 1870s Fiji was Britain’s headquarters in the Pacific.

Another negative impact of Westerners was a 19th-century practice called blackbirding. Natives, nicknamed blackbirds, were recruited or often kidnapped outright to work as laborers in Australia and South America. There, they were subjected to horrible working conditions often little better than slavery. The islands of Melanesia, especially the Solomons and Vanuatu, lost many inhabitants as a result of blackbirding.

C.

World Wars and Nuclear Testing

During World War I (1914-1918) Japan gained control of Germany’s possessions in Micronesia, and after the war the League of Nations divided the former German possessions among Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. During World War II (1939-1945) Japan turned the Pacific Islands into a battleground as it sought to expand its empire. On December 7, 1941, Japan opened the Pacific phase of the war by bombing Pearl Harbor, a large U.S. naval base in Hawaii. With the navy of its largest Pacific rival in ruins, Japan swept across the Pacific in late 1941 and early 1942. By mid-1942, the peak of the Japanese advance, nearly all of the Pacific north of Australia and west of the international date line was under Japanese control. Allied forces fought bloody battles to regain the islands, including desperate struggles in the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Battle of Midway, and the Battle of Kokoda Trail.

After the war, several of the world’s nuclear powers, motivated by the perceived emptiness of the Pacific, saw Oceania as a place to test their newly developed bombs. Oceania’s first atomic bomb test took place in 1946 under U.S. direction on Micronesia’s Bikini Atoll. Eight years later the United States tested the first hydrogen bomb on the nearby Enewetak Atoll. The United States discontinued its testing at these sites by the late 1950s, but as recently as 1996 France used atolls in French Polynesia to test nuclear devices. Resettlement of Bikini and Enewetak atolls began in the 1970s. In an attempt to halt nuclear testing in 1985, most Pacific Island nations, including Australia and New Zealand, signed the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty (SPNFZ). The SPNFZ imposed a ban on the testing, manufacture, storage, or dumping of nuclear materials in the region. Several Western powers, however, have used the islands in recent years to dump hazardous wastes, including chemical weapons.

D.

Recent Developments

Since the 1990s environmental issues have been a major cause of concern for island inhabitants. These issues include global warming; loss of ocean resources such as fisheries and coral reefs; continuation of nuclear testing and its aftermath; loss of forest cover, mangroves, and other natural vegetation and fauna; and natural hazards, especially destructive tropical storms.

The predicted global warming caused by the abundance of greenhouse gases is a great concern for Oceania. If Earth’s temperatures should rise even slightly, ice at high latitudes could melt and cause sea levels to rise around the world. If this happened, all islands would lose some measure of shoreline, and low islands, especially atolls, could disappear altogether. Several nations in the Pacific region have held international conferences to address the issue. Australia in particular has provided resources for monitoring and scientific study of regional climatic change and global warming.

A related environmental problem is the decreasing level of protective ozone in Earth’s atmosphere. The drop in ozone, believed to be associated with a “hole,” or thinning, in the ozone layer over Antarctica, means more of the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays reach Earth’s surface. For the countries lying within the tropics and other parts of the globe, this is often a cause of great concern. The government of New Zealand, for example, issues frequent burn warnings, instructing its citizens that it is dangerous to remain in the sun for more than 15 minutes during the heat of summer. New Zealand has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.

Fisheries throughout the Pacific have been depleted by many causes, the largest of which is overfishing by huge fishing fleets from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. Such nations have often ignored maritime boundaries and taken ocean resources claimed by the small nations of Oceania. Many nations also use indiscriminate fishing tools that kill large numbers of other animals. Drift nets, for example, can measure several kilometers long, and catch not just tuna but marine mammals such as dolphins. The fragile coral reefs that abound in the South Pacific are another marine resource increasingly threatened: tourists and tour guides often approach the reefs too closely, and pollutants such as fertilizer chemicals create runoff that damages reefs. Global warming is also a threat to coral reefs as warmer waters can cause a stress response known as coral bleaching.