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The umbrella term Pacific Islands has taken on several meanings. [1] Sometimes it is used to refer only to the islands defined as lying within Oceania. [2] [3] [4] At other times, it is used to refer to the islands of the Pacific Ocean that were previously colonized by the British, French, Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch, or Japanese, or by the United States.
The Polynesian Triangle is a geographical region of the Pacific Ocean with Hawaii (Hawaiʻi) (1), New Zealand (Aotearoa) (2) and Easter Island (Rapa Nui) (3) at its corners, but excluding Fiji on its western side. At the center is Tahiti (5), with Samoa (4) to the west.
Maps exhibiting the world's oceanic waters. A continuous body of water encircling Earth, the World/Global Ocean is divided into a number of principal areas. Five oceanic divisions are usually recognized: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern/Antarctic; the last two listed are sometimes consolidated into the first three.
Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, most commonly refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. [1] [2] [3] The term South Sea may also be used synonymously for Oceania, or even more narrowly for Polynesia or the Polynesian Triangle, an area bounded by the Hawaiian Islands, New Zealand and Easter Island.
However, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) considers the entire Gilbert islands group to be in the South Pacific Ocean. [4] Another way to group the Gilbert Islands is according to their former administrative districts, which were known as the Northern, Central, and Southern Gilberts. (Tarawa was once a separate district as well).
Tonga Trench south of the Samoa Islands and north of New Zealand. The 2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami killed more than 170 people in the Samoa Islands and Tonga. The M8.1 submarine earthquake took place in the region at 06:48:11 local time on September 29, 2009 (17:48:11 UTC, September 29), followed by smaller aftershocks. [27]
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