Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 3rd edition, currently in force, of the International Hydrographic Organization's (IHO) Limits of Oceans and Seas defines the limits of the South Pacific Ocean (excluding the seas it contains) as follows: [9] On the West. From Southeast Cape, the Southern point of Tasmania, down the meridian of 146°55'E to the Antarctic continent.
Map of the Samoan archipelago Topography of Samoa. South east coast of Savai'i island.. The Samoan archipelago is a chain of 16 islands and numerous seamounts covering 3,123 km 2 (1,206 sq mi) in the central South Pacific, south of the equator, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania.
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.
The South Pacific Gyre can be seen in the lack of oceanic currents off the west coast of South America. Map of ocean currents circa 1943 This photo demonstrates the dispersal of plastic fragments of various sizes Visualization of the flow pattern of ocean pollutants The South Pacific garbage patch is an area of ocean with increased levels of ...
Nauru – sovereign island nation located in the Micronesian South Pacific. [1] Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in the Republic of Kiribati , 300 kilometres (190 mi) due east. Nauru is the world's smallest island nation, covering just 21 square kilometres (8 sq mi), the smallest independent republic , and the only republican state in the ...
Tonga is a sovereign island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. [1] Tonga comprises the Tonga Archipelago of 169 islands, 36 of them inhabited, stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 mi) in a north–south line. The islands lie south of Samoa and are about one-third of the way from New Zealand to Hawaii.
'Misty Sun'; Māori: Wharekauri) is the largest island of the Chatham Islands group, in the south Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is said to be "halfway between the equator and the pole, and right on the International Date Line ", although that point is 173 miles [ clarification needed ] WSW of the island's ...