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By tradition, the islands located in the southern Pacific have also often been called the South Sea Islands, [4] and their inhabitants have been called South Sea Islanders. The Hawaiian Islands have often been considered to be part of the South Sea Islands because of their relative proximity to the southern Pacific islands, even though they are ...
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.
Coral Sea Islands Coral Sea Islands Territory External territory of Australia: English: Coral Sea Islands — Coral Sea Islands Territory: Willis Island: Uninhabited: 3 km 2 (1 sq mi) Easter Island: Special territory of Chile: Spanish: Isla de Pascua Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui: Hanga Roa: 6,148 [34] 163.6 km 2 (63 sq mi) French Polynesia Overseas ...
In total, 50 island countries have been included in the lists. Australia is not included as it is considered a continental country, although it was historically referred to as an island country because of its lack of land borders. [3] Greenland is generally considered as the largest island on Earth and listed among the island territories.
Magellan called the ocean Pacífico (or "Pacific" meaning, "peaceful") because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century. [25] Magellan stopped at one uninhabited Pacific island before stopping at Guam in March ...
Palau, [a] officially the Republic of Palau, [b] [8] is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean.The republic consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands, while the eastern and central parts make up the Federated States of Micronesia.
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 Tasman Sea, and part of Zealandia then locked together with Australia to form the Australian Plate (40 Ma), and a new plate boundary was created between the Australian Plate and Pacific Plate. Most islands in the Pacific are high islands (volcanic islands), such as, Easter Island, American Samoa and Fiji, among others, having peaks up to ...