Oceania
This region is a vast area of the Pacific containing thousands of islands, islets, and reefs
nearly at sea level. Most of the islands are in the southwest Pacific, leaving much of the region empty ocean.
Like Austalia and New Zealand, the first inhabitants here came from Asia via land bridges and short traverses of water bodies
during the Ice Age.
The region is commonly divided into 3 areas based on different people and different ways of living.
Melanesia -- includes the islands north and northeast Australia from
New Guinea to New Caledonia.
Micronesia -- includes islands north of the equator and west of 180 longitude.
Polynesia -- makes up the remainder of the islands of the Pacific
from to New Zealand.
At one time this region was considered a Paradise -- and it came very close to being that until Europeans
and a World War came along. Those events changed everything for the indigenous population. Until those times,
the people lived in isolation and self-sufficiency.
The vast expanse of ocean is the dominant factor here -- keeping temperatures moderate even though
parts of the region are in the tropics.
Trade winds blow from the east on both sides of the equator and collide causing heavy rainfall over
most of the region. Typhoons are a threat in the late summer and fall. Typhoons are more common north of the equator,
cross Micronesia to the Philippines, and sometimes on the the coast of Asia.
The islands of the Pacific are of Continental, Volcanic, and Coral origin.
Continental Islands -- these are actually the tops of submerged mountain
ranges formed along plate boundaries.
Volcanic Islands -- these too are near plate boundaries where
subducted
rock melts and returns to the surface
as a volcano and may form an island.
Coral Islands -- these
islands are built by lime-secreting polyps just
below sea level on the flanks of small
volcanoes. Often,
the volcano erodes away
leaving a ring-shaped island called an atoll.
Melanesia was discovered by the Europeans and soon became the site of agriculture in non-traditional
ways. Europeans introduced commercial farming, and plantations of sugarcane and copra were created to supply the European
market. Some mining of metal ore mineals does occur. Copper is found on Bougainville island, nickel in New Caledonia,
and gold and oil in Papua New Guinea.
Micronesia consists largely of coral atolls -- very low, and some barely above sea level.
This is the realm of the outrigger canoe people used to go from island to island looking for food. Fish and coconuts
are the mainstay of the people living here. Today, copra is the major export. Phosphate rock has been an important
export of Nauru.
Polynesia occupies the eastern part of the region. People here are very similar in language
and culture. Sugarcane plantations occupy some of the larger islands.
