The Pacific World,

Australia and New

Zealand.
 HELLO!
I am Mark Louie Panolino
I am here because I love to report.
Hope you’ll listen!

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THE PACIFIC
WORLD

Panolino and Bandic

 “
“Let us swim to the biggest
swimming pool of our home”.
-ML Panolino

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 Pacific World (Characteristics)
➢ The vast realm of the Pacific Islands is often called
Oceania and includes approximately 30,000 islands.
➢ The islands comprise a mere 376,000 square miles,
but they are spread throughout the largest ocean, the
Pacific.

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 Three types of Islands found in the Pacific World

➢ 1.) HIGH ISLANDS / VOLCANIC ISLANDS

￫ - These islands are the peaks of mountains rise
from the sea floor. These high islands have coral
platforms, or fringing reefs, attached to their
shores.

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➢ 2.) Low Islands / Atolls
￫ - Atolls are coral barrier reefs that continued to
build after the volcanic peak that they once
surrounded sank beneath the sea leaving a circle
of a low lying coral reefs surrounding an empty
lagoon.

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➢ 3. Continental Islands.

￫ - were connected to continents in past (New

Guinea, Australia, main islands of Fiji).

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BIG
CONCEPT
GEOGRAPHICAL MAPS FEATURING VARIOUS
GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS

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 THREE MAJOR REGIONS IN THE PACIFIC WORLD
➢ MICRONESIA ➢ MELANESIA ➢ POLYNESIA
➢ - It’s on the north of ➢ - located in the ➢ Located in the east of
Melanesia and east of southwest Pacific, Melanesia and
the Philippines. north and east of Micronesia and the
➢ It includes 2,000 or Australia and New heart of the Pacific
more tiny islands Zealan. Ocean.
strewn across an ➢ It has more land ➢ Boundaries are form
expanse of ocean as areas and more a huge triangle
large as the United people than either extending from New
States Micronesia and Zealand to Hawaii to
Polynesia. Chile’s Easter Island.
➢

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 MICRONESIA
- It includes the islands of Guam, The area consists of more than
Kiribati, Nauru, the Marshall and 2000 islands, many no larger
Northern Mariana Islands, Palau than 1 square mile in size.
and the Federated States of
Micronesia.
Guam is the largest island at 210
- The region's name derives from
square miles in size and no
micro, which means small,
referring to the small islands that island are over 3300 feet above
dominate here. sea level.

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- The population of
Micronesia is about
650,000, not nearly as
populous as Melanesia.
- The Micronesians,
especially the low-islanders,
are excellent seafarers. The
trade for food and other
basic needs encourages
circulation among the
islanders.
MICRONESIA
Until 1986 the region was
largely a U.S. Trust
Territory. Today, all but
Guam and the Marianas
Islands are independent of
any official foreign
control.
Guam holds the strongest
ties with the United States
as a U.S. territory.
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In effect, the United States
provided billions of dollars
in assistance to these
countries in exchange for a
commitment from the
islands to avoid foreign
policy actions that are
contrary to U.S. interests.
There are generally other
costs of independence as
well.
COUNTRIES/ISLAND
GROUPS IN MICRONESIA

- Federated States of Micronesia

- Kiribati
- Marshall Islands
- Nauru
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Palau

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Life for the Micronesians is a daily challenge.

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 MELANESIA

- The name is derived from the word melanin, which is the pigment in the skin
and refers to the dark skin and hair of the native Papuan-speaking people that
dominate this area.

- The Melanesian islands are the most populous of the Pacific island regions
with a total population of approximately 6.4 million, 4.8 million of which live on
Papua New Guinea.

- Subsistence farming has long since been a way of life for the people of
Melanesia. Except for Papua New Guinea, which has copper, gold and oil, and
New Caledonia, with nickel, most islands still rely on coconut and copra for
their export income.

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 MELANESIA

- The names of islands in Melanesia can be confusing: they have both

indigenous and European names. Examples of European names are,
Amphlett Islands, d’Entrecastreaux Islands in Papua New Guinea and
Schoutten Islands. For indigenous means are; Raja Ampat, Aru Islands and
Rotuma.

- A distinction is often made between the island of New Guinea and what is
known as Island Melanesia, which consists of “the chain of archipelagos,
islands, atolls, and reefs forming the outer bounds of the sheltered.

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 LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND INFLUENCES
Papua New Guinea became a sovereign state in 1975 after almost a century of rule by
the British and Australians. In Papua New Guinea, English is the official language and is
spoken by an educated minority, but there are over 700 languages spoken throughout.

The majority of the people of this region are Papuans, and the rest are mostly
Melanesians. East of New Guinea lies the Solomon Islands that also shows the diversity of
the region as its people speak about 120 languages. Vanuatu neighbors the Solomon Islands
and has fewer languages, but has 80 islands.

The French colony of New Caledonia is heavily subsidized and has above average
income. Almost half of the people of New Caledonia are Melanesian with a remaining third
being of French descent.
On the eastern margin of Melanesia lies Fiji. Half the Fijians are Melanesian, the other
half is mostly comprised of South Asians from India that were brought by the British during
colonial times to work on the sugar plantations.

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COUNTRIES/ISLAND
GROUPS IN MELANESIA

➢ Papua New Guinea

➢ Solomon Islands
➢ Vanuatu
➢ New Caledonia
➢ Fiji

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 POLYNESIA

Polynesia is east of Micronesia and Melanesia and lies in a triangle formed by Hawaii,
Pitcairn and New Zealand. The name Polynesia is derived from the word poly, which
means many, and it is the largest of the 3 subregions of the Pacific Islands. The water
area of Polynesia is about 15,000,000 square miles, while the land area of Polynesia
is only 114,000 square miles.

The population of Polynesia is only 1.9 million people. Hawaii has the largest
population of any Polynesian island group with 1.2 million people. Polynesians have
lighter-colored skin and wavier hair than other peoples of the Pacific region, and are
known for their beautiful physiques.

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 POLYNESIA

➢ Polynesians are well adapted to their maritime

environment. Long before the Europeans arrived, the
Polynesians were navigating their wide expanses of
water using huge double canoes, following maps
constructed from bamboo sticks and cowries shells,
and navigating by the stars.

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COUNTRIES/ISLAND
GROUPS IN POLYNESIA
➢ Hawaii
➢ Tuvalu
➢ Wallis & Futuna
➢ Tokleau Islands
➢ Western Samoa
➢ American Samoa
➢ Niue
➢ Cook Islands
➢ Pitcairn
➢ Tonga
➢ French Polynesia

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 Foreign Influences in Polynesia
➢ The islands of Hawaii became the 50th state of the
United States in 1959.
➢ Tonga became an independent country in 1970 after
70 years of British association.
➢ The Ellice Islands (renamed Tuvalu) received
independence from Britain in 1978, but exist in free-
association with Britain to this day.

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 Foreign Influences in Polynesia
➢ French Polynesia and Wallis & Futuna continue under
French control, and New Zealand still controls the
Tokelau Islands. Pitcairn is a British territory.
➢ The Polynesian islands are best known by Westerners
who associate romance and tropical beauty with the
region, especially with Hawaii and Tahiti. Those two
island groups receive the greatest number of tourists.

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Overall, in the process of politico-geographical fragmentation, Polynesia has suffered
some severe blows. The region has lost much of its ancient culture and consistency.
Today, the region is a patchwork of the new and the old, and the two are not
harmonious. Often the new is bleak and barren and the old intensifies pressure on the
people to try to regain some remnant of who they used to be.

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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FACED IN THE PACIFIC WORLD

➢ Sensitive Ecology: isolation caused evolution of

thousands of unique, but fragile species
➢ Invasive Species: introduced species (cats,
mongooses, dogs, snakes, rats) devastating local
critters
➢ Mining and Atomic Testing
➢ U.S., French, and Australian Military Bases – Nuclear
Warships

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Nauru – devastated 35
by phosphate mining
Hawaiian Birds – devastated by
introduced species and habitat loss
Of Hawaii's 88 historic and prehistoric land bird
species, 68 percent or 60 species are now extinct.

Po’ ouli Bird

1973 - discovered
1974 - added to Endangered Species List
December,2004 - last one dies in captivity

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Bikini Atoll – U.S. Atomic Bomb Test, 1956
MAPS

THE
PACIFIC
WORLD

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