ISLAND FACTS

The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the Pacific Islands lying south of the Tropic of Cancer are collectively referred to as Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago. These islands are traditionally grouped into the three divisions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia:

Melanesia means black islands. These islands, south of the equator, include New Guinea (the largest Pacific island and second largest island in the world after Greenland, which is divided into the sovereign nation of Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian provinces of Maluku, Papua and West Papua), New Caledonia, Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait Islands), Vanuatu, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands.

Micronesia means small islands. These include the Northern Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia, although sometimes Nauru and Kiribati's Banaba island are listed separately from Micronesia. Most of these lie north of the equator.

Polynesia means many islands. These islands, mostly south of the equator, include New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, the Midway Islands, the Samoan Islands (divided between the Independent State of Samoa and American Samoa), Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna, Tokelau, Niue, French Polynesia, and Easter Island. It is the largest of the three zones.