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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Melanesia (from Greek: μέλας black, νῆσος island) is a region extending from the western side of East Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia.

The term was first used by Jules Dumont d'Urville in 1832 to denote an ethnic and geographical grouping of islands distinct from Polynesia and Micronesia. Today d'Urville's racial classification is known to be inaccurate because it obscures Melanesia's cultural, linguistic, and genetic diversity. Most importantly, this term combines two quite distinct groups, the Austronesians and the Papuans.