Pacific Islands

Pacific Islands leaders, all members of the Pacific Islands Forum, at a meeting in Samoa with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (center), 26 July 2008

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

Three of the major groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the Pacific Islands lying south of the Tropic of Cancer are collectively referred to as Oceania,[1] 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:

The islands of Oceania are classified into two groups, high islands and low islands. Volcanoes form high islands, which generally can support more people and have a more fertile soil. Low islands are reefs or atolls, and are relatively small and infertile. Melanesia, the most populous of the three regions, contains mainly high islands, while most of Micronesia and Polynesia are low islands.

Name ambiguity

In English, the umbrella term Pacific Islands generally refers to only those islands covered by the geopolitical concept of Oceania.[2][3][4] There are many other islands located within the boundaries of the Pacific Ocean that are not considered part of Oceania. These islands include the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador; the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, United States; Vancouver Island in Canada; the Russian islands of Sakhalin and Kuril Islands; the island nation of Taiwan and other islands of the Republic of China; the Philippines; islands in the South China Sea, which includes the disputed South China Sea Islands; most of the islands of Indonesia; and the island nation of Japan, which comprises the Japanese Archipelago.

List of islands

This is a list of many of the major Pacific islands, organized by archipelago or political unit. In order to keep this list of moderate size, links are given to more complete lists for countries with large numbers of small or uninhabited islands.

Note: many Polynesian languages have a glottal stop, which in most of them is seldom written, however. If a name with a < ʻ > cannot be found, try to rewrite it without it. See 'okina for more info.

Pacific islands by area (over 10,000 square kilometers)

This list includes all Islands found in the geographic Pacific Ocean, with an area larger than 10,000 square kilometers.

Name Area (km2) Country or Countries Population Notes
Australia 7,692,024 Australia 21,507,717 Island status disputed
New Guinea 785,753 Indonesia & Papua New Guinea 7,500,000
Honshu 227,960 Japan 103,000,000
Sulawesi 174,600 Indonesia 18,455,000
South Island 145,836 New Zealand 1,038,600
North Island 111,583 New Zealand 3,393,900
Luzon 109,965 Philippines 48,520,000
Mindanao 104,530 Philippines 25,281,000
Tasmania 90,758 Australia 514,700
Hokkaido 77,981 Japan 5,474,000
Sakhalin 72,493 Russia 580,000
Taiwan 35,883 Republic of China 23,000,000
Kyushu 35,640 Japan 13,231,000
Hainan 35,400 People's Republic of China 8,900,000
New Britain 35,145 Papua New Guinea 513,926
Vancouver Island 31,285 Canada 759,366
Shikoku 18,800 Japan 4,141,955
New Caledonia 16,648 France 208,709
Palawan 12,189 Philippines 430,000
Viti Levu 10,531 Fiji 600,000
Hawaii 10,434 United States of America 185,079

See also

Pacific islands by continent

Antarctica

Asia

Central America

North America

Oceania

South America

Islands of adjacent oceans

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Collins Atlas of the World, Page 83
  2. ↑ D'Arcy, Paul (March 2006). The People of the Sea: Environment, Identity, and History in Oceania. University Of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3297-1. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Rapaport, Moshe (April 2013). The Pacific Islands: Environment and Society, Revised Edition. University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-6584-9. Retrieved 14 December 2014. This is the only contemporary text on the Pacific Islands that covers both environment and sociocultural issues and will thus be indispensable for any serious student of the region. Unlike other reviews, it treats the entirety of Oceania (with the exception of Australia) and is well illustrated with numerous photos and maps, including a regional atlas. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
  4. ↑ Wright, John K. (July 1942). "Pacific Islands". Geographical Review 32 (3): 481–486. doi:10.2307/210391. Retrieved 14 December 2014. – via JSTOR (subscription required)

References