Knowra Pacific Islands Pacific Islands Thousands of islands and island groups distributed across the central and western Pacific. Their peoples and environments reflect varied histories of settlement, exchange, and colonial rule.
Oceania : A broad geographic region encompassing Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of the Pacific. This wider regional frame includes the Pacific Islands and neighboring continental lands.
Austronesian expansion : The prehistoric movement of Austronesian-speaking peoples from Taiwan through Island Southeast Asia and across the Pacific. It provides the broad migration history behind settlement across many Pacific islands.
Epeli Hauʻofa : A Tongan-Fijian writer and anthropologist whose work recast Pacific Islanders as connected across an expansive ocean. His idea of a “sea of islands” challenges portrayals of the region as isolated and small.
Nuclear testing in the Pacific : Nuclear weapons tests conducted by several powers at Pacific sites during the twentieth century. Testing caused lasting health, environmental, and political consequences for affected island communities.
High island : An island rising substantially above sea level, often formed by volcanic activity or tectonic uplift. High islands contrast with low coral atolls in elevation, soils, and water resources.
Melanesia : A Pacific region extending from New Guinea through island groups such as Fiji and New Caledonia. Its western island arc is one of the Pacific's major cultural and geographic regions.
Lapita culture : An archaeological culture of early Pacific settlers known for distinctive pottery, present from about 1600 to 500 BCE. Lapita sites trace early settlement into the remote southwest Pacific.
Queen Liliʻuokalani : The last reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, deposed in 1893 during the overthrow of its government. Her reign and removal illuminate Hawaiʻi's transformation under U.S. expansion.
Decolonization of Oceania : The process by which Pacific territories ended colonial rule or pursued self-government and independence. It transformed the region's political map without resolving every question of sovereignty.
Low island : A low-lying island, commonly composed of coral debris or reef sediments. Low islands face different constraints and hazards from mountainous volcanic islands.
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