Polynesia vs Oceania vs South Pacific
March 15, 2022
In researching tiki, I realized that these terms are often used interchangeably and I wanted to know the difference.
Oceania: The largest region of Pacific islands including Australia: Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, extends all the way to Hawaii. When I visited the Bishop Museum in Honolulu they had great displays on the history of migration of peoples from Asia through to all of these regions. Link
By Central Intelligence Agency - https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/refmaps.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32005852
Polynesia: Subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. New Zealand is in the region too. Link
By User:Kahuroa - Outline: File:World2Hires filled mercator.svg; Map information based on Vaka Moana: Voyages of the Ancestors - the discovery and settlement of the Pacific, ed K.R. Howe, 2008, p57., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61904861
South Pacific: Just the Pacific Ocean islands in the Southern Hemisphere
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