Polynesia
Sign in to savePolynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in common, including linguistic relations, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs.
AI overview
Polynesia is a vast region in the Pacific Ocean comprising over 1,000 islands spread across the central and southern waters, inhabited by indigenous people called Polynesians. These island communities share important connections through their languages, cultures, and traditional beliefs, which link them together as a distinct people despite their geographic separation.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Settlement.name
- Polynesia
- Settlement.image_map
- Map OC-Polynesia.PNG
- Settlement.map_caption
- Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the Polynesian Triangle.
- Settlement.subdivision_type
- Largest cities
- Settlement.population_total
- 765,884,6
- Settlement.population_demonym
- Polynesians
- Settlement.blank_name_sec1
- Other information
- Settlement.blank1_name_sec1
- Countries
- Settlement.blank2_name_sec1
- Dependencies
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
35 sectionsContents
- Geography
- Geology
- Geographical area
- Island groups
- Polynesian area
- Outliers
- Micronesia
- Sub-Antarctic islands
- Melanesia
- History{{anchor|History of the Polynesian people}}
- Origins and expansion
- Culture
- Political history
- Cook Islands
- Fiji
- Hawaii
- Kiribati
- Marquesas Islands
- New Zealand
- Niue
- Samoa
- Tahiti
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Links to the Americas
- Demographics
- Languages
- Economy
- Inter-Polynesian cooperation
- Navigation
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in common, including linguistic relations, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs.
The term was first used in 1756 by the French writer Charles de Brosses, who originally applied it to all the islands of the Pacific. In 1831, Jules Dumont d'Urville proposed a narrower definition during a lecture at the Société de Géographie of Paris. By tradition, the islands located in the southern Pacific have also often been called the South Sea Islands, and their inhabitants have been called South Sea Islanders. The Hawaiian Islands have often been considered to be part of the South Sea Islands because of their relative proximity to the southern Pacific islands, even though they are in fact located in the North Pacific. Another term in use, which avoids this inconsistency, is "the Polynesian Triangle" (from the shape created by the layout of the islands in the Pacific Ocean). This term makes clear that the grouping includes the Hawaiian Islands, which are located at the northern vertex of the referenced "triangle".