Background to Pacific Issues PDF

I - Background to Pacific Issues Vanuatu = archipelago A- The Pacific’s geography Pacific Ocean = biggest geographical feature on earth nearly 1/3 of the planet Nearly half of the earth’s seawater (46%) Wider (=plus large) than moon/mars Top 5cm hold more water than the earth’s...

I - Background to Pacific Issues Vanuatu = archipelago A- The Pacific’s geography Pacific Ocean = biggest geographical feature on earth nearly 1/3 of the planet Nearly half of the earth’s seawater (46%) Wider (=plus large) than moon/mars Top 5cm hold more water than the earth’s atmosphere More living creatures than anywhere on earth 252 times the size of France (> 544 000km2) height = 15 000km Width = 19 000km (paris>NY = 18 5000km) 165,2 million km2 Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is in the Pacific Ocean but is not considered a Pacific Island because it is a territory of Chile, not an independent Pacific nation. While it has Polynesian roots, its political and cultural ties are closer to South America than to the Pacific Islands. lot of pacific island countries > remote ++++ Mariana Trench = deepest place on earth, 11km most volcanic place on earth > pacific ring of fire = 75% of the world’s active volcanoes + 90% world’s earthquakes Tambora eruption (1815) killed 10000 + 80000 died indirectly from crop loss + famine Atoll = ring-shaped coral reed encircling a lagoon / 440 in the word (most in pacific) Corals prefer : clear / shallow / warm water (21-29°) + lots sunlight for symbiotic algae to grow. 25 0000 islands 1000 islands per country European + US colonisers grouped all pacific islands into countries (19/20 centuries)  Kiribati is spread over 4000km 119 000 people Pacific atoll B- Demography Population : Pacific population = 18M (2022) PNG (Papoua New Guinea) = 9M NZ = 5M Hawai’i= 1,4M Small states : 2,5M Total = 18M By ethno-geographical region (old info) : Micronesia = 0,5M Polynesia = 0,75M + NZ + 5M Melanesia = 11M (PNG=10M) least populated countries : Palau / Nauru (= 11 000)/ Tuvalu Pitcairn island = 67 people (2022) Tuvalu = least visited country on earth Lot of pacific islands aren’t’ indépendante > C- History Greatest maritime explorers + see themselves as the original sea explorers Basic pacific human history : -Papuan + aboriginal wave, south east Asia to PNG / Australia = +30 000 yers ago -austronesian wave, south east Asia to Melanesia = 2 500-1 500 BC (4000 ago) -austronesians, Melanesia to Samoa/tonga = 900 BC (3000 ago) -Austronesians, Polynesia = 1000 years ago -European explorers = from 1521 at the same time as the vikings were crossing the Atlantic, the austronesians were crossing an ocean that is twice as big. Languages : -1119 -most languages > Papuan (1057) / in Melanesia -27 austronesians languages in Micronesia -19 austronesians in Melanesia -6 coloniser’s languages throughout the Pacific