Melanesia
Appearance
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Melanesia.png/220px-Melanesia.png)
Melanesiais a region of islands inOceania.
It stretches from the western side of the EasternPacific Ocean,to theArafura Sea,northeast ofAustralia.Its name was invented in 1832 and means "black islands".
The following islands and groups of islands since the 19th century have been considered part of Melanesia:
- Bismarck Archipelago
- Fiji
- New Caledonia
- New Guinea(Papua New Guineamainland and the Indonesian province ofPapua)
- Maluku Islands
- Solomon Islands
- Torres Strait Islands
- Vanuatu
- Palau Islands
Islands whose long-established inhabitants are of mixed ancestry and do not necessarily self-identify as Melanesian:
Some of the islands to the west of New Guinea such asHalmahera,Alor,andPantarcan also be considered part of Melanesia, although people in this area do not make use of the term.
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