How many countries are in Polynesia?
How Many Countries in Polynesia As a region of Oceania, Polynesia is composed of 4 independent countries (New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu) and 2 territories (Tokelau, Cook Islands). See below for the list of Polynesia countries and dependencies in alphabetical order. Also, you can find all of them by population at this end of this page.
What was the first Polynesian island to be settled?
Scientists believe the Great Polynesian Migration commenced around 1500 BC as Austronesian peoples went on a journey using celestial navigation to find islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The first islands of French Polynesia to be settled were the Marquesas Islands in about 200 BC.
What are the two types of settlement in Polynesian culture?
Settlements by the Polynesians were of two categories: the hamlet and the village. The size of the island inhabited determined whether or not a hamlet would be built. The larger volcanic islands usually had hamlets because of the many zones that could be divided across the island.
Are there any Polynesian islands in the South Sea?
^ Russell, Michael (1849). Polynesia: A History of the South Sea Islands, including New Zealand. ^ Islands that were uninhabited at contact but which have archaeological evidence of Polynesian settlement include Norfolk Island, Pitcairn, New Zealand's Kermadec Islands and some small islands near Hawaii.
How many sovereign nations can be found in the Pacific?
There are 15 independent Pacific Island nations in addition to tens of thousands of islands, islets, and atolls. The independent nations are: Northern Mariana Islands.
Is French Polynesia sovereign?
French Polynesia is divided into five groups of islands: the Society Islands archipelago, comprising the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands. the Tuamotu Archipelago....French Polynesia.French Polynesia Polynésie française (French) Pōrīnetia Farāni (Tahitian)Location of French Polynesia (circled in red)Sovereign stateFrance43 more rows
How many islands did the Polynesians colonize?
Accidental or Intentional Migration? The geographic area in Remote Oceania called the Polynesian triangle encompasses Aotearoa, Hawaii, and Easter Island as its corners and includes more than 1,000 islands.
What are the 7 Polynesian islands?
Geographically, the Polynesian Triangle is drawn by connecting the points of Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island. The other main island groups located within the Polynesian Triangle are Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, Wallis and Futuna, and French Polynesia.
Is Samoa a sovereign nation?
Samoa is a unitary parliamentary democracy with 11 administrative divisions. The sovereign state is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976....Samoa.Independent State of Samoa Malo Saʻoloto Tutoʻatasi o Sāmoa (Samoan)ISO 3166 codeWSInternet TLD.ws49 more rows
What country owns French Polynesia?
of FranceFrench Polynesia, overseas collectivity of France consisting of five archipelagoes in the south-central Pacific Ocean.
Why was Tonga never Colonised?
Kingdom of Tonga (1900–70) On 18 May 1900, to discourage German advances, the Kingdom of Tonga became a Protected State with the United Kingdom under a Treaty of Friendship signed by George Tupou II after European settlers and rival Tongan chiefs attempted to overthrow him.
Is Hawaii considered Polynesia?
Hawaii is the only US state entirely composed of an island. Hawaii is the northernmost island group in Polynesia and can be rightfully be referred to as a Polynesian. It includes almost the entire of volcanic Hawaiian Archipelago which is made of several islands spread over 1,500 miles in the central Pacific Ocean.
What race is Polynesian?
Polynesians are part of the Austronesian-speakers who migrated from Taiwan and crossed to the Pacific through the Philippines, eastern Indonesia, New Guinea, and Melanesia. Analysis of the Polynesian DNA has shown that the Polynesian people are closely related to East Asians, Micronesians, and Taiwanese Aborigines.
Is New Zealand considered Polynesian?
The six countries in Polynesia are New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Samoa. New Zealand is the largest of the Polynesian countries in terms of both population and area. New Zealand is home to over 4.9 million people and spans over 103,483 square miles (268,021 square kilometers).
What are the eight main Polynesian cultures?
These include the cultures of Aotearoa, Fiji, Hawaii, Rapa Nui, Samoa, Tahiti, and Tonga. Polynesian people also populated the Cook Islands, Niue, Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna, the Truant Archipelago, Tokelau, and Pitcairn.
What country is Moana set in?
The fictional movie takes place 3,000 years ago in the islands of Polynesia, an area that includes Hawaii, Tonga and Tahiti. The star is 16-year-old Moana, voiced by Hawaiian actress Auli'i Cravalho, who goes on an ocean voyage with Maui, voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Is French Polynesia an independent country?
French Polynesia has greater autonomy than many other French possessions. Its legal status is that of an overseas country, which entails greater independence than that of an overseas department or territory.
Is French Polynesia part of the EU?
French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity attached to the French Republic and associated with the European Union as an overseas country or territory (OCT), as provided for in Articles 198 to 204 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Is Tahitian independent country?
Now officially known as French Polynesia, Tahiti is an autonomous overseas country of the French Republic.
What type of government is Bora Bora?
MonarchyKingdom of Bora BoraKingdom of Bora-Bora Royaume de Bora-BoraCommon languagesTahitian FrenchReligionTahitian, ChristianityGovernmentMonarchyMonarch16 more rows
When did the Polynesians settle in the Pacific?
The ancestors of the Polynesians, the Lapita people, set out from Taiwan and settled Remote Oceania between 1100-900 BCE, although there is evidence of Lapita settlements in the Bismarck Archipelago as early as 2000 BCE.
Why was the wayfinding skills of the Polynesian people important to the question of purposeful human settlement of?
Crucial to the question of purposeful human settlement of the Pacific is the wayfinding skills of the Polynesian people because their navigational techniques allowed them to cross a vast ocean using little more than memory.
How did the Polynesians learn to navigate?
The Polynesians knew the language of the stars. They had a highly developed navigation system that involved not only observation of the stars as they rose and crossed the night sky, but the memorisation of entire sky charts. Throughout the Pacific, island navigators taught young men the skills acquired over generations. Navigational knowledge was a closely guarded secret within a navigator family, and education started at an early age. In Kiribati, for example, lessons were taught in the maneaba (meeting house) where rafters and beams were sectioned off to correspond to a segment of the night sky. The position of each star at sunrise and sunset and the star paths between islands were etched into memory. Stones and shells were placed on mats or in the sand to teach star-lore. Karakia (prayer) and oral stories contained references to navigation instructions. Te Ika-roa, for example, meant the Milky Way; Atua-tahi is Canopus; Tawera is Venus the morning star; Meremere is Venus the evening star. The following are navigational instructions from Kupe:
What did the inhabitants of the Pacific Islands use to sail?
The inhabitants of the Pacific islands had been voyaging across vast expanses of ocean water sailing in double canoes or outriggers using nothing more than their knowledge of the stars and observations of sea and wind patterns to guide them.
How much of the Earth's surface is the Pacific Ocean?
The Pacific Ocean is one-third of the earth's surface and its remote islands were the last to be reached by humans. These islands are scattered across an ocean that covers 165.25 million square kilometres (63.8 million square miles).
Who is Kupe in Maori?
In traditional Maori oral history, Kupe is a legendary figure and explorer of the Pacific Ocean ( Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa) who set off from Hawaiiki in c. 1300 CE in a waka (canoe) to discover what lay over the horizon. Hawaiiki is the ancestral homeland of Maori and is thought to be in the East Polynesian islands.
Who wrote the book Voyaging Canoes and the Settlement of the Pacific?
Finley, B. "Voyaging Canoes and the Settlement of the Pacific." Science, 196, 1977, pp. 1277-1285.
When did the Polynesians reach Mataiva?
Settlers reached the island of Mataiva in the northern Tuamotus by about 1110 , the researchers suggest. Statue makers navigated northward and eastward from Mataiva or perhaps other Tuamotu islands to as far east as Rapa Nui — eventually curving back west before arriving at Raivavae — around the same time as an earlier DNA study suggests eastern Polynesians mated with South Americans ( SN: 7/8/20 ). (It’s not clear whether South Americans crossed the ocean to Polynesia or Polynesians traveled to South America and then returned.)
Where did the Polynesians travel?
Comparisons of present-day Polynesians’ DNA indicate that sea journeys launched from Samoa in western Polynesia headed south and then east, reaching Rarotonga in the Cook Islands by around the year 830. From the mid-1100s to the mid-1300s, people who had traveled farther east to a string of small islands called the Tuamotus fanned out to settle Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, and several other islands separated by thousands of kilometers on Polynesia’s eastern edge. On each of those islands, the Tuamotu travelers built massive stone statues like the ones Easter Island is famed for.
How many islands are there in Tuamotus?
The Tuamotus include nearly 80 islands situated between Tahiti to the west and other islands to the north and east where settlers carved statues. The latter outposts consist of the Marquesas Islands, Mangareva and Rapa Nui. Another late-settled island where inhabitants carved statues, Raivavae, lies southwest of the Tuamotus.
Who suggested that people with shared ancestry brought stone carving to Rapa Nui and other islands?
Kirch, who has previously suggested that these long-distance contacts in eastern Polynesian influenced stone carving traditions, calls the new proposal that people with a shared ancestry brought stone carving to Rapa Nui and other islands “a provocative hypothesis.”
Did Ioannidis support Polynesia's settlement?
Ioannidis and colleagues’ conclusions generally support prior scenarios of Polynesia’s settlement, but some disparities exist between their genetic evidence and earlier archaeological and linguistic findings, writes archaeologist Patrick Kirch of the University of Hawaii at Manoa in a commentary published with the new study.
When did French Polynesia become a member of the Pacific Community?
In 1957, the EFO were renamed French Polynesia. In 1983 French Polynesia became a member of the Pacific Community, a regional development organization.
When did Polynesia become French?
In 1946, Polynesians were granted French citizenship and the islands' status was changed to an overseas territory; the islands' name was changed in 1957 to Polynésie Française (French Polynesia).
What are the main products of French Polynesia?
Tourist facilities are well developed and are available on the major islands. Main agricultural productions are coconuts ( copra ), vegetables and fruits. French Polynesia exports noni juice, a high quality vanilla, and the famous black Tahitian pearls which accounted for 55% of exports (in value) in 2008.
How many airports are there in French Polynesia?
There are 53 airports in French Polynesia; 46 are paved. Fa'a'ā International Airport is the only international airport in French Polynesia. Each island has its own airport that serves flights to other islands. Air Tahiti is the main airline that flies around the islands.
What is the political system of French Polynesia?
Under the terms of Article 74 of the French constitution and the Organic Law 2014–192 on the statute of autonomy of French Polynesia, politics of French Polynesia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic French overseas collectivity, whereby the President of French Polynesia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Assembly of French Polynesia (the territorial assembly).
How big is French Polynesia?
The total land area of French Polynesia is 4,167 square kilometres (1,609 sq mi). French Polynesia is divided into five groups of islands: the Society Islands archipelago, comprising the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands; the Tuamotu Archipelago; the Gambier Islands; the Marquesas Islands; and the Austral Islands.
What territories did Japan own in 1940?
Unknown at the time to the French and Polynesians, the Konoe Cabinet in Imperial Japan on 16 September 1940 included French Polynesia among the many territories which were to become Japanese possessions, as part of the "Eastern Pacific Government-General" in the post-war world.
How many people live in Polynesia?
Extended over a huge oceanic surface, it has 298.000 km² of area and 4.5 million inhabitants. Its larger islands have volcanic origins, and the smaller ones have a Coraline origin. Since the entire Polynesian territory is among the tropics, it has a very tropical and humid equatorial or tropical climate.
What is the common feature of the Polynesian Indians?
The central feature of these people is navigation, guided by the position of the stars. Extended over a huge oceanic surface, it has 298.000 km² of area and 4.5 million inhabitants.
What is the name of the country in the South Pacific Ocean?
Countries in Polynesia. Polynesia is the name given to a set of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. Historically, the Polynesian islands have been populated by groups originating from what is currently Taiwan, which sailed through the Pacific about 3500 years BC populating the islands of the south of the ocean.
Which islands did the Polynesians settle on?
Polynesians have acquired a reputation as great navigators—their canoes reached the most remote corners of the Pacific, allowing the settlement of islands as far apart as Hawaii, Rapanui (Easter Island) and Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Where did the Polynesians come from?
The direct ancestors of the Polynesians were the Neolithic Lapita culture, which emerged in Island Melanesia and Micronesia at around 1500 BC from a convergence of migration waves of Austronesians originating from both Island Southeast Asia to the west and an earlier Austronesian migration to Micronesia to the north.
What is the origin of the Polynesian Triangle?
Origins. The Polynesian spread of colonization of the Pacific throughout the so-called Polynesian Triangle. Polynesians, including Samoans, Tongans, Niueans, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian Mā'ohi, Hawaiian Māoli, Marquesans and New Zealandic Māori, are a subset of the Austronesian peoples.
When did Polynesians arrive in ISEA?
Ancestors of the Polynesians arrived in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea at least 6,000 to 8,000 years ago.
What is the most widely accepted theory of Austronesian origin?
There are multiple hypotheses on the ultimate origin and mode of dispersal of the Austronesian peoples, but the most widely accepted theory is that modern Austronesians originated from migrations out ...
What happens if the rest of the world continues to adhere to the principle that the settlements are illegal?
If the rest of the world continues to adhere to the principle that the settlements are illegal, the decision will likely do more to undermine U.S. standing and leadership than the Geneva Convention or the law itself.
What does the recognition of settlements mean?
What does change in a significant way, however, is what the recognition of settlements means for the status of the territory and of the government that administers it . While the new U.S. policy does not alter the legal status of the Palestinian territories, Israel’s prime minister welcomed the change and said ...
Did Pompeo change the settlement policy?
When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently announced an official change to U.S. policy regarding Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, saying the U.S. no longer finds them to be “inconsistent with international law,” it was unclear if he — or whoever else was behind the policy — thought through its full implications.
Did the US take action against settlements?
The U.S. has consistently failed to take action against settlements in order to protect the prospect for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Even at the height of the peace process in the 1990s, the Clinton administration permitted continued settlement-building to the point that the settler population tripled despite ongoing negotiations. While various administrations, such as those of George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama, pushed back against settlements, their efforts were never sustained and settlement-building ultimately carried on.
Can Israel take possession of the land without all the inhabitants?
Yet if Israel is the recognized sovereign, then it can’t take legal possession of the land without all of the inhabitants. If it doesn’t want the Palestinians, then the land needed to create a viable alternative political entity for them to fulfill their rights is needed. Israel simply cannot have it both ways.
Is the two state solution viable?
Yet chances for dividing the land into two states have already been undermined tremendously during administrations of both parties, to the point that the two-state solution may no longer be viable.
Does the opinion of a single state alter the law itself?
Nonetheless, the opinion of a single state — even the most powerful one — does not alter the law itself. As Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the U.N. Commissioner on Human Rights, responded to the Trump administration announcement, “a change in the policy of one state does not modify existing international law nor its interpretation by the International Court of Justice and Security Council.”
How many states are in the sovereignty dispute column?
The sovereignty dispute column indicates states having undisputed sovereignty (188 states), states having disputed sovereignty (16 states, of which there are 6 member states, 1 observer state and 9 other states), and states having a special status (2 states). Compiling a list such as this can be a difficult and controversial process, ...
How many countries are there in the UN?
Administered by the Holy See, a sovereign entity with diplomatic relations to 183 states. This figure consists of 180 UN member states, the Cook Islands, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and the State of Palestine.
What is the dominant customary international law standard of statehood?
The dominant customary international law standard of statehood is the declarative theory of statehood , which was codified by the Montevideo Convention of 1933. The Convention defines the state as a person of international law if it "possess [es] the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) a capacity to enter into relations with the other states" so long as it was not "obtained by force whether this consists in the employment of arms, in threatening diplomatic representations, or in any other effective coercive measure".
What does the column "non-member states" mean?
It also indicates which non-member states participate in the United Nations System through membership in the International Atomic Energy Agency or one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations. All United Nations members belong to at least one specialized agency and are parties to the statute of the International Court of Justice.
Which theory of statehood argues that statehood is purely objective and recognition of a state by other states is?
The declarative theory of statehood argues that statehood is purely objective and recognition of a state by other states is irrelevant. On the other end of the spectrum, the constitutive theory of statehood defines a state as a person under international law only if it is recognised as sovereign by other states.
Where are the flags of the United Nations?
Flags of the United Nations member and non-member observer states in front of the Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The following is a list providing an overview of sovereign states around the world, with information on their status and recognition of their sovereignty . The 206 listed states can be divided into three categories based on ...
Which two territories are disputed by the United States?
It also disputes sovereignty over the following two territories: Bajo Nuevo Bank. Serranilla Bank. Three sovereign states have become associated states of the United States under the Compact of Free Association : Marshall Islands – Republic of the Marshall Islands. Micronesia – Federated States of Micronesia.
Ancient Voyaging & Settlement of The Pacific
Accidental Or Intentional Migration?
- The geographic area in Remote Oceania called the Polynesian triangle encompasses Aotearoa, Hawaii, and Easter Island as its corners and includes more than 1,000 islands. Between some of the islands in this triangle, there are distances of more than 1,000 kilometres (621 miles). Northern Vanuatu to Fiji, for example, is more than 800 kilometres (497 miles), and it would hav…
Indigenous Navigation Techniques
- Unfortunately, most of the traditional Polynesian navigation knowledge has been lost for several reasons: 1. most European explorers were sceptical of indigenous seafaring skills, and this was rooted in the deep sense of technological superiority of the Western narrative of the time. 2. indigenous navigational knowledge was an oral tradition. It was not recorded systematically, an…
Stars, Seas, Winds, Birds
- The Polynesians knew the language of the stars. They had a highly developed navigation system that involved not only observation of the stars as they rose and crossed the night sky, but the memorisation of entire sky charts. Throughout the Pacific, island navigators taught young men the skills acquired over generations. Navigational knowledge was a closely guarded secret withi…
Voyaging Canoes & Sails
- Polynesians mariners developed the double-hulled canoe (also called a catamaran). Some of their voyaging canoes were longer than Cook's Endeavour, which was approximately 30 metres (98 feet), although the average length for the canoes was 15.2-22.8 metres (50-75 feet). Canoes with an outrigger on one side were favoured in Micronesia (western Pacific region). The carrying cap…
Preserving Indigenous Knowledge
- There has been recent effort to better understand and preserve the remarkable feats of seamanship that enabled Polynesians to steer their craft with accuracy across the vast expanse of the Pacific. In 1985 CE, a 22-metre (72 feet) voyaging waka christened Hawaikinui was built. Its twin-hull was constructed from two insect-resistant New Zealand totara trees, and the waka suc…
Overview
French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) in the South Pacific Ocean. The total land area of French Polynesia is 3,521 square kilometres (1,359 sq mi), with a population of 299,356 (2022 estimate).
History
Anthropologists and historians believe the Great Polynesian Migration commenced around 1500 BC as Austronesian peoples went on a journey using celestial navigation to find islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The first islands of French Polynesia to be settled were the Marquesas Islands in about 200 BC. The Polynesians later ventured southwest and discovered the Society Islands …
Governance
Under the terms of Article 74 of the French constitution and the Organic Law 2014–192 on the statute of autonomy of French Polynesia, politics of French Polynesia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic French overseas collectivity, whereby the President of French Polynesia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive po…
Geography
The islands of French Polynesia make up a total land area of 3,521 square kilometres (1,359 sq mi), scattered over more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of ocean. There are 121 islands in French Polynesia and many more islets or motus around atolls. The highest point is Mount Orohena on Tahiti.
It is made up of five archipelagos. The largest and most populated island is Ta…
Administrative divisions
French Polynesia is divided in five administrative subdivisions (subdivisions administratives):
• Marquesas Islands (French: les îles Marquises or officially la subdivision administrative des îles Marquises)
• Leeward Islands (French: les îles Sous-le-Vent or officially la subdivision administrative des îles Sous-le-Vent) (the two s…
Demographics
Total population was 299,356 according to 2022 estimates. At the 2017 census, 68.7% of the population of French Polynesia lived on the island of Tahiti alone. The urban area of Papeete, the capital city, has 136,771 inhabitants (2017 census).
At the 2017 census, 89.0% of people living in French Polynesia had been born t…
Culture
All the indigenous languages of French Polynesia are Polynesian. French Polynesia has been linguistically diverse since ancient times, with each community having its own local speech variety. These dialects can be grouped into seven languages on the basis of mutual intelligibility: Tahitian, Tuamotuan, Rapa, Austral, North Marquesan, South Marquesan, and Mangarevan. Some of t…
Economy and infrastructure
The legal tender of French Polynesia is the CFP franc which has a fixed exchange rate with the euro. The nominal gross domestic product (or GDP) of French Polynesia in 2019 was 6.01 billion U.S. dollars at market exchange rates, the seventh-largest economy in Oceania after Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Guam. The GDP per capita was US$21,615 in …