The Marquesas Islands lie in which ocean?
TagMe Search
Marquesas_Islands.txt Pacific_Ocean.txt
Marquesas Islands Pacific Ocean
The Marquesas Islands (;  or Archipel des Marquises or Marquises; Marquesan: Te Henua (K)enana (North Marquesan) and Te Fenua `Enata (South Marquesan), both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W. The highest point is the peak of Mount Oave (French: Mont Oave) on Ua Pu island at 1,230 m (4,035 ft) above sea level. 

Based on 2010 studies, new research suggests that the islands were colonized rapidly in two waves by indigenous colonists from West Polynesia, beginning ~1025-1120AD, leading to development of a "remarkably uniform culture, human biology and language."

In the 21st century, the Marquesas Islands form one of the five administrative divisions (subdivisions administratives) of French Polynesia. The capital of the Marquesas Islands administrative subdivision is the settlement of Taiohae on the island of Nuku Hiva. The population of the Marquesas Islands was 9,264 inhabitants at the August 2012 census.

History 

 
The first recorded settlers of the Marquesas were Polynesians, who, from archeological evidence, were long believed by scholars to have arrived from West Polynesia before 100 AD; other estimates were settlement from 600AD.

However, a 2010 study using revised, high-precision radiocarbon dating based on more reliable samples has established that the period of eastern Polynesian colonization took place much later, in a shorter time frame of two waves: the "earliest in the Society Islands A.D. ∼1025–1120, four centuries later than previously assumed; then after 70–265 y, dispersal continued in one major pulse to all remaining islands A.D. ∼1190–1290."  This rapid colonization is believed to account for the "remarkable uniformity of East Polynesia culture, biology and language." The new information will require major reworking of scholarship about the development of linguistics and culture in the islands. Ethnological and linguistic evidence suggests that they likely migrated from the West Polynesia region of Samoa.

Culture

The rich environment of the islands supported a large population. They lived by fishing, eating both fish and shellfish. They used breadfruit and raised other foods.

European contact

The first Europeans to reach the Marquesas may have been the crew of San Lesmes, a Spanish vessel which disappeared in a storm in June 1526; it was part of an expedition headed by García Jofre de Loaísa.  The islands were given their name by Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña, who reached them seventy years later on 21 July 1595. He named them after his patron, García Hurtado de Mendoza, 5th Marquis of Cañete (Spanish: Marqués de Cañete), who was Viceroy of Peru at the time. Mendaña visited first Fatu Hiva and then Tahuata before continuing on to the Solomon Islands. His expedition charted the four southernmost Marquesas as Magdalena (Fatu Hiva), Dominica (Hiva Oa), San Pedro (Moho Tani), and Santa Cristina (Tahuata). 

In the late 16th century, European explorers estimated the population to have been more than 100,000. Europeans and Americans were impressed with how easy life appeared to be in the islands, which had a rich habitat and environment. In 1791 the American maritime fur trader Joseph Ingraham first visited the northern Marquesas while commanding the brig Hope. He named them as the Washington Islands.  In 1813, Commodore David Porter claimed Nuku Hiva for the United States, but the United States Congress never ratified that claim.

In 1842, France conducted a successful military operation on behalf of native chief Iotete, who claimed he was king of the whole island of Tahuata. The government laid claim to the whole group and established a settlement on Nuku Hiva. That settlement was abandoned in 1857, but France reestablished control over the group in 1870. It later incorporated the Marquesas into French Polynesia.

Of all major island groups in the Pacific, the Marquesas suffered the greatest population decline in Polynesia from endemic diseases carried by Western explorers. The indigenous people suffered high rates of mortality, as they had no immunity to the new diseases. Such infectious diseases as smallpox, measles and others reduced the eighteenth-century population of over 78,000 inhabitants to about 20,000 by the middle of the nineteenth century.
By the turn of the 20th century, the islands' population was reduced to just over 4,000.  During the course of the twentieth century, the population increased, reaching 8,548 at the November 2002 census, not including the Marquesan community residing on Tahiti. It has continued to increase, reaching 9,264 inhabitants at the August 2012 census.

Government and politics

In the 21st century, the Marquesas Islands form one of the five administrative divisions (subdivisions administratives) of French Polynesia. French and Tahitia are the official languages of government. The capital of the Marquesas Islands administrative subdivision is the settlement of Taiohae on the island of Nuku Hiva.

The sparsely populated Marquesas Islands are located 1371 km from Tahiti. With 183,645 inhabitants (2012 census), Tahiti is the most populous island of French Polynesia, containing 68.5% of the total population of the grouping. 

Residents of the Marquesas have chafed at Tahiti's overwhelming dominance, complaining of neglect by politicians based in Tahiti, and leaders have suggested developing a direct relationship with the métropole, the government in Paris, instead of depending on Papeete. As sentiment was rising in Tahiti in the 21st century for independence from France, several prominent Marquesan political leaders in 2007 floated the idea of the Marquesas Islands separating from French Polynesia but remaining within the French Republic.[http://www.rue89.com/2007/12/23/polemique-a-tahiti-les-marquises-veulent-se-rapprocher-de-paris?page0 Polémique à Tahiti: les Marquises veulent se rapprocher de Paris], Rue 89, 23 December 2007 This has generated controversies in Tahiti, where pro-independence Tahitian leaders have accused the French central government of encouraging the separation of the Marquesas Islands from French Polynesia.

Geography 

The Marquesas Islands group is one of the most remote in the world, lying about 1371 km northeast of Tahiti and about 4800 km away from the west coast of Mexico, the nearest continental land mass. They fall naturally into two geographical divisions: the northern group, consisting of Eiao, Hatutu (Hatutaa), Motu One, and the islands centered on the large island of Nuku Hiva:  Motu Iti (Hatu Iti), Ua Pu, Motu Oa and Ua Huka, and the southern group of Fatu Uku, Tahuata, Moho Tani (Motane), Terihi, Fatu Hiva and Motu Nao (Thomasset Rock), clustered around the main island of Hiva `Oa. With a combined land area of 1049 km², the Marquesas are among the largest island groups of French Polynesia originally discovered by Spanish galleons fleets en route to Manila, Nuku Hiva being the second largest island in the entire territory, after Tahiti. With the exception of Motu One, all the islands of the Marquesas are of volcanic origin.

In contrast to the tendency to associate Polynesia with lush tropical vegetation, the Marquesas are remarkably dry islands. Though the islands lie within the tropics, they are the first major break in the prevailing easterly winds that spawn from the extraordinarily dry (from an atmospheric perspective) Humboldt Current. Because of this, the islands are subject to frequent drought conditions, and only those that reach highest into the clouds (generally, above about 750 m/2,500 ft above sea level) have reliable precipitation. This has led to historical fluctuations in water supply, which have played a crucial role in the sustainability of human populations in certain sections of the various islands throughout the archipelago. This is especially evident in the low historical population of Ua Huka (maximum elevation 857 m/2,812 ft.) and the intermittent inhabitability of Eiao (maximum elevation 576 m/1,890 ft.). The Marquesas Islands are thought to have formed by a center of upwelling magma called the Marquesas hotspot.

Islands of the Marquesas 

Northern Marquesas

*Eiao
*Hatutu
*Motu Iti
*Motu Oa
*Motu One
*Nuku Hiva
*Ua Huka
*Ua Pou

Southern Marquesas

*Fatu Hiva
*Fatu Huku
*Hiva Oa
*Moho Tani
*Motu Nao
*Tahuata
*Terihi

Seamounts

There are also a number of seamounts or shoals, located primarily in the area of the northern Marquesas. Among these are:
*Clark Bank
*Hinakura Bank
*Lawson Bank
*Bank Jean Goguel

Climate

Temperatures in the Marquesas are stable year around, but precipitation is highly variable.  Precipitation is much greater on the north and east (windward) parts of the islands than on the western (leeward) parts.  Average annual precipitation can vary from more than 100 in on windward shores and mountains to a low as 20 in in the "desert" region of Nuku Hiva. Droughts, sometimes lasting several years, are frequent and seem to be associated with the El Niño phenomena.   The statistics from the weather station at Atuona on Hiva Oa is representative of the average sea-level climate of the Marquesas.  Illustrating the variability of precipitation, the highest annual rainfall recorded in Atuona is ; the lowest is 22 in. 

Geology 

The bulk of the Marquesas Islands are of volcanic origin, created by the Marquesas hotspot that underlies the Pacific Plate. The Marquesas Islands lie above a submarine volcanic plateau of the same name. The plateau, like the islands, is generally believed to be less than 5 million years old, though one hypothesis has the plateau (not the islands) as significantly older and having a mirror image, the Inca Plateau, subducting under northern Peru. 

Except for Motu One, all the Marquesas are high islands. Motu One is a low island, comprising two small sand banks awash on a coral reef. Unlike the majority of French Polynesian islands, the Marquesas are not surrounded by protective fringing reefs. Except for Motu One, and in bays and other protected areas, the only other coral in the Marquesas is found in a rather strange place:  on the top of the island of Fatu Huku. The South Equatorial Current lashes the islands mercilessly, which has led to sea-caves dotting the islands' shores. Except for where the valleys empty into the small bays, the islands are remarkable for their mountain ridges, which end abruptly as cliffs where they meet the sea. The islands are estimated to range in age from the youngest, Fatu Hiva (1.3 my) to the oldest, Eiao (6 my).

Administration 

The Marquesas Islands do not have a provincial or regional assembly. Administratively, they form a deconcentrated subdivision of both the French central State and the government of French Polynesia. As a deconcentrated subdivision of the French central State, the Marquesas Islands form the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas (French: subdivision administrative des Marquises), one of French Polynesia's five administrative subdivisions. The head of the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas is the administrateur d'Etat ("State administrator"), generally simply known as administrateur, also sometimes called chef de la subdivision administrative ("head of the administrative subdivision"). The administrateur is a civil servant under the authority of the High Commissioner of the French Republic in French Polynesia in Papeete. The administrateur and his staff sit in Taiohae, on the island of Nuku Hiva, which has become the administrative capital of the Marquesas Islands, having replaced Atuona on the island of Hiva Oa, which was previously the capital.

Acting as the representative of the French central State and delegate of Papeete's High Commissioner, the administrateur of the Marquesas is in charge of:
*Offering legal advice to the communes (municipalities) of the Marquesas and verifying the legality of decisions made by the communes
*Issuing official documents (ID cards, driving licences, etc.), applying immigration rules, organising elections
*Managing security (coordination of gendarmerie forces, handling of major crises such as natural disasters, etc.)
*Overseeing public services of the French central State in the Marquesas Islands (such as the correctional facility on Nuku Hiva)

As a deconcentrated subdivision of the government of French Polynesia, the Marquesas Islands form the circonscription des Marquises ("district of the Marquesas"), one of French Polynesia's four circonscriptions ("districts") created in 2000 by the Assembly of French Polynesia to serve as deconcentrated subdivisions of the government of French Polynesia in the islands away from Tahiti and Moorea. The head of the circonscription des Marquises is the tavana hau, known as administrateur territorial in French (English: "territorial administrator"), but the Tahitian title tavana hau is most often used. The tavana hau is the direct representative of the president of French Polynesia's government who appoints him. The tavana hau and his staff sit in Taiohae on Nuku Hiva, same as the State administrator.

The tavana hau is in charge of:
*Coordinating the work of French Polynesian administrations in the Marquesas Islands (such as the French Polynesian administrations in charge of roads, fisheries, etc.)
*Ensuring the enforcement of acts passed by the Assembly of French Polynesia and decisions taken by the government of French Polynesia
*Evaluating the performance of French Polynesian civil servants and sending the evaluations to the responsible ministries in Papeete
*Acting as a liaison between the local population and the government of French Polynesia in Papeete

The Marquesas Islands also form the electoral district of the Marquesas Islands, one of French Polynesia's six electoral districts for the Assembly of French Polynesia (see also Politics of French Polynesia).

The Marquesas Islands are subdivided in six communes (municipalities). In each of the six communes the local residents elect a municipal council and a mayor in charge of managing local affairs within the commune. Three communes (Nuku-Hiva, Ua-Pou, and Hiva-Oa) are further subdivided into associated communes due to their larger population. The communes and associated communes are the only elected councils in the Marquesas since there does not exist a provincial or regional assembly for the entire archipelago. Municipal elections are held every six years on the same day as municipal elections in the rest of France (see French municipal elections, 2014 for the last municipal elections).

The areas and populations of the communes at the 2012 Census were as follows:

* Nuku-Hiva (388 sq. km) 2,966
* Ua-Pou (106 sq. km) 2,173
* Ua-Huka (83 sq. km) 621
* Hiva-Oa (327 sq. km) 2,190
* Tahuata (61 sq. km) 703
* Fatu-Hiva (85 sq. km.) 611
* Totals (1,049 sq. km) 9,264

Language 

French and Tahitian are the only official languages of all of French Polynesia, but the Marquesan languages, in their various forms, remain the primary means of communication among residents within this archipelago.

Marquesan is a collection of East-Central Polynesian dialects, of the Marquesic group, spoken in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. They are usually classified into two groups, North Marquesan and South Marquesan, corresponding roughly along geographic lines.

The North Marquesan dialects are spoken on the islands of Ua Pu and Nuku Hiva, and South Marquesan dialects on the islands of Hiva `Oa, Tahuata and Fatu Hiva. The dialects of Ua Huka are often incorrectly classified as North Marquesan; they are instead transitional. While the island is in the northern Marquesas group, the dialects show more morphological and phonological affinities with South Marquesan. The North Marquesan dialects are sometimes considered to be two separate languages: North Marquesan and Tai Pi Marquesan, the latter being spoken in the valleys of the eastern third of the island of Nuku Hiva, in the ancient province of Tai Pi.

The most striking feature of the Marquesan languages is their almost universal replacement of the or of other Polynesian languages by a (glottal stop).

Like other Polynesian languages, the phonology of Marquesan languages is characterised by a paucity of consonants and a comparative abundance of vowels.

2007 language data in census

At the 2007 census, 94.1% of the population whose age was 15 and older reported that they could speak French. 90.2% reported that they could also read and write it. Only 4.4% of the population whose age was 15 and older had no knowledge of French.

At the same census, 67.8% of the population whose age was 15 and older reported that the language they spoke the most at home was Marquesan. 30.1% reported that French was the language they spoke the most at home. 1.4% reported Tahitian, and 0.7% reported another language. 

7.2% of the population whose age was 15 and older reported that they had no knowledge of any Polynesian language at the 2007 census, whereas 92.8% reported that they had some form of knowledge of at least one Polynesian language.

Demographics 

Historical population

Migrations

The places of birth of the 8,632 residents of the Marquesas Islands at the 2007 census were the following: 
*70.5% were born in the Marquesas Islands
*20.9% in Tahiti
*4.5% in Metropolitan France
*3.0% in French Polynesia (other than the Marquesas Islands and Tahiti)
*0.6% in foreign countries
*0.5% in the overseas departments and territories of France (other than French Polynesia)

Communications 

Airports

There are four airports in the Marquesas, one each on the islands of Nuku Hiva, Ua Pu, Ua Huka, and Hiva Oa. The terrain of Tahuata is too irregular to allow for the construction of a landing strip without significant investment, and while the upland plateau of central Fatu Hiva is large enough to permit the construction of an airstrip, the island's minuscule population makes such an exercise of dubious benefit.

Telecommunications

The Marquesas are served by telephone as well as by radio and television, mainly from Tahiti. Recent additions include the "Vini" a mobile phone service that, in about 6 years, has expanded to cover most of the populated islands. There also is "Mana", an internet server with DSL broadband that is expanding with Wifi stations too.

Culture 

The Marquesas Islands were once a major center of eastern Polynesian civilization.
Wooden and stone crafts and tattooing are common practices among the locals.

Biology 

The ecosystem of the Marquesas has been devastated in some areas by the activities of feral livestock. As a first step in preserving what remains, the Marquesan Nature Reserves were created in 1992.

Representation in culture 

* Noted French painter Paul Gauguin and Belgian singer Jacques Brel spent the last years of their lives in the Marquesas, and are buried there. Brel composed a song, "Les Marquises", about the Marquesas Islands, his last home.
* The Marquesas inspired American novelist Herman Melville, whose experiences in the Marquesas formed the basis for his novel Typee. (Despite some sources, Omoo is set in the Society Islands, not in the Marquesas.)
* Robert Louis Stevenson visited the Marquesas in 1888, and wrote about his experiences and impressions there in 1900, in a book called In the South Seas. 
* Frederick O'Brien wrote his travel book, novel White Shadows in the South Seas (1919),  based on experiences in the Marquesas. This book was loosely adapted and dramatized as a 1928 MGM film of the same name.
* In Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World (1932), the Marquesas Islands are used as a place of exile for persons who think independently and have been identified as dangerous by the World State. 
* 20th-century explorer Thor Heyerdahl wrote his book Fatu Hiva during a year-long stay on the island.
* The island group is mentioned in passing in the Crosby, Stills & Nash song "Southern Cross": "off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas".
* In the Gilligan's Island episode "X Marks the Spot", the Professor gives coordinates for the castaways' imaginary island that would put it in the outer fringes of the Marquesas group.
* The Marquesas Islands were featured in the United States when the reality TV show, Survivor: Marquesas, was filmed on Nuku Hiva. It was the fourth installment of the TV series Survivor.
* Nathaniel Philbrick in his book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (2001), noted that the Marquesas were the closest land to where the whaleship Essex was sunk by a whale in the 19th century. But, the crew reportedly feared rumors of cannibalism on the islands and tried to reach South America; most died in the process.  
* The Marquesas Islands are featured as a major setting in the book series The Virtual War by Gloria Skurzynski.  The books call the islands The Isles of Hiva, described as the only uncontaminated lands left after a nuclear apocalypse. Most of the second novel takes place on Nuku Hiva, and part of the last novel takes place on Hiva Oa. 
* In Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language (2014), a voice-over describes the dog Roxy as "dreaming of the Marquesas". The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.

At 165.25 million square kilometers (63.8 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean—and, in turn, the hydrosphere—covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined."[http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9374340/Pacific-Ocean Pacific Ocean]".  Britannica Concise. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific.  The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10911 m. 

Though the peoples of Asia and Oceania have travelled the Pacific Ocean since prehistoric times, the eastern Pacific was first sighted by Europeans in the early 16th century when Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and discovered the great "southern sea" which he named Mar del Sur. The ocean's current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means "peaceful sea". 

History

Early migrations

Important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. About 3000 BC, the Austronesian peoples on the island of Taiwan mastered the art of long-distance canoe travel and spread themselves and their languages south to the Philippines, Indonesia, and maritime Southeast Asia; west towards Madagascar; southeast towards New Guinea and Melanesia (intermarrying with native Papuans); and east to the islands of Micronesia, Oceania and Polynesia. 

Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan. Trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of this trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality. From 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean.

European exploration

The first contact of European navigators with the western edge of the Pacific Ocean was made by the Portuguese expeditions of António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão to the Maluku Islands in 1512,   and with Jorge Álvares's expedition to southern China in 1513,  both ordered by Afonso de Albuquerque.

The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached a new ocean.  He named it Mar del Sur (literally, "Sea of the South" or "South Sea") because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific.

Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific on a Castilian (Spanish) expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519. Magellan called the ocean Pacífico (or "Pacific" meaning, "peaceful") because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century.  Although Magellan himself died in the Philippines in 1521, Spanish Basque navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano led the expedition back to Spain across the Indian Ocean and round the Cape of Good Hope, completing the first world circumnavigation in 1522.[http://www.oceanario.pt/cms/1316/ "Life in the sea: Pacific Ocean"], Oceanário de Lisboa. Retrieved 9 June 2013.  Sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands  and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan. 

In 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands.  For the remainder of the 16th century, Spanish influence was paramount, with ships sailing from Mexico and Peru across the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines, via Guam, and establishing the Spanish East Indies. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history. Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. 

Later, in the quest for Terra Australis (i.e., "the [great] Southern Land"), Spanish explorers in the 17th century discovered the Pitcairn and Vanuatu archipelagos, and sailed the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea, named after navigator Luís Vaz de Torres. Dutch explorers, sailing around southern Africa, also engaged in discovery and trade; Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered Tasmania and New Zealand in 1642. 

In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers. As the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships.  On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the  Spanish Philippines.

The 18th century marked the beginning of major exploration by the Russians in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest. In 1768, Pierre-Antoine Véron, a young astronomer accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his voyage of exploration, established the width of the Pacific with precision for the first time in history.  One of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific.

New Imperialism

Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan and the United States. Significant contributions to oceanographic knowledge were made by the voyages of HMS Beagle in the 1830s, with Charles Darwin aboard; HMS Challenger during the 1870s; the USS Tuscarora (1873–76); and the German Gazelle (1874–76).

In Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively.Bernard Eccleston, Michael Dawson. 1998. The Asia-Pacific Profile. Routledge. p. 250. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888. By occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations.  By 1900 nearly all Pacific islands were in control of Britain, France, United States, Germany, Japan, and Chile.

Although the United States gained control of Guam and the Philippines from Spain in 1898,  Japan controlled most of the western Pacific by 1914 and occupied many other islands during World War II. However, by the end of that war, Japan was defeated and the U.S. Pacific Fleet was the virtual master of the ocean. Since the end of World War II, many former colonies in the Pacific have become independent states.

Geography

The Pacific separates Asia and Australia from the Americas. It may be further subdivided by the equator into northern (North Pacific) and southern (South Pacific) portions. It extends from the Antarctic region in the South to the Arctic in the north. The Pacific Ocean encompasses approximately one-third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 165.2 million square kilometers (63.8 million square miles)—significantly larger than Earth's entire landmass of some 150 million square kilometers (58 million square miles). 

Extending approximately 15500 km from the Bering Sea in the Arctic to the northern extent of the circumpolar Southern Ocean at 60°S (older definitions extend it to Antarctica's Ross Sea), the Pacific reaches its greatest east-west width at about 5°N latitude, where it stretches approximately 19800 km from Indonesia to the coast of Colombia—halfway around the world, and more than five times the diameter of the Moon.  The lowest known point on Earth—the Mariana Trench—lies 10911 m below sea level. Its average depth is , putting the total water volume at 710,000,000 cubic kilometers.

Due to the effects of plate tectonics, the Pacific Ocean is currently shrinking by roughly  per year on three sides, roughly averaging  a year. By contrast, the Atlantic Ocean is increasing in size.  

Along the Pacific Ocean's irregular western margins lie many seas, the largest of which are the Celebes Sea, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Philippine Sea, Sea of Japan, South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Tasman Sea, and Yellow Sea. The Indonesian Seaway (including the Strait of Malacca and Torres Strait) joins the Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the west, and Drake Passage and the Strait of Magellan link the Pacific with the Atlantic Ocean on the east. To the north, the Bering Strait connects the Pacific with the Arctic Ocean. 

As the Pacific straddles the 180th meridian, the West Pacific (or western Pacific, near Asia) is in the Eastern Hemisphere, while the East Pacific (or eastern Pacific, near the Americas) is in the Western Hemisphere. 

The Southern Pacific Ocean harbors the Southeast Indian Ridge crossing from south of Australia turning into the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge (north of the South Pole) and merges with another ridge (south of South American) to form the East Pacific Rise which also connects with another ridge (south of North America) which overlooks the Juan de Fuca Ridge.

For most of Magellan's voyage from the Strait of Magellan to the Philippines, the explorer indeed found the ocean peaceful. However, the Pacific is not always peaceful. Many tropical storms batter the islands of the Pacific.   The lands around the Pacific Rim are full of volcanoes and often affected by earthquakes.  Tsunamis, caused by underwater earthquakes, have devastated many islands and in some cases destroyed entire towns. 

The Martin Waldseemüller map of 1507 was the first to show the Americas separating two distinct oceans.  Later, the Diogo Ribeiro map of 1529 was the first to show the Pacific at about its proper size.

Bordering countries and territories

Sovereign nations

*
*
*
*
*
*1
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*1
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

1 The status of Taiwan and China is disputed. For more information, see political status of Taiwan.

Territories

* (US)
* Baker Island (US)
* (New Zealand)
* Coral Sea Islands (Australia)
* (Chile)
* (France)
* (US)
* (China)
* Howland Island (US)
* Jarvis Island (US)
* Johnston Island (US)
* Kingman Reef (US)
* (China)
* Midway Atoll (US)
* (France)
* (New Zealand)
* (Australia)
* (US)
* Palmyra Atoll (US)
* (UK)
* (New Zealand)
* (France)
* Wake Island (US)

Landmasses and islands

The islands entirely within the Pacific Ocean can be divided into three main groups known as Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. Micronesia, which lies north of the equator and west of the International Date Line, includes the Mariana Islands in the northwest, the Caroline Islands in the center, the Marshall Islands to the west and the islands of Kiribati in the southwest.  

Melanesia, to the southwest, includes New Guinea, the world's second largest island after Greenland and by far the largest of the Pacific islands. The other main Melanesian groups from north to south are the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia. 

The largest area, Polynesia, stretching from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south, also encompasses Tuvalu, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga and the Kermadec Islands to the west, the Cook Islands, Society Islands and Austral Islands in the center, and the Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu, Mangareva Islands and Easter Island to the east. 

Islands in the Pacific Ocean are of four basic types: continental islands, high islands, coral reefs and uplifted coral platforms. Continental islands lie outside the andesite line and include New Guinea, the islands of New Zealand, and the Philippines. Some of these islands are structurally associated with nearby continents. High islands are of volcanic origin, and many contain active volcanoes. Among these are Bougainville, Hawaii, and the Solomon Islands. 

The coral reefs of the South Pacific are low-lying structures that have built up on basaltic lava flows under the ocean's surface. One of the most dramatic is the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia with chains of reef patches. A second island type formed of coral is the uplifted coral platform, which is usually slightly larger than the low coral islands. Examples include Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and Makatea in the Tuamotu group of French Polynesia.  

File:Pacific Culture Areas.jpg|Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia
File:Tahuna maru islet Raroia.jpg|Tahuna maru islet, French Polynesia
File:Los Molinos.JPG|Los Molinos on the coast of Southern Chile

Water characteristics

The volume of the Pacific Ocean, representing about 50.1 percent of the world's oceanic water, has been estimated at some 714 million cubic kilometers.  Surface water temperatures in the Pacific can vary from , the freezing point of sea water, in the poleward areas to about 30 °C near the equator.  Salinity also varies latitudinally, reaching a maximum of 37 parts per thousand in the southeastern area. The water near the equator, which can have a salinity as low as 34 parts per thousand, is less salty than that found in the mid-latitudes because of abundant equatorial precipitation throughout the year. The lowest counts of less than 32 parts per thousand are found in the far north as less evaporation of seawater takes place in these frigid areas.  The motion of Pacific waters is generally clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (the North Pacific gyre) and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The North Equatorial Current, driven westward along latitude 15°N by the trade winds, turns north near the Philippines to become the warm Japan or Kuroshio Current. 

Turning eastward at about 45°N, the Kuroshio forks and some water moves northward as the Aleutian Current, while the rest turns southward to rejoin the North Equatorial Current.  The Aleutian Current branches as it approaches North America and forms the base of a counter-clockwise circulation in the Bering Sea. Its southern arm becomes the chilled slow, south-flowing California Current.  The South Equatorial Current, flowing west along the equator, swings southward east of New Guinea, turns east at about 50°S, and joins the main westerly circulation of the South Pacific, which includes the Earth-circling Antarctic Circumpolar Current. As it approaches the Chilean coast, the South Equatorial Current divides; one branch flows around Cape Horn and the other turns north to form the Peru or Humboldt Current. 

Climate

The climate patterns of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres generally mirror each other. The trade winds in the southern and eastern Pacific are remarkably steady while conditions in the North Pacific are far more varied with, for example, cold winter temperatures on the east coast of Russia contrasting with the milder weather off British Columbia during the winter months due to the preferred flow of ocean currents. 

In the tropical and subtropical Pacific, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects weather conditions.  To determine the phase of ENSO, the most recent three-month sea surface temperature average for the area approximately 3000 km to the southeast of Hawaii is computed, and if the region is more than  above or below normal for that period, then an El Niño or La Niña is considered in progress.   
  
In the tropical western Pacific, the monsoon and the related wet season during the summer months contrast with dry winds in the winter which blow over the ocean from the Asian landmass.   Worldwide, tropical cyclone activity peaks in late summer, when the difference between temperatures aloft and sea surface temperatures is the greatest. However, each particular basin has its own seasonal patterns. On a worldwide scale, May is the least active month, while September is the most active month. November is the only month in which all the tropical cyclone basins are active.   Cyclones are liable to form south of Mexico, striking the western Mexican coast and occasionally the southwestern United States between June and October, with those forming in the western Pacific moving into southeast and east Asia from May to December.

In the arctic, icing from October to May can present a hazard for shipping while persistent fog occurs from June to December.   A climatological low in the Gulf of Alaska keeps the southern coast wet and mild during the winter months.  The Westerlies and associated jet stream within the Mid-Latitudes can be particularly strong, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, due to the temperature difference between the tropics and Antarctica,  which records the coldest temperature readings on the planet.  In the Southern hemisphere, because of the stormy and cloudy conditions associated with extratropical cyclones riding the jet stream, it is usual to refer to the Westerlies as the Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties and Shrieking Sixties according to the varying degrees of latitude. 

Geology

The ocean was first mapped by Abraham Ortelius; he called it Maris Pacifici following Ferdinand Magellan's description of it as "a pacific sea" during his circumnavigation from 1519 to 1522. To Magellan, it seemed much more calm (pacific) than the Atlantic. 

The andesite line is the most significant regional distinction in the Pacific. A petrologic boundary, it separates the deeper, mafic igneous rock of the Central Pacific Basin from the partially submerged continental areas of felsic igneous rock on its margins.  The andesite line follows the western edge of the islands off California and passes south of the Aleutian arc, along the eastern edge of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, Japan, the Mariana Islands, the Solomon Islands, and New Zealand's North Island.  

The dissimilarity continues northeastward along the western edge of the Andes Cordillera along South America to Mexico, returning then to the islands off California. Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, New Guinea, and New Zealand lie outside the andesite line.

Within the closed loop of the andesite line are most of the deep troughs, submerged volcanic mountains, and oceanic volcanic islands that characterize the Pacific basin. Here basaltic lavas gently flow out of rifts to build huge dome-shaped volcanic mountains whose eroded summits form island arcs, chains, and clusters. Outside the andesite line, volcanism is of the explosive type, and the Pacific Ring of Fire is the world's foremost belt of explosive volcanism. The Ring of Fire is named after the several hundred active volcanoes that sit above the various subduction zones.

The Pacific Ocean is the only ocean which is almost totally bounded by subduction zones. Only the Antarctic and Australian coasts have no nearby subduction zones.

Geological history

The Pacific Ocean was born 750 million years ago at the breakup of Rodinia, although it is generally called the Panthalassic Ocean until the breakup of  Pangea, about 200 million years ago.  The oldest Pacific Ocean floor is only around 180 Ma old, with older crust subducted by now. 

Seamount chains

The Pacific Ocean contains several long seamount chains, formed by hotspot volcanism. These include the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain and the Louisville seamount chain.

Economy

The exploitation of the Pacific's mineral wealth is hampered by the ocean's great depths. In shallow waters of the continental shelves off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, petroleum and natural gas are extracted, and pearls are harvested along the coasts of Australia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Philippines, although in sharply declining volume in some cases. 

Fishing

Fish are an important economic asset in the Pacific. The shallower shoreline waters of the continents and the more temperate islands yield herring, salmon, sardines, snapper, swordfish, and tuna, as well as shellfish.  Overfishing has become a serious problem in some areas. For example, catches in the rich fishing grounds of the Okhotsk Sea off the Russian coast have been reduced by at least half since the 1990s as a result of overfishing. 

Environmental issues

The quantity of small plastic fragments floating in the north-east Pacific Ocean increased a hundredfold between 1972 and 2012. 

Marine pollution is a generic term for the harmful entry into the ocean of chemicals or particles. The main culprits are those using the rivers for disposing of their waste.  The rivers then empty into the ocean, often also bringing chemicals used as fertilizers in agriculture. The excess of oxygen-depleting chemicals in the water leads to hypoxia and the creation of a dead zone. 

Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has ended up floating in a lake, sea, ocean, or waterway. Oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and coastlines, frequently washing aground where it is known as beach litter.

In addition, the Pacific Ocean has served as the crash site of satellites, including Mars 96, Fobos-Grunt, and Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite.

Major ports and harbors
Pacific Basin Oceanum pacificum Sea of Magellan Pacific region PAcific North Pacific Ocean Peaceful sea Eastern Pacific Ocean Mar del Sur South-Western Pacific West Pacific Eastern Pacific South Pacific Ocean North Pacific ocean South-western Pacific Pacific Ocean North Pacific fisheries Western Pacific Ocean Southern Pacific Ocean Pacific (ocean) Pacific basin Pacific Oceans North Pacific Pacific ocean Mid-Pacific Great South Sea Pacific Tepre Pacificum East Pacific
eastern pacific ocean oceanum pacificum north pacific pacific basin mid pacific west pacific eastern pacific southern pacific ocean tepre pacificum pacific oceans mar del sur peaceful sea east pacific sea of magellan pacific region pacific ocean south western pacific north pacific fisheries great south sea south pacific ocean western pacific ocean north pacific ocean pacific
pacific
WikipediaEntity
Pacific
 The Mark Davis Islands Line is one. 

 The Mark Davis is an easy cast the light which M Man M is a and this concept of Mark is in in the is an an operated or non and some of of the text not not different love just it is an an operates one is indeed or something infectious and process what did