ABSTRACT

Oceania is an area of considerable geographical fragmentation. It includes 789 island units (Douglas 1969) which are subdivided into the geoethnic regions of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (Figure 4.1). In the west is Papua New Guinea, second largest island in the world and, with a population of 3 million, one of the largest nations in the region. As one travels eastward into the Pacific, the islands are increasingly smaller and geographically more isolated. The region is tropical apart from the one industrialised country, New Zealand.