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List of islands in the Pacific Ocean

Adapted from Wikipedia · Discoverer experience

An old map showing islands in the Pacific Ocean from the year 1851.

The islands in the Pacific Ocean are grouped into three big areas: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. These islands are special because they can mean different things depending on how we think about them. Sometimes "Pacific Islands" talks about islands whose people all share the same kind of history and language, called Austronesian origins. Other times, it might mean islands that were taken over by other countries after the year 1500. It can also mean the whole area called Oceania, or simply any island out in the wide Pacific Ocean. The people who live on these islands are called Pacific Islanders.

This list organizes the islands by where they are grouped together, like chains of islands, or by which country they belong to. Because there are so many tiny islands, especially in some countries, this list links to more complete lists for places with lots of small or empty islands.

Name ambiguity and groupings

The islands in the Pacific Ocean are grouped into three main areas: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Sometimes, the term "Pacific Islands" can mean different things, like islands with certain origins, islands that were colonized after the year 1500, a geographical area called Oceania, or any island in the Pacific Ocean.

Scientists sometimes divide these islands into smaller groups. For example, they might separate Western Melanesia, which includes islands like the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville, from Eastern Melanesia, which has islands like Vanuatu and Fiji. There are also groups in Micronesia, Central Polynesia, Western Polynesia, Eastern Polynesia, Northern Polynesia, and the Oceanic islands of the Eastern Pacific, each with their own special islands.

Geopolitics and Oceania grouping

Main article: Oceania

1851 map of Pacific listing colonial names of individual islands.

The Pacific Ocean holds many islands grouped into three main areas: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The term "Pacific Islands" can mean different things. It might refer to islands with people who share similar origins, islands that were colonized after the year 1500, or the wide geographic area known as Oceania. It can also simply mean any island in the Pacific Ocean.

Since the 1800s, geographers have grouped Australia and Pacific islands into a region called Oceania. This area is defined by the Pacific Ocean. Different countries sometimes count Oceania as a continent. Some definitions of Oceania include many islands near Asia, but most focus on Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Australia is often considered both a continent and a large Pacific Island. It plays a key role in the Pacific Islands Forum, which helps with trade and defense for many Pacific nations.

List of the largest Pacific islands

This section talks about the big islands in the Pacific Ocean that are larger than 10,000 km2 in size.

NameArea (km2)Country/CountriesPopulationPopulation densityRegionSubregion
New Guinea785,753Indonesia, Papua New Guinea14,800,00018.8OceaniaMelanesia
Borneo748,168Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei23,053,72330.8AsiaSoutheast Asia
Honshu227,960Japan103,000,000451.8AsiaEast Asia
Sulawesi174,600Indonesia18,455,000105.7AsiaSoutheast Asia
South Island150,437New Zealand1,201,3007.5OceaniaAustralasia / Polynesia
North Island113,729New Zealand4,749,20033.0OceaniaAustralasia / Polynesia
Luzon109,965Philippines48,520,000441.2AsiaSoutheast Asia
Mindanao104,530Philippines25,281,000241.9AsiaSoutheast Asia
Hokkaido77,981Japan5,474,00070.2AsiaEast Asia
Sakhalin72,493Russia580,0008.0AsiaNorth Asia
Tasmania64,519Australia514,7005.7OceaniaAustralasia
Taiwan Island (Formosa)35,883Taiwan23,000,000641.0AsiaEast Asia
Kyushu35,640Japan13,231,000371.2AsiaEast Asia
New Britain35,145Papua New Guinea513,92614.6OceaniaMelanesia
Hainan Island33,210China8,180,000246.3AsiaEast Asia
Vancouver Island31,285Canada759,36624.2North AmericaNorthern America
Shikoku18,800Japan4,141,955220.3AsiaEast Asia
Grande Terre16,648New Caledonia (France)208,70912.5OceaniaMelanesia
Palawan12,189Philippines430,00035.3AsiaSoutheast Asia
Hawaii10,434United States of America185,07917.7OceaniaPolynesia
Viti Levu10,388Fiji600,00057.0OceaniaMelanesia

By continent

Antarctica

Asia

North America

Oceania

South America

By country

American Samoa

Australia

Brunei

Canada

Chile

China

Colombia

Cook Islands

Costa Rica

Ecuador

Fiji

For a more comprehensive list, see List of islands of Fiji.

France

French Polynesia

Guam

Hong Kong

Indonesia

Japan

Kiribati

Macau

Malaysia

Marshall Islands

Mexico

Micronesia

Islands of Federated States of Micronesia

Nauru

  • Nauru, a country and single island

New Caledonia

New Zealand

Niue

  • Niue, a country and single island

Northern Mariana Islands

Palau

Palau has over 250 islands, including:

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Philippines

Pitcairn Islands

Main article: List of islands of the United Kingdom § Overseas Territories

Russia

Samoa

Singapore

Solomon Islands

Taiwan

Tokelau

  • List of islands of Tokelau
    • Tokelau (mostly autonomous), three coral atolls with about 25 islands combined, including:
      • Olohega (Swains Island), administered by the United States as part of American Samoa, but claimed by Tokelau due to geography, history and language

Tonga

Tuvalu

United States

Vanuatu

Wallis and Futuna

Images

Map showing the territorial waters and exclusive economic zones of countries around the Pacific Ocean.
Map showing the region of Oceania

Related articles

Oceania
Melanesia
Polynesia
Asia
Island
Pacific Ocean

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on List of islands in the Pacific Ocean, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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