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The islands of New Guinea, New Zealand, and Hawaii constitute 93 percent of the land area, while the remaining thousands of islands have a total land area of 89,339 sq km (34,494 sq mi), slightly less than the American state of Indiana. New Guinea, shared by the Indonesian province of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) and the nation of Papua New Guinea, is the second largest island in the world, after Greenland. New Zealand's South Island and North Island, Oceania's next largest islands, are the world's 12th and 14th largest islands, respectively.
 Map Pacific  Pacific The Pacific Islands were first settled by migrants from Southeast Asia. Although researchers do not know exactly when these migrations began, it is clear they took place sometime in the last ice age, during the Pleistocene Epoch (which ended 10,000 years ago). During the ice age, ocean levels were much lower than they are now, exposing the Sunda Shelf and the Sahul Shelf-continental shelves, or extensions of continents that lie only a few hundred meters beneath the surface of the ocean. The Sunda Shelf is an extension of the coastal shelf of Southeast Asia and includes many of the islands of western Indonesia, such as Java and Sumatra. The Sahul Shelf is an extension of the coastal shelf of Australia and includes New Guinea and the Aru Islands of Indonesia. When the Sunda and Sahul shelves were exposed, New Guinea was attached to Australia and to Indonesia's easternmost islands by a land bridge, although it was separated from Indonesia's central islands by water. Dark-skinned peoples, ancestors to the Australoids, sailed in early boats to New Guinea and other islands of Melanesia. Tests using radiocarbon dating on sites in the Bismarck Archipelago, near Papua New Guinea, show this group reached the area at least 30,000 years ago.
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It is not well on the Pacific paradise of Vanuatu. A property boom, fuelled by tourists, is undermining the island's traditional culture. Also a video on the Vanuatan island of Tanna. Here he local chief is being challenged by a new 'prophet' who wants to reintroduce Christian beliefs. Chief Isaac's supporters believe the prophesies of a mythical figure called John Frum.
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Fijians will hail you on the streets of Nadi and Suva and towns and villages in between, they will invite you to their native villages, and they will welcome you to their churches where song and music ring out above all else--for Fijians are nothing if not musical.
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Ancient Polynesians settled 10 million square miles of the Pacific by navigating sailing canoes from island to island. But their tremendous story was almost lost. Can a single sailing canoe from Hawaii restore the pride of the Polynesian culture after years and years decay and denial?
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Most people think of being stranded as a type of paradise. Bear shows us otherwise. All Bear has with him on this mission is a knife. He jumps from the helicopter into the Pacific Ocean about two miles from an island. This is his way of showing what would happen if you were out on a boat and you went over board with no life jacket.
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Tourism has become one of the major income earners and employers of local workers in the Pacific. Fiji attracts more tourists than any other Pacific Island nation, with 500,280 visitors in 2004. In 1989 tourism surpassed sugar as Fiji's prime source of foreign income. French Polynesia was the second most popular tourist destination. In 2004 it had 211,889 visitors, the majority of whom stayed on Tahiti. Most tourist facilities are owned by foreigners, however, and much of the profit from tourism leaves the Pacific. 
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