The Many Islands Of Oceania

Oceania is the geographical region that encompasses many islands of the southern Pacific Ocean including Australia and New Zealand. There is a considerable amount of ethnic, linguistic, and biodiversity in this relatively small region of the world made up of small, yet beautiful, island nations.

Oceania can be further broken down into several regional zones such as Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. Polynesia is triangular information and is usually established using the islands of Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand as its three points. Although many different languages are spoken throughout the islands found in this region, they all share similar roots. The people of these lands also share similar cultures; the largest ethnic groups include the Maori, Hawaiians and Samoans. It has been discovered that some of the native peoples of Polynesia eventually reached sub-Antarctic islands including the Antipodes Islands where shard pottery was found.

The Maori are an indigenous group from Polynesia that is well known in New Zealand. They have a long history in the region and in the country, particularly because of their problems with European settlers. Although the ethnic group is now rather small, there are still many indigenous Maoris living in New Zealand. There is much notable art throughout the greater Oceania region including the mysterious Moai heads carved into gigantic stones on Easter Island. Some of the most commonly observed art in the Oceania region includes painting, wood carving, stone carving, tattooing, and petroglyphs. Much of this art was originally used in cultural rituals but has survived until today as part of world heritage.