historia: Polynesia

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Polynesia (UK: POL-in-EE-zee-ə, US: -⁠EE-zhə) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in common, including linguistic relations, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs. The term Polynésie was first used in 1756 by the French writer Charles de Brosses, who originally applied it to all the islands of the Pacific. In 1831, Jules Dumont d'Urville proposed a narrower definition during a lecture at the Société de Géographie of Paris. By tradition, the islands located in the southern Pacific have also often been c…

Evidence: 27 • authority: 72

According to the theory of the Portuguese discovery of Australia, early Portuguese navigators were the first Europeans to sight Australia, between 1521 and 1524, well before the arrival of the Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon, in 1606 on board the Duyfken, who is generally considered to be the first European discoverer. While lacking generally accepted evidence, this theory is based on the following: The Dieppe maps, a group of 16th-century French world maps, depict a large landmass between Indonesia and Antarctica. Labelled as Java la Grande, this landmass carries French, Portuguese, and Gallicized Portuguese placenames, and has been interpreted by some as corresponding to Australia's nort…

Evidence: 20 • authority: 72

Oceania is a geographical region – or, in certain classifications, one of the world’s continents – including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, at the centre of the water hemisphere, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of about 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi) and a population of around 46.3 million as of 2024, including Australia but excluding the Malay Archipelago. When compared against other continental land areas, Oceania is the smallest and the second-least populated after Antarctica. It is home to Earth's third-largest remaining area of tropical rainforest, which covers much of the island of New Guinea. Oc…

Evidence: 20 • authority: 72

Charles de Brosses (French: [də bʁɔs]), comte de Tournay, baron de Montfalcon, seigneur de Vezins et de Prevessin (7 February 1709 – 7 May 1777), was a French scholar of the 18th century.

Evidence: — • authority: 80

'Le Pre´sident des Terres Australes': Charles de Brosses and the French Enlightenment Beginnings of Oceanic Anthropology

Evidence: — • authority: 80

'Le Président des Terres Australes' Charles de Brosses and the French Enlightenment Beginnings of Oceanic Anthropology

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The islands in the Pacific Ocean are categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term Pacific Islands may refer to one of several concepts: (1) those Pacific islands whose people have Austronesian origins, (2) the Pacific islands once or currently colonized after 1500 CE, (3) the geographical region of Oceania, or (4) any island located in the Pacific Ocean. Inhabitants of the Pacific islands are known as Pacific Islanders. This list of islands in the Pacific Ocean is organized by archipelago or political boundary. In order to keep this list of moderate size, the more complete lists for countries with large numbers of small…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Oceania is a geographical region with disputed borders but generally encompasses Australia, New Guinea, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The prehistoric peopling of Oceania took place through two major expansion movements. The first occurred between 50,000 and 70,000 years ago and brought Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers from continental Asia to populate Insulindia, then nearby Oceania, i.e. New Guinea, Australia, and certain Melanesian islands. The second wave is more recent, starting around 6,000 years ago. Farmers and navigators from Taiwan, speaking Austronesian languages, populated Insulinde, i.e. the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. From the eastern islands of Indonesia, these…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. Melanesia borders Southeast Asia to the west, Polynesia to the east, Micronesia to the north and Australia to the south. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea. It also includes the Indonesian part of New Guinea, the French overseas collectivity of New Caledonia, and the Torres Strait Islands. Almost all of the region is in the Southern Hemisphere; only a few small islands that are not politically considered part of Oceania—specifically the northwestern…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

differentiated the area from Polynesia (to the east) and the southeast Pacific (Magellanica). In the late 19th century, the term Australasia was used in reference

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Charles de Brosses (French: [də bʁɔs]), comte de Tournay, baron de Montfalcon, seigneur de Vezins et de Prevessin (7 February 1709 – 7 May 1777), was

Evidence: — • authority: 72

practices, and traditional beliefs. The term Polynésie was first used in 1756 by the French writer Charles de Brosses , who originally applied it to all the islands