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- March 2006
The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan) is the world's largest body of water. It encompasses a third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 179.7 million square kilometres (69.4 million square miles).
Extending approximately 15,500 kilometres (9,600 miles) from the Bering Sea in the Arctic to the icy margins of Antarctica's Ross Sea in the south (although the Antarctic regions of the Pacific are sometimes described as part of the circumpolar Southern Ocean) the Pacific reaches its greatest east-west width at about 5°N latitude, where it stretches approximately 19,800 kilometres (12,300 miles) from Indonesia to the coast of Colombia. The western limit of the ocean is often placed at the Strait of Malacca.
The lowest point on earth—the Mariana Trench—lies some 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) below sea level.
- April 2006
The culture of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is many-sided and complex. It is estimated that more than 1000 different cultural groups exist in PNG, and most groups have their own language. Because of this diversity, in which they take pride, many different styles of cultural expression have emerged; each group has created its own expressive forms in art, dance, weaponry, costumes, singing, music, architecture and much more.
To unify the nation, the language Tok Pisin has evolved as the lingua franca—the medium through which diverse language groups are able to communicate with one another in Parliament, in the news media, and elsewhere.
People typically live in villages or dispersed hamlets which rely on the subsistence farming of sweet potatoes and taro. The principal livestock in traditional PNG is the oceanic pig (Sus papuiensis). To balance the diet, people of PNG hunt, collect wild plants, or fish—depending on the local environment and mode of subsistence.
- May 2006
The Fiji coup of 2000 was a complicated affair involving a civilian putsch by hardline Fijian nationalists against the elected government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry on 19 May 2000, the attempt by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to assert executive authority on 27 May, and his own resignation, possibly forced, on 29 May.
When a group led by George Speight, entered Parliament buildings on 19 May 2000, disaffected elements of the Fijian population rallied to his side. For 56 days, Prime Minister Chaudhry and most of his cabinet, along with many Parliamentarians and their staff, were held as hostages while Speight attempted to negotiate with the President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, who denounced the coup and declared a state of emergency, and with the military administration which took office on 29 May.
An interim government headed by Commodore Frank Bainimarama was set up, and handed power over to an interim administration headed by Ratu Josefa Iloilo, as President, on 13 July.
- June 2006
Bora Bora (16°26′40″S 151°45′5″W / 16.44444°S 151.75139°W) is an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, about 260 km northwest of the capital, Papeete. The island is surrounded by a lagoon and a fringing reef. In the center of the island are the remnants of an extinct volcano, rising to two peaks, Mt. Pahia, and the highest point, Mount Otemanu, reaching 727 meters (2,385 ft.).
As of 2000, the population was about 4,500 people. The major settlement, Vaitape is on the western side of the island, opposite the main channel into the lagoon. The original name in the Tahitian language might be better rendered as Pora Pora, meaning "First Born".
The island is mainly dependent on tourism. It has many high-end resorts, mostly visited by American and Japanese tourists. Many tourists come to Bora Bora for a beach holiday, and are surprised to learn it is a lagoon destination, with relatively few, narrow beaches.
- July 2006
Captain James Cook, FRS (October 27, 1728 (O.S.) – February 14, 1779) was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer. He made three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, accurately charting many areas and recording several islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time.
His most notable accomplishments were the British 'discovery' and claiming of the east coast of Australia; the European 'discovery' of the Hawaiian Islands; and the first recorded circumnavigation and mapping of Newfoundland and New Zealand.
Ever the observer, Cook was the first European to have extensive contact with various people of the Pacific. He sailed to many islands near the Philippines and even to smaller, more remote islands in the South Pacific. He correctly concluded there was a relationship among all the people in the Pacific, despite their being separated by thousands of miles of ocean (see Malayo-Polynesian languages).
- August 2006
Wake Island (also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. It is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. Wake is located to the west of the International Date Line and is one day ahead of the 50 states.
Access to the island is restricted and all current activities on the island are managed by the United States Air Force, the United States Army, and Chugach McKinley, Inc., a civilian base operations and maintenance services company.
Although Wake is officially called an island in the singular form, it is actually an atoll comprising three islands (Wake, Wilkes, and Peale) surrounding a central lagoon.
The largest island (Wake Island) is the center of activity on the atoll and features a 9,800 foot (3,000 m) runway.
- September 2006
Tom Neale (1902-1977) was a New Zealander who spent most of his life in the Cook Islands and 16 years living alone on the island of Suwarrow.
A boat dropped him off at Suwarrow in 1952 with two cats and all the supplies he could scrape together. Neale had a hut with water tanks, some books and a badly damaged boat left over from World War II. He planted a garden, domesticated chickens, and repaired the boat. He lived on fish, crayfish, chicken, eggs, paw-paw, coconut and breadfruit. In 1954, he put his back out, but was fortuitously rescued.
In 1960 he returned to the atoll with more provisions, having learned what were necessities from his previous stay. He stayed for three and a half years before deciding voluntarily to leave. His autobiography, An Island to Oneself, covers his life up to this point.
Neale returned to the atoll in 1967 and stayed there until 1977, when he was found ill with stomach cancer and taken to Rarotonga. He died eight months later.
- October 2006
Moai are statues carved from compressed volcanic ash on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The statues are all monolithic, that is, carved in one piece. They may weigh more than 20 tons and be over 20 feet tall. The largest moai erected was almost 10 metres high and weighed 75 tonnes.
Less than one-fifth of the statues once had red stone cylinders (pukau) placed on their heads. These "topknots" were carved in a single quarry known as Puna Pau.
About 95% of the 887 moai known to date were carved out of compressed volcanic ash at Rano Raraku, where 394 moai still remain visible today. The quarries in Rano Raraku appear to have been abandoned abruptly, with many incomplete statues still in situ. Practically all of the completed moai that were erected upright on ceremonial platforms were subsequently toppled by native islanders in the period after construction ceased.
- November 2006
The history of East Timor began with the arrival of Australoid and Melanesian peoples. The Portuguese began to trade with the island of Timor in the early 16th century and colonized it in mid-century. Portugal ceded the western portion of the island to the Dutch in 1859. Imperial Japan occupied East Timor from 1942 to 1945.
East Timor declared itself independent from Portugal in 1975 and was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces nine days later. An unsuccessful campaign of pacification followed over the next two decades, during which an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 individuals lost their lives.
In 1999 an overwhelming majority of the people of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia. During the next few weeks, anti-independence militias commenced a large-scale, scorched-earth campaign of retribution. Peacekeeping troops of the International Force for East Timor brought the violence to an end. In 2002, East Timor was internationally recognized as an independent state.
- December 2006
Kava (Piper methysticum) is an ancient crop of the western Pacific. Other names for kava include ʻawa (Hawaii), 'ava (Samoa), yaqona (Fiji), and sakau (Pohnpei). Kava is related to the black pepper; both have heart-shaped leaves and flowers similar to the flower spike of the anthurium.
In many areas, like Fiji and Tonga, it is consumed as a herbal tea produced by straining a mixture consisting of water and the shredded, pounded, or dried root and/or stump of the plant. The plant may also be chewed as part of preparing the kava using this method. Kava has a peppery taste and has long been a part of religious, political, and cultural life throughout the Pacific.
The effects of drinking kava, in order of sensation, are slight tongue and lip numbing caused by the contraction of the blood vessels in these areas (the lips and skin surrounding may appear unusually pale); mildly talkative and euphoric behavior; calming, sense of well-being, clear thinking; and relaxed muscles. Sleep is often restful and there are no after-effects the next day.