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The islands in the southwestern part of Oceania
Answer for the clue "The islands in the southwestern part of Oceania ", 9 letters:
melanesia
Alternative clues for the word melanesia
Word definitions for melanesia in dictionaries
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
Melanesia ( UK : ; US : ) is a subregion of Oceania (and occasionally Australasia ) extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea , and eastward to Fiji . The region includes the four countries of Vanuatu , the Solomon Islands , ...
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
one of three large divisions of Pacific islands, 1840, from a continental language, from melano- + nesos "island" (see Chersonese ) + -ia . Modeled after Polynesia and meant to signify "the islands inhabited by blacks."\n\n La Melanesia comprende la grande ...
Usage examples of melanesia.
It was the first white men who ventured through Melanesia after the early explorers, who developed beche de mer English--men such as the beche de mer fishermen, the sandalwood traders, the pearl hunters, and the labour recruiters.
No doubt this had a share in his preparation for his future work in Melanesia, closed early by the failure of health that brought him, after a few more years, to his grave.
Kai-kai is the Polynesian for food, meat, eating, and to eat: but it would be hard to say whether it was introduced into Melanesia by the sandalwood traders or by the Polynesian westward drift.