Crossword clues for melanesia
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\nLa Melanesia comprende la grande isola Australia, e quelle degli arcipelaghi di Salomone, di Lapèrouse, di Quiros, e dei gruppi della Nuova Caledonia, di Norfolk, e della Diemenin. A cagione dei Neri Oceanici, che, quasi esclusivamente, ne popolano le regioni, questa parte della Oceania ebbe dai moderni geografi e viaggiatori (il Graberg, il Rienzi, il d'Urville, ec.) il nome di Melanesia. ["Corso di Geografia Universale," Firenze, 1839] \n
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, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea. Besides these independent countries, Melanesia also includes:
- New Caledonia, a special collectivity of France
- West Papua, which features two provinces of Indonesia: Papua and West Papua Province
- Maluku Islands, the easternmost part of the Indonesian archipelago
The name Melanesia (in French "Mélanésie" from the Greek , black, and , islands) was first used by Jules Dumont d'Urville in 1832 to denote an ethnic and geographical grouping of islands whose inhabitants he thought were distinct from those of Micronesia and Polynesia.
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.