What do you know about the English-speaking countries in…?
OCEANIA
OCEANIA, OR AUSTRALASIA, IS A CONTINENT OR
REGION WITH 37 MILLION INHABITANTS.
OCEANIA IS CENTRED ON THE ISLANDS OF THE
TROPICAL PACIFIC OCEAN. THE 3 SUBREGIONS ARE MELANESIA, MICRONESIA,
AND POLYNESIA.
ENGLISH-SPEAKING OCEANIA.
We have seperate presentations on the two largest
countries in Oceania – Australia and New Zealand.
 Some classify the Hawaii islands as part of
Oceania, but here they are included in the North
America geography presentation.
 The rest of Oceania has around 10 million
inhabitants – the majority of whom use some form
of English as an official language or as a means of
communication.
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MELANESIA INCLUDES PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND
THE ISLAND GROUPS CLOSEST TO AUSTRALIA.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – 6.3 MILLION
INHABITANTS – CAPITAL PORT MORESBY.
PNG IS HALF OF THE ISLAND OF NEW GUINEA,
BOUGAINVILLE, NEW BRITAIN, NEW IRELAND.
SO MANY LANGUAGES – BUT ONE BE ABLE TO
TALK TO EACH OTHER – PIDGIN ENGLISH.
Papua New Guinea has more languages than any
other country, with over 820 indigenous languages
– 12% of the world's total, but most have fewer
than 1,000 speakers.
 There are 3 official languages for PNG. English is
an official language and is the language of
government and the education system, but it is not
widely spoken.
 The primary lingua franca of the country is Tok
Pisin (Pidgin English).
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FIJI – AN ISLAND COUNTRY WITH 950,000
INHABITANTS – CAPITAL SUVA - LIES 2,000 KM
NORTH-EAST OF NEW ZEALAND.
TWO MAIN ETHNIC GROUPS IN FIJI. ENGLISH AS
A LINGUA FRANCA.
The population of Fiji is mostly made up
of native Fijians, who are Melanesians (54.3%),
although many also have Polynesian ancestry,
and Indo-Fijians (38.1%), descendants of
Indian contract labourers brought to the islands
by the British colonial powers in the 19th
century.
 English, Fijian and Hindi are the official
languages.
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BEACHES, FISHING BOATS, COCONUTS, PALM
OIL, MINING, BUT ALSO HINDU TEMPLES.
SOLOMON ISLANDS HAVE A POPULATION OF
550,000 – LIE TO THE WEST OF NEW GUINEA.
MOST OF PEOPLE ARE MELANESIANS – SPEAK
NATIVE LANGUAGES AND PIDGIN BUT ENGLISH
IS ALSO AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION
AND GOVERNMENT.
THE REPUBLIC OF VANUATU (NEW HEBRIDES)
An island nation of 250,000 inhabitants in the South Pacific. The
archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, lies 1,750 kilometres
east of northern Australia, near New Guinea.
VANUATU IS A POOR COUNTRY – WHERE THE
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ARE ENGLISH, FRENCH
ALONG WITH MANY LOCAL LANGUAGES.
MICRONESIA
THE FOLLOWING ISLANDS AND GROUPS OF
ISLANDS ARE PARTS OF MICRONESIA:
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Caroline Islands, politically divided between Palau (20,000)
and the Federated States of Micronesia (130,000)
Gilbert Islands, the main part of Kiribati (95,000)
Mariana Islands, politically divided between the United
States territories of Guam (160,000) and the Northern
Mariana Islands (77,000)
Marshall Islands (73,000)
Nauru (12,000)
Wake Island, a United States Minor Outlying Island
MOST OF THE ISLANDS ARE EITHER AMERICAN TERRITORIES
OR INFLUENCED BY THE USA, SO ENGLISH IS THE MAIN
LINGUA FRANCA HERE TOO.
THE MANY FLAGS OF MICRONESIA. CAN YOU
IDENTIFY THEM ALL?
POLYNESIA COVERS A HUGE NUMBER OF
ISLANDS IN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN.
The Polynesian
Triangle is drawn
by connecting the
points of Hawaii,
New Zealand and
Easter Island.
TONGA IS AN ISLAND KINGDOM IN CENTRAL
POLYNESIA WITH 100,000 INHABITANTS. IT WAS
NEVER A COLONY, BUT IS IN THE BRITISH
COMMONWEALTH.
SAMOA IS A COUNTRY OF 200,000 PEOPLE IN
THE WESTERN PART OF THE SAMOAN
ISLANDS IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC. IT BECAME
INDEPENDENT FROM NEW ZEALAND IN 1962.
AMERICAN SAMOA IS A GROUP OF 7 ISLANDS
AND PART OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
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The population of American Samoa stands at
about 55,000 people, 95% of whom live on the
largest island, Tutuila.
TONGA, SAMOA AND FIJI ALL HAVE TOP CLASS
INTERNATIONAL RUGBY TEAMS AND
SOMETIMES BEAT THE BEST EUROPEAN TEAMS.
NOW YOU KNOW A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE
ENGLISH-SPEAKING ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC.
Would you like to visit them? I WOULD, BUT THE
FLIGHTS ARE VERY EXPENSIVE!
 If you would like to learn more, you could read the
following articles:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasia
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanesia
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micronesia
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesia
 http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/paclangunit/english
_south_pacific.htm
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