Pacific Islands

The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The "Pacific Islands" is a term broadly referring to the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Depending on the context, it may refer to countries and islands with common Austronesian origins, islands once or currently colonized, or Oceania.

Name ambiguity

In English, the umbrella term Pacific Islands may take on several meanings. Sometimes it refers to only those islands covered by the geopolitical concept of Oceania. In some common uses, the term "Pacific Island" refers to the islands of the Pacific Ocean once colonized by the British, French, Dutch, United States, and Japanese, such as the Pitcairn Islands, Taiwan, and Borneo. In other uses it may refer to islands with Austronesian heritage like Taiwan, Indonesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, Myanmar islands, which found their genesis in the Neolithic cultures of the island of Taiwan. There are many other islands located within the boundaries of the Pacific Ocean that are not considered part of Oceania. These islands include the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador; the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, United States; Vancouver Island in Canada; the Russian islands of Sakhalin and Kuril Islands; the island nation of Taiwan and other islands of the Republic of China; the Philippines; islands in the South China Sea, which includes the disputed South China Sea Islands; most of the islands of Indonesia; and the island nation of Japan, which comprises the Japanese Archipelago.

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Latest News for: pacific island

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Administration bolstering diplomatic ties, source says

Taipei Times 23 Mar 2025
Taiwan’s allies in the Pacific region, such ... China’s attempts to expand by poking a hole in the first island chain has become one of the greatest challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, the source said.
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How Guam won its first international football game in Fiji

Guam Pacific Daily News 23 Mar 2025
By Paul Addison For Pacific Daily News Mar 23, 2025 6 hrs ago 0 ... In 1975, when Guam played its first international matches at the South Pacific Games, FIFA placed the island near the very bottom of its rankings ... Returning to the island, Gov.
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Bruce Lee statue in San Francisco to honor ‘a story for all Americans’

The Observer 23 Mar 2025
The statue comes at a time when Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders remain concerned about the spike in violence in recent years, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic.
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After Pentagon temporarily purges references to Native American Code Talkers’ contributions to World War II, here’s a look back at

The Spokesman-Review 23 Mar 2025
They landed in the Solomon Islands, in Guam and in one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific campaign – Iwo Jima ... Our language was used … to win the South Pacific battle?” said Draper, who had five uncles who were Code Talkers.
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Amid plummeting diversity at medical schools, a warning of DEI crackdown’s ‘chilling effect’

Baltimore Sun 23 Mar 2025
New Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander enrollment declined 4.3% ... In early February, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against the University of California-San Francisco’s Benioff ...
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Trump won't like what happens if Canada becomes our 51st state

The Hill 23 Mar 2025
President Trump wants to annex Canada and make it America’s 51st state ... Canada has 41 million people ... Annexing Canada would be very costly ... Given all the islands up there and the lengthy Atlantic and Pacific coastlines, that protection will be costly.
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Musk is positioned to profit off billions in new government contracts

East Bay Times 23 Mar 2025
Musk then persuaded Trump to put him in charge of the cost-cutting effort ... A few weeks later, the Air Force disclosed plans to build a rocket landing pad on Johnston Atoll, a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, to test these cargo ship landings ... Maj. Gen.
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Committed To Support Pacific Island Nations, India Ships Dialysis Unit To Kiribati

MENA FN 22 Mar 2025
(MENAFN - IANS) New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) India on Saturday shipped a consignment of six-bedded container-based Dialysis Unit to help strengthen the healthcare system of Kiribati, an island country ... .
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Tennis hosts Pacific Nations Cup trials

Cook Islands News 22 Mar 2025
Tennis Cook Islands is holding the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup trials this week, which have showcased exceptional performances from the players at the Nikao courts ... Tennis Cook Islands president Davina ...
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'Father of Football' recalls golden birth of Guam soccer

Guam Pacific Daily News 22 Mar 2025
By Paul Addison For Pacific Daily News Mar 22, 2025 10 hrs ago 0 ... Held in August at the peak of the rainy season, the games were “the biggest rain-soaked near-disaster in island history,” according to Pacific Islands Monthly magazine.
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Miss Cook Islands inspires Atiu youth through mentorship programme

Cook Islands News 22 Mar 2025
“Miss Cook Islands ... Under the Miss Cook Islands Pageant Association (MCIPA), Maoate represented the Cook Islands at the 38th Miss Pacific Islands Pageant held in Honiara, Solomon Islands in February.
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The Curse of Oak Island Season 12 Episode 17 Release Date, Time, Where to Watch

Coming Soon 22 Mar 2025
The Curse of Oak Island Season 12 Episode 17 release date and time is right around the corner, and fans are eager to know the streaming details ... When is The Curse of Oak Island Season 12 Episode 17 release date & time?.
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Lori Dengler | Tsunami Week 2025 features an opportunity to hone tsunami evacuation skills

Times Standard 22 Mar 2025
In January 2022, a tsunami alert was triggered by an explosive eruption in the Tonga Islands area of the southwest Pacific putting the entire California coast into a Tsunami ADVISORY (strong currents on beaches and harbors, no threat of flooding).
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Iguanas likely crossed the Pacific millions of years ago on a record-setting rafting trip

The Vindicator 22 Mar 2025
NEW YORK — Researchers have long wondered how iguanas got to Fiji, a collection of remote islands in the South Pacific ... Scientists think that’s how iguanas got to the Galapagos Islands off of Ecuador and between islands in the Caribbean ... .
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U.S. defense chief Pete Hegseth to visit Japan next week

Japan Times 22 Mar 2025
Hegseth will visit the Pacific island of Iwo Jima to participate in a joint memorial ceremony as Japan and the U.S. mark 80 years since the end of World War II ... .
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