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Oceania

(Encyclopedia)Oceania ōshēănˈĭkə [key], collective name for the approximately 25,000 islands of the Pacific, usually excluding such nontropical areas as the Ryukyu and Aleutian islands and Japan, as well as T...

Oceanic languages

(Encyclopedia)Oceanic languages, aboriginal languages spoken in the region known as Oceania. If Oceania is restricted to the Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian islands, the indigenous tongues spoken on these i...

South Seas

(Encyclopedia)South Seas, name given by early explorers to the whole of the Pacific Ocean. In recent times the name has been used to mean only the central Pacific, the S Pacific, and the SW Pacific. More particular...

Micronesia

(Encyclopedia)Micronesia mīkrōnēˈzhə, –shə [key], one of the three main divisions of Oceania, in W Pacific Ocean, north of the equator. Micronesia includes the Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, Mariana Is...

Museum of Primitive Art

(Encyclopedia)Museum of Primitive Art, New York City, a privately supported institution, established in 1957. It was devoted entirely to the arts of the indigenous cultures of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas and ...

Polynesia

(Encyclopedia)Polynesia pŏlĭnēˈzhə, –shə [key] [Gr.,=many islands], one of the three main divisions of Oceania, in the central and S Pacific Ocean. The larger islands are volcanic; the smaller ones are gene...

Australasia

(Encyclopedia)Australasia ôstrəlāˈzhə, –shə [key], islands of the South Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and adjacent islands. The term is sometimes used to include all of Oceania. ...

Schmidt, Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Schmidt, Wilhelm, 1868–1954, German linguist and anthropologist, a Roman Catholic priest. Educated at the universities of Berlin and Vienna, he entered the Society of the Divine Word in 1890. Residi...

Melanesia

(Encyclopedia)Melanesia mĕlənēˈzhə, –shə [key], one of the three main divisions of Oceania, in the SW Pacific Ocean, NE of Australia and S of the equator. Melanesia includes the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Ne...

Dumont d'Urville, Jules Sébastien César

(Encyclopedia)Dumont d'Urville, Jules Sébastien César zhül sābästyăNˈ sāzärˈ dümôNˈ dürvēlˈ [key], 1790–1842, French navigator. While on duty (1819–20) in the E Mediterranean, he saw and recogni...

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