Polynesia

Polynesia (Greek polus, "many." and nesos, "island"), a term often used vaguely to designate all the islands of the Pacific Ocean, but restricted by many geographers to the groups lying between the tropics and E.. of the Philippines and New Hebrides. From this point of view, includes the Tonga, Samoa, Cook, Marquesas, and Society Islands; whilst the New Hebrides, Solomon, Fiji, Queen Charlotte, and Loyalty Islands, with New Britain and New Caledonia, are classed under the title Melanesia, Micronesia being the name given to the small islets dotted about to N. and N.W. of these groups, the Sandwich Islands forming an independent cluster. In its extended sense, Polynesia is much the same as Oceania.