The world’s smallest island nation. 80% of the island cannot support life due to massive phosphate mining.
As seas begin to rise, climate change refugees are coming out of Kiribati
During the period from June 30, 1946, to August 18, 1958, the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, all of which were considered atmospheric. The most powerful of those tests was the "Bravo" shot, a 15 megaton device detonated on March 1, 1954, at Bikini atoll. That test alone was equivalent to 1,000 Hiroshima bombs.
Quick Write• What US state is an archipelago?• What are atolls made of?
US Territories in Oceania• Northern Mariana Islands• Guam• America Samoa• Midway (wildlife refuge)• Uninhabited Islands – Wake Island – Johnston Atoll – Baker Island – Howland Island – Jarvis Island – Kingman Reef
Oceania• Melanesia means black islands• Micronesia means small islands• Polynesia means many islands
High Islands and Low Islands• Volcanoes form high islands, which generally can support more people and have a more fertile soil.• Low islands are reefs or atolls, and are relatively small and infertile.• Melanesia—mostly high islands• Micronesia and Polynesia— mostly low islands
Quick Write• Name one US territory in the Pacific• Name one of the three regions of Oceania• Reef and atolls make up which type of islands?• Volcanoes make up which type of islands?
Melanesia• Papua New Guinea• Fiji Islands• Solomon Islands• Vanuatu• New Caledonia
Quick Write• What country is on an island which is part of two continents—Asia and Australia/Oceania?• What European country used to own New Caledonia?
Micronesia• During World War II, the US fought a number of bloody battles against Japan on these islands• Northern Mariana Islands (US territory)• Guam (US territory)• Palau• Nauru• Kiribati• Marshall Islands• Federates States of Micronesia
Pitcairn Island • Mutiny on the Bounty 1795 • 8 English crewmen, 6 Tahitian men, 18 women (most of them kidnapped) and a baby settled on the island to avoid the British Navy • Today most of the 67 inhabitants are descendants of this group