South Pacific Ocean

Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of Kiribati) about 300 kilometres (190 mi) to the east.

With an area of only 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi), Nauru is the third-smallest country in the world, larger than only Vatican City and Monaco, making it the smallest republic and island nation, as well as the smallest member state of the Commonwealth of Nations by both area and population. Its population of about 10,800 is the world's third-smallest (not including colonies or overseas territories). Nauru is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States.

Niue is a self-governing island country in free association with New Zealand. It is situated in the South Pacific Ocean and is part of Polynesia, and predominantly inhabited by Polynesians. One of the world's largest coral islands, Niue is commonly referred to as "The Rock", which comes from the traditional name "Rock of Polynesia".

Niue's position is inside a triangle drawn between Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. It is 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) northeast of New Zealand, and 604 kilometres (375 mi) northeast of Tonga. Niue's land area is about 261.46 square kilometres (100.95 sq mi) and its population was 1,689 at the Census in 2022.

Geologically one of the youngest inhabited territories on Earth, Easter Island (also called Rapa Nui), located in the mid-Pacific Ocean, was, for most of its history, one of the most isolated. Its inhabitants, the Rapa Nui, have endured famines, epidemics of disease, civil war, environmental collapse, slave raids, various colonial contacts, and have seen their population crash on more than one occasion. The ensuing cultural legacy has brought the island notoriety out of proportion to the number of its inhabitants.

Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of 227,444 km (87,817 sq mi); the second-most-populous state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; and the most densely populated state in Australia (30.6 per km). Victoria's economy is the second-largest among Australian states and is highly diversified, with service sectors predominating.

Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north and South Australia to the west and is bounded by the Bass Strait to the south (with the exception of a small land border with Tasmania located along Boundary Islet), the Southern Ocean to the southwest, and the Tasman Sea (a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean) to the southeast. The state encompasses a range of climates and geographical features from its temperate coastal and central regions to the Victorian Alps in the northeast and the semi-arid northwest.

The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about 2,000 km (1,200 mi) across and about 2,800 km (1,700 mi) from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 was the first known European to cross it. British explorer Lieutenant James Cook later extensively navigated the Tasman Sea in the 1770s during his three voyages of exploration.

The Māori people of New Zealand call this sea Te Moana-a-Rehua meaning 'the sea of Rehua' which clashes with the Pacific waters named Te Tai-o-Whitirea ('the sea of Whitirea') – after Whitirea, Rehua's lover – at Cape Reinga, the northernmost tip of North Island.

The Leeward Islands (French: îles Sous-le-Vent, pronounced [il suləvɑ̃], lit. 'Under-the-Wind Islands'; Tahitian: Fenua Raro Mata’i) are the western part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France, in the South Pacific Ocean. They lie south of the Line Islands (part of Kiribati), east of the Cooks and north of the Austral Islands (also part of French Polynesia). Their area is around 404 km (156 sq mi) and their population is over 36,000.

Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (part of the South Pacific Ocean). It is the location of significant landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. The location of the first European settlement and colony on the Australian mainland, Port Jackson has continued to play a key role in the history and development of Sydney.

Port Jackson, in the early days of the colony, was also used as a shorthand for Sydney and its environs. Thus, many botanists, see, e.g., Robert Brown's Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen, described their specimens as having been collected at Port Jackson.

Cook Strait (Māori: Te Moana-o-Raukawa, lit. 'The Sea of Raukawa') is a strait that separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is 22 kilometres (14 mi) wide at its narrowest point, and has been described as "one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world". Regular ferry services run across the strait between Picton in the Marlborough Sounds and Wellington.

The strait is named after James Cook, the first European commander to sail through it, in 1770. The waters of Cook Strait are dominated by strong tidal flows. The tidal flow through Cook Strait is unusual in that the tidal elevation at the ends of the strait are almost exactly out of phase with one another, so high water on one side meets low water on the other. A number of ships have been wrecked in Cook Strait with significant loss of life, such as the Maria in 1851, the City of Dunedin in 1865, the St Vincent in 1869, the Lastingham in 1884, SS Penguin in 1909 and TEV Wahine in 1968.

Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of Kiribati) about 300 kilometres (190 mi) to the east.

With an area of only 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi; 2,100 ha; 5,200 acres), Nauru is the third-smallest country in the world, larger than only Vatican City and Monaco, making it the smallest republic and island state, as well as the smallest member state of the Commonwealth of Nations by both area and population. Its population of about 10,800 is the world's third-smallest (not including colonies or overseas territories). Nauru is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States.

The culture of the Cook Islands reflects the traditions of its fifteen islands as a Polynesian island country, spread over 1,800,000 square kilometres (690,000 sq mi) in the South Pacific Ocean. The traditions are based on the influences of those who settled the Cook Islands over many centuries. Polynesian people from Tahiti settled in the Cook Islands in the 6th century. Portuguese captain Pedro Fernandes de Queirós made the first recorded European landing in the islands in the early 17th century, and well over a hundred years later, in the 18th century, the British navigator, Captain James Cook arrived, giving the islands their current name. Missionaries developed a written language, bringing schools and Christianity to the Cook Islands in the early 19th century. Cook Islands Māori, also known as Māori Kūki 'Āirani or Rarotongan, is the country's official language.

The Culture Division of the Cook Islands Government supports and preserves the country's national heritage. One of the popular traditional dances of the Cook Islands is the ura, a sacred ritual usually performed by a female who moves her body to tell a story, accompanied by intense drumming by at least five drummers. The craft of the locals can be seen in dresses, sarongs, and jewellery crafted with local products, such as shells, and an important practice among women is tivaevae, a type of quilting. Typical cuisine consumed in the Cook Island is fresh seafood such as octopus or clams, lamb or suckling pig, and fresh fruit, especially coconut. Rugby union and bowling are popular sports, and the islands hosted the 1986 Pacific Cup and the 1998 Polynesia Cup. The House of Ariki (Are Ariki) offers dignity but limited power to the ariki, historical chiefs in the islands' social hierarchy.

On 3 June 1769, navigator Captain James Cook, naturalist Joseph Banks, astronomer Charles Green and naturalist Daniel Solander recorded the transit of Venus from the island of Tahiti during Cook's first voyage around the world. During a transit, Venus appears as a small black disc travelling across the Sun. Transits of Venus occur in a pattern that repeats itself every 243 years, with two transits that are eight years apart, separated by breaks of 121.5 and 105.5 years. These men, along with a crew of scientists, were commissioned by the Royal Society of London for the primary purpose of viewing the transit of Venus. Not only would their findings help expand scientific knowledge, it would help with navigation by accurately calculating the observer's longitude. At this time, longitude was difficult to determine and not always precise. A "secret" mission that followed the transit included the exploration of the South Pacific to find the legendary Terra Australis Incognita or "unknown land of the South".

Alexander Selkirk (1676 – 13 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709) after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean.

Selkirk was an unruly youth and joined buccaneering voyages to the South Pacific during the War of the Spanish Succession. One such expedition was on Cinque Ports, captained by Thomas Stradling, under the overall command of William Dampier. Stradling's ship stopped to resupply at the uninhabited Juan Fernández Islands, west of South America, and Selkirk judged correctly that the craft was unseaworthy and asked to be left there. Selkirk's suspicions were soon justified, as Cinque Ports foundered near Malpelo Island 400 km (250 mi) from the coast of what is now Colombia.

Robinson Crusoe Island (Spanish: Isla Róbinson Crusoe, pronounced [ˈisla ˈroβinsoŋ kɾuˈso]) is the largest of the Juan Fernández Islands, situated 670 km (362 nmi; 416 mi) west of San Antonio, Chile, in the South Pacific Ocean. It is the more populous of the inhabited islands in the archipelago (the other being Alejandro Selkirk Island), with most of that in the town of San Juan Bautista at Cumberland Bay on the island's north coast. The island was formerly known as Más a Tierra ('Closer to Land').

From 1704 to 1709, the island was home to the marooned Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, who at least partially inspired novelist Daniel Defoe's fictional Robinson Crusoe in his 1719 novel, although the novel is explicitly set in the Caribbean. This was just one of several survival stories from the period of which Defoe would have been aware. To reflect the literary lore associated with the island and attract tourists, the Chilean government renamed it Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.

Pago Pago (/ˈpɑːŋoʊˈpɑːŋoʊ/ or /ˈpɑːŋɡoʊˈpɑːŋɡoʊ/ PAHNG-goh-PAHNG-goh; Samoan: Samoan pronunciation: [ˈpaŋo ˈpaŋo] ) is the capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County on Tutuila, the main island of American Samoa.

Pago Pago is home to one of the deepest natural harbors in the South Pacific Ocean, sheltered from wind and rough seas, and strategically located. The harbor is also one of the best protected in the South Pacific, which gives American Samoa a natural advantage because it makes landing fish for processing easier. Tourism, entertainment, food, and tuna canning are its main industries. As of 1993, Pago Pago was the world's fourth-largest tuna processor. In 2009, the total value of fish landed in Pago Pago—about $200,000,000 annually—is higher than in any other port in any U.S. state or territory. It is home to the largest tuna cannery in the world.

The D'Entrecasteaux Channel /ˌdɒntrəˈkæstoʊ/ is a body of water located between Bruny Island and the south-east of mainland Tasmania, Australia. The channel forms the estuarine mouth for both the Derwent and Huon Rivers and empties into the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean. It was sighted by Abel Tasman in 1642 and later surveyed in 1792 by Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.

Towns along the channel include Margate, Snug, Kettering, Woodbridge, Flowerpot, Middleton and Gordon.