50 Fun Facts About Pacific Islands

Which Pacific nation skipped 30 December 2011 by moving west across the International Date Line?

Samoa switched its clocks from UTC−11 to UTC+13 at the end of 2011. The change redrew the date line so that it now passes to the east of the country.

Villagers on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu came to revere which British royal as a divine being?

Prince Philip heard about his followers and sent them a signed photograph. They replied with a traditional pig-killing club, and he posed with it for a second picture.

Which Pacific nation, whose capital is Funafuti, earns millions by leasing its internet domain, .tv?

Tuvalu was simply assigned .tv as its country code, but the match with television made the domain valuable. By 2019 its royalties made up 8.4% of government revenue.

Which actor bought the Polynesian atoll of Tetiʻaroa after filming Mutiny on the Bounty nearby?

Marlon Brando first saw the atoll in 1960 while scouting film locations and decided to buy it in 1966. A resort on one of its islets now carries his name.

Which home of the moai statues did Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen name after the holiday he arrived on?

Easter Island was first sighted by Roggeveen on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1722, while he was hunting for a rumoured land. Chile annexed it in 1888.

Which Pacific country, whose capital is Port Moresby, has about 840 languages, more than any other?

Papua New Guinea leans on English and Tok Pisin as shared languages, because many of its hundreds of language groups are very small.

Land diving on Pentecost Island, with vines tied to the ankles, inspired which modern extreme sport?

Bungee jumping pioneer AJ Hackett named the Vanuatu ritual as an inspiration. In 1995 the islanders said they would seek royalties from commercial jump operators.

Which Polynesian kingdom was hit by a tsunami when an undersea volcano erupted in January 2022?

Tonga never gave up its sovereignty to a foreign power. That makes it the only Pacific nation to have kept its own monarchy without a break.

Which Marshall Islands atoll did the United States use for 23 nuclear tests from 1946 to 1958?

Bikini gave its name to the two-piece swimsuit. A French designer unveiled it in Paris in July 1946, four days after the first public bomb test at the atoll.

Which Pacific nation, whose capital is Tarawa, extends into all four of Earth's hemispheres?

Kiribati is pronounced KIRR-i-bass, because the letters 'ti' stand for an s sound in the Gilbertese language. The country is made up of 32 atolls and one solitary island, Banaba.

In which sport did Fiji win its first ever Olympic medal, a gold, at the 2016 Games in Rio?

Rugby sevens is Fiji's national sport, and the Games had never included it before 2016. The men's team won gold again at the next Olympics.

Which US territory in the western Pacific, whose capital is Hagåtña, boasts that America's day begins there?

Guam lies on the Asian side of the International Date Line, so each calendar day reaches it long before the US mainland. Spain ceded the island to the United States after the war of 1898.

Which island, the largest in French Polynesia, is home to the territory's capital, Papeʻete?

Tahiti is also the highest island in French Polynesia, rising to 2,241 metres at Mont Orohena. It is the remains of two extinct volcanoes joined by an isthmus.

Which British territory in the Pacific is peopled by descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers?

Pitcairn Islands families descend mainly from nine mutineers and twelve Polynesian women. In 1856 all 193 islanders sailed away to resettle on Norfolk, but some soon came back.

Which aviator vanished in 1937 while searching for tiny Howland Island on a flight around the world?

Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan never reached the refuelling stop. A stone tower on the island is still known as Earhart Light.

Which raft did Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl sail from Peru to Polynesia in 1947 to test a migration theory?

Kon-Tiki, built from nine balsa logs, drifted for 101 days before smashing into a reef in the Tuamotus. Heyerdahl named the raft after an Inca god.

Which British survey ship gave its name to the deepest known point in any ocean, in the Mariana Trench?

HMS Challenger first located the spot during its expedition of 1872–1876. A second survey ship of the same name established its record-setting depth in the early 1950s.

Which trickster of Polynesian myth is said to have fished up islands with a magical hook?

Māui is also said to have captured the Sun to lengthen the days and to have stolen fire for humans from the underworld. Versions of his exploits are told right across Polynesia.

Which belt of volcanoes and earthquakes runs for about 40,000 km around the rim of the Pacific Ocean?

The Ring of Fire produces about 90% of the world's earthquakes. It also holds around two-thirds of all the planet's active or dormant volcanoes.

Which dormant Hawaiian volcano is the tallest mountain on Earth when measured from its base on the ocean floor?

Mauna Kea rises about 9,330 metres from the sea bed, more than Everest stands above sea level. Less than half of that height shows above the waves.

Which Pacific nation, whose flag shows a golden full moon, created the world's first shark sanctuary in 2009?

Palau banned commercial shark fishing throughout its waters. It is also home to Jellyfish Lake, where golden jellyfish migrate across the water every day.

Which volcanic Pacific archipelago, a province of Ecuador, inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution?

The Galápagos Islands were formally claimed by Ecuador in February 1832, while Darwin's survey voyage was already under way. His ship reached them in September 1835.

On which Micronesian islands did people treasure rai, stone money discs up to 3.6 metres across?

Yap islanders rarely moved the biggest discs. A stone changed hands when the community added the transfer to its spoken history, so ownership never depended on where it stood.

Which French painter sailed for Polynesia in 1891 and died at Atuona in the Marquesas Islands in 1903?

Paul Gauguin left Europe promising to come back a rich man. Instead his last years in the islands were marked by poor health and money troubles.

Which ceremonial Pacific drink is made from the root of a plant in the pepper family?

Kava takes its scientific name, Piper methysticum, from Latin and Greek words meaning 'intoxicating pepper'. The same word covers both the plant and the drink.

Which tree-climbing crustacean of Pacific islands is the largest arthropod living on land?

The coconut crab can weigh up to 4.1 kg. It is the only species in its genus and a giant land-living relative of the hermit crabs.

Which Pacific atoll gave its name to the 1942 battle in which the US sank four Japanese carriers?

Midway cost Japan all four of the fleet carriers it sent into the battle: Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū and Hiryū. The US Navy lost one carrier, the Yorktown.

Which Scottish novelist spent his last years at Vailima in the South Pacific, where locals called him Tusitala?

Robert Louis Stevenson took the name Tusitala, which means teller of tales. When he died in 1894, islanders carried his body up nearby Mount Vaea and buried him overlooking the sea.

Which of the Solomon Islands saw the first major Allied land offensive against Japan, in August 1942?

Guadalcanal was fought over for six months, from 7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943. The campaign took in major battles both on land and in the surrounding seas.

Which Polynesian food plant was HMS Bounty carrying to the West Indies when its crew mutinied in 1789?

Breadfruit was wanted as cheap food for enslaved workers on Caribbean plantations. After the mutiny, William Bligh led a second expedition that delivered the plants in the 1790s.

Which island did Portuguese sailors in the 1500s record as Ilha Formosa, meaning beautiful island?

Taiwan was still widely called Formosa by English speakers well into the 20th century. It lies on the Pacific's western rim, between the East and South China Seas.

On which Japanese island did Joe Rosenthal photograph six US Marines raising a flag on Mount Suribachi?

Iwo Jima gave the war one of its most recognisable images. Rosenthal's picture, taken on 23 February 1945, ran in Sunday newspapers two days later and won that year's Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

From which island in the western Pacific did the B-29 Enola Gay take off to bomb Hiroshima in August 1945?

Tinian's North Field was also the departure point of Bockscar, the B-29 that carried the second atomic bomb to Nagasaki. When its four runways were finished in 1945, it was the largest airfield in the world.

Which Pacific island region takes in Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia?

Melanesia was named in 1832 by the French navigator Jules Dumont d'Urville. He set it beside Micronesia and the older term Polynesia as the three great divisions of the Pacific islands.

Which Greenpeace flagship did French secret agents sink in Auckland harbour in July 1985?

Rainbow Warrior was about to lead a protest against a planned French nuclear test in the Pacific. The scandal forced France's defence minister, Charles Hernu, to resign.

Which fictional castaway gave his name in 1966 to the Chilean island where Alexander Selkirk was marooned?

Robinson Crusoe was partly inspired by Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who lived alone on the island from 1704 to 1709. Chile renamed it to play up the story and attract tourists.

Which country administers Tokelau and is in free association with Niue and the Cook Islands?

New Zealand took over the running of Tokelau from Britain in the 1920s. Its nationality law treats every part of the realm alike, so people from all three island groups share New Zealand citizenship.

Which metal, found in New Caledonia in 1864, became the mainstay of mining in the French territory?

Nickel mining began in earnest there in 1876 with the founding of the Société Le Nickel. The territory later traded its ore to Australia for the coal needed to smelt it.

Which harbour city on the island of Efate is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu?

Port Vila stands on an island that James Cook charted in 1774 and named Sandwich Island. Today the city is the country's economic and commercial centre.

Which Pacific Rim nation of more than 7,000 islands was named in 1543 after a future king of Spain?

The Philippines took their name from the heir to Spain's throne, who later reigned as Felipe II. It was bestowed during the expedition of the explorer Ruy López de Villalobos.

Which astronomical event was James Cook sent to the South Pacific to observe on his first voyage, in 1769?

The transit of Venus was only half the mission of HMS Endeavour. Cook was also told to look for evidence of a rumoured great southern continent.

Which decorated cloth do Pacific islanders make by beating the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree?

Tapa is decorated by rubbing, stamping, stencilling, smoking or dyeing. Migrating voyagers carried the paper mulberry tree into the Pacific from Southeast Asia.

Which European power bought the Caroline Islands from Spain in 1899, only to lose them in the First World War?

Germany also held the Bismarck Archipelago, named in honour of its chancellor. Japan occupied the Carolines during the war and later governed them under a League of Nations mandate.

Which American author drew on wartime navy service for Tales of the South Pacific, later a Broadway musical?

James Michener gathered the stories while stationed as a naval officer on the island of Espiritu Santo. The book won a Pulitzer Prize and reached Broadway as South Pacific in 1949.

Which ruined city of basalt walls and canals off Pohnpei was the Saudeleur dynasty's capital until about 1628?

Nan Madol was built on 92 artificial islets of stone and coral fill, bordered by tidal canals. Its builders hauled the basalt from the far side of the island.

Which atoll in French Polynesia was the site of most of France's nuclear tests between 1966 and 1996?

Moruroa was formally set up as a test site in 1962. The explosions there and at a sister atoll drew international protests, notably in 1974 and 1995.

Which double-hulled voyaging canoe sailed from Hawaii to French Polynesia in 1976 using only traditional navigation?

Hōkūleʻa was launched in 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society. One aim of its instrument-free voyage was to spark a cultural revival among Hawaiians and other Polynesians.

Which ancient seafaring culture, known for stamped pottery, takes its name from a 1952 dig in New Caledonia?

Lapita was coined when archaeologists misheard a local word meaning the place where one digs. The people behind the pottery became direct ancestors of the Polynesians.

A Hawaiian imu and a Māori hāngī are both traditional examples of which cooking method?

An earth oven is a pit in which fire-heated rocks are covered with green vegetation and large amounts of food. Islanders use it to cook for big gatherings all at once.

Which stabilising float, fixed alongside a canoe's main hull, was first developed by Austronesian seafarers?

The outrigger steadies a narrow hull that would otherwise be unstable. Pacific canoes usually carry a single float, while boats in island Southeast Asia often have one on each side.