Q 01/05

Polynesia is made up of roughly how many islands?

A) Over 1,000

B) About 100

C) About 250

D) Over 10,000

Answer · why

A) Over 1,000

They are scattered across the central and southern Pacific, with most of the land area in New Zealand.

Q 02/05

Which three points define the corners of the Polynesian Triangle?

A) Tahiti, Fiji and Hawaii

B) Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island

C) Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand

D) Hawaii, Fiji and Easter Island

Answer · why

B) Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island

Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue and French Polynesia all lie inside it.

Q 03/05

Which French writer first used the term 'Polynésie' in 1756?

A) Louis de Bougainville

B) Jules Dumont d'Urville

C) Charles de Brosses

D) Denis Diderot

Answer · why

C) Charles de Brosses

He applied it to all Pacific islands; Dumont d'Urville narrowed the definition in an 1831 lecture.

Q 04/05

Which country holds over 270,000 of Polynesia's roughly 300,000 square km of land?

A) French Polynesia

B) Hawaii (US)

C) Samoa

D) New Zealand

Answer · why

D) New Zealand

The Hawaiian archipelago makes up about half of what remains.

Q 05/05

Norfolk Island and Ouvéa are unsubmerged parts of which largely sunken continent?

A) Zealandia

B) Lemuria

C) Atlantis

D) Gondwana

Answer · why

A) Zealandia

It is thought to have mostly sunk about 23 million years ago before part of it was uplifted again.