Melanesia is a subregion within Oceania covering New Guinea, the Fiji Islands, and a number of other countries and territories in between:
Countries
- Fiji
- Papua New Guinea
- Solomon Islands
- Vanuatu
Territories
- Aru Islands
- Central Papua
- Highland Papua
- New Caledonia
- Papua
- South Papua
- Southwest Papua
- West Papua
Melanesia slots in between Polynesia, Micronesia, Australia, and Malesia, a biogeographical which also includes Papua New Guinea. And there’s also Papuasia which is another biogeographical region including the Aru Islands, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea again. That makes Papua New Guinea something of a pivot territory between three different regions.
Melanesia has a combined population of over 14.3 million and is rich in cultural history.