Pacific Islander

Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oceania (Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia) or any other island located in the Pacific Ocean. Melanesians include the Fijians (Fiji), Kanaks (New Caledonia), Ni-Vanuatu (Vanuatu), Papua New Guineans (Papua New Guinea), Solomon Islanders (Solomon Islands), West Papuans (Indonesia's West Papua), Moluccans (Indonesia's Maluku Islands), and Torres Strait Islanders (Australia's Torres Strait Islands). Micronesians include the Carolinians (Caroline Islands), Chamorros (Guam and Northern Mariana Islands), Chuukese (Chuuk), I-Kiribati (Kiribati), Kosraeans (Kosrae), Marshallese (Marshall Islands), Nauruans (Nauru) Palauans (Palau), Pohnpeians (Pohnpei), and Yapese (Yap). Polynesians include the Māori people (New Zealand), Native Hawaiians (United States' Hawaii), Rapa Nui (Chile's Easter Island), Samoans (Samoa and American Samoa), Tahitians (Tahiti), Tokelauans (Tokelau), Niueans (Niue), Cook Islands Māori (Cook Islands), Tongans (Tonga), Wallisians, and Futunans (Wallis and Futuna). The term Pasifika was first used in New Zealand to designate the non-indigenous ethnic groups arriving from the aforementioned Pacific nations, excluding New Zealand itself; this term, when used in New Zealand, does not encompass the indigenous Māori people. Auckland in New Zealand has the world's largest concentration of urban Pacific Islanders living outside of their own countries, and is sometimes referred to as the "Polynesian capital of the world." This came as result of a steady stream of immigration from Polynesian countries such as Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Niue, and French Polynesia in the 20th and 21st centuries. The umbrella terms Pacific Islands and Pacific Islanders may also take on several other meanings. At times, the term Pacific Islands only refers to islands within the cultural regions of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia, and to tropical islands with oceanic geology in...