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Melanesia)
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia.
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The original inhabitants of the group of islands now named Melanesia were likely the ancestors of the present-day Papuan-speaking people. They appear to have occupied these islands as far east as the main islands in the Solomon Islands, including Makira and possibly the smaller islands farther to the east. In many parts of Melanesia, particularly the New Hebrides (Vanuatu), the encroachments of the Europeans took place with the same mixture of brutality and indifference that marked the process elsewhere in the Pacific. A fairly compact chain of large and small islands, chiefly volcanic in origin but here and there still being some active volcanoes. The climate is tropically humid and forest and jungle prevail, affording shelter and seclusion for the inland tribe, who remain as aloof from one another as they are from the remote coastal folk. The result of this is that, while there is a degree of physical variation among Melanesians, there is everywhere a much greater, indeed a remarkable, diversity of language and culture.
