Traditional Oceanic Art

A broad museological category for the traditional art of Oceania, a geographic grouping for regions of Southern Hemisphere islands in the Pacific Ocean. The category encompasses the diverse cultural production of thousands of different peoples; for instance, more than 800 different languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea alone. The geographic region Oceania includes Australia and New Zealand, Melanesia (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu), Micronesia (Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau) and Polynesia (including New Zealand, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Easter Island, French Polynesia, Niue, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Wallis and Futuna Islands).