DCW Stamps

Information About the Islands of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia

Polynesia means "many islands" and refers to the roughly triangular region with vertices at the Hawaiian Islands, Easter Island and New Zealand. There have been 14 stamp-issuing entities in Polynesia.

Melanesia means "dark islands" and refers to the fact that Melanesians are darker-skinned than Polynesians. The islands of Melanesia are in the South Pacific west of Polynesia. There have been 12 stamp-issuing entities in Melanesia.

Micronesia means "small islands" and refers to the very small size of the atolls and islands of Micronesia, which are in the North Pacific west of Polynesia. There have been 9 stamp-issuing entities in Micronesia.

**Stamp Issuing Entities of Polynesia**
Aitutaki	Niue	Tokelau
Cook Islands	Penrhyn	Tonga
French Polynesia	Pitcairn Islands	Tuvalu
Hawaii	Samoa	Wallis and Futuna Islands
New Zealand	Tahiti	.

**Stamp Issuing Entities of Melanesia**
Fiji	New Hebrides-British	Solomon Islands
German New Guinea	New Hebrides-French	Vanuatu
New Britain	Norfolk Island	.
New Caledonia	North West Pacific Islands	.
New Guinea	Papua New Guinea	.

**Stamp Issuing Entities of Micronesia**
Caroline Islands	Kiribati	Micronesia (Federated Republic of)
Gilbert and Ellice Islands	Mariana Islands	Nauru
Guam	Marshall Islands	Palau