PACIFIC OCEAN

Speciality

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.25 million square kilometres (63.8 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean – and, in turn, the hydrosphere – covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined. The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft).[3]The eastern Pacific Ocean was first sighted by Europeans in the early 16th century when Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and discovered the great "southern sea" which he named Mar del Sur. The ocean's current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He therefore called it Mar Pacifico in Portuguese, meaning "peaceful sea.

History

Important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. About 3000 BC speakers of the Austronesian languages, probably on the island of Taiwan, mastered the art of long-distance canoe travel and spread themselves, or their languages, south to the Philippines and Indonesia and east to the islands of Micronesia and Melanesia. The greatest migrations took place through the Polynesians, from the Asian edge of the ocean to Tahiti, Hawaii, New Zealand, Easter Island and possibly even America.

Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan. Trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of this trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality. From 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean.

The Martin Waldseemüller map of 1507 was the first to show the Americas separating two distinct oceans.

The direct contact of the European fleets with western edges of the Pacific began with the Portuguese expeditions of António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão to the Maluku Islands in 1512, and with Jorge Álvares's expedition to southern China in 1513,both ordered by Afonso de Albuquerque. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. His expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached the Pacific Ocean in 1513.He named it Mar del Sur (literally, "Sea of the South", or South Sea).

Geography

The Pacific separates Asia and Australia from the Americas. It may be further subdivided by the equator into northern (North Pacific) and southern (South Pacific) portions. It extends from the Antarctic region in the South to the Arctic in the north. The Pacific Ocean encompasses approximately one-third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 165.2 million square kilometres (63.8 million square miles) —significantly larger than Earth's entire landmass of some 150 million square kilometres (58 million square miles