The Pacific Islands: at the heart or on the margins of globalisation?

March 2007 When we talk about the Pacific Islands, they do not only include the large archipelagos on the Asian borders (Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia), but also all the small islands forming what is traditionally known as the Oceanian Islands, so as to differentiate them from the “great Oceanian lands”, Australia and New Zealand. These islands illustrate the paradox of being the most isolated lands in the world of Oceanian vastness, yet highly populated, well before the arrival of Europe..