Melanesia
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Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
A pan flute from Solomon Islands, 19th century
Sailors of Melanesia in the Pacific Ocean, 1846
A Melanesian child from Vanuatu
Mount Tavurvur in Papua New Guinea
Jules Dumont d'Urville
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Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his name to several seaweeds, plants and shrubs, and places such as d'Urville Island in New Zealand.
Inauguration of the monument erected in honour of La Pérouse, shipwrecked and lost on the island of Vanikoro.
Dumont d'Urville's expedition at Vanikoro.
Māori men and women on board Astrolabe performing a dance, with a French officer at right.