Christmas Island lietuviškai

Paaiškinimas anglų kalba

• The collective name for islands of the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines, including the Mariana, PALAU, Caroline, Marshall, and Kiribati Islands. Micronesia is from the Greek micro, small + nesos, island, so named because the islands in this group are much smaller than those in MELANESIA. Micronesia is inhabited by a mixed race of Melanesians, Polynesians, and some Malaysians. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p761&Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p350);A group of islands containing 16 atolls in the western Pacific Ocean. Though discovered probably as early as 1567, it was associated with the British for the next 300 years. It was proclaimed a British protectorate in 1892 and made a part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in 1915. It became a separate territory in 1976 and achieved independence in 1979 when it was named Kiribati. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p443)