Micronesia (from either a Greek words μικρόν = small & νησί = island) is the title of the region in the Pacific Ocean. A Philippines lie to the west, Indonesia to the south west, Papua New Guinea and Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the south-east and east.

Geography and History
This vicinity of Oceania consists of many hundreds of little islands spread over the big vicinity of the american Pacific.

A term "Micronesia" was foremost proposed to distinguish a vicinity around 1831 by Jules Dumont d'Urville; before this the term "Polynesia" was in use to generally describe the islands of the Pacific.

Politically, Micronesia is divided between eight territories: a Federated States of Micronesia (sometimes referred to just when "Micronesia", or even as an alternative abbreviated "FSM"); a Republic of the Marshall Islands; a Republic of Palau; a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; a Republic of Nauru; a Republic of Kiribati; a Territory of Guam. a Territory of Wake Island.

Great deal of the region was to are under European domination quite early. Guam, a Northern Marianas, & a Caroline Islands (what would later be a FSM & Palau) were colonized early per Spanish. Good European expansion did non are, nevertheless, until a late 19th century, while a metropolitan area would become divided between: a United States, which took Guam and Wake up Island; Germany, which took Nauru & a Marshall, Caroline, and Northern Mariana Islands; and a British Empire, which took the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati).

When you took a First World War, Germany's Pacific isl& territories were taken from it and were processed into League of Nations Mandates. Nauru became an Australian mandate, while Germany's more territories were given when mandates to Japan. This remained a situation until Japan's kill in the 2nd Globe War, after its mandates became the United Nations Trusteeship ruled by a United States, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Now, a lot of Micronesia (by owning a exceptions of Guam, a Northern Mariana Islands & Wake up Island, which are then U.S. territories) come independent states.

Languages
A native languages of the various Micronesian indigenous peoples are classified under the Austronesian language family. About 100% one languages belong to the Oceanic subgroup of this family; nevertheless, tierce exceptions come noted within American Micronesia, which belong to the Western Malayo-Polynesian subgroup: Chamorro in the Mariana Islands, Yapese in the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palauan in Palau. This latter subgroup likewise includes quite an few languages spoken now in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia (Kirch, 2000: pp. 166-167).

On a eastern edge of the Federated States of Micronesia, the languages Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi represent an extreme westward extension of Polynesian.