This photo of my photoalbum was taken in Okinawa.

This region of Oceania consists of many hundreds of small islands spread over a large region of the western Pacific. The only empire known to have originated in Micronesia was based in Yap. The term "Micronesia" was first proposed to distinguish the region in 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 into eight nation-states and territories:
* the Federated States of Micronesia (sometimes referred to simply as "Micronesia", or abbreviated as "FSM"), which consists of four states: Kosrae, Yap, Pohnpei, and Chuuk;
* the Republic of the Marshall Islands;
* the Republic of Palau;
* the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands;
* the Republic of Nauru;
* the Republic of Kiribati;
* the Territory of Guam;
* the Territory of Wake Island.
Much of the area was to come under European domination quite early. Guam, the Northern Marianas, and the Caroline Islands (what would later become the FSM and Palau) were colonized early by the Spanish. These island territories were part of the Spanish East Indies and governed from Spanish Philippines since the early 17th century until 1898. Full European expansion did not come, however, until the early 20th century, when the area would be divided between:

East Rennell is the southern portion of Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands which is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site is unique because it is the largest coral atoll in the world and contains many endemic species.