If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

Main content

About this unit

The great expanse of the Pacific Ocean is inhabited space. Pacific islanders have always been skilled navigators and linguists. For many of these people the ocean is not so much a barrier as a known landscape, across which they travel constantly. Explore the British Museum's unparalleled collection of art and artifacts from the Pacific Islands that make up Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.