British sea captain William KEELING discovered the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 1609, and they were named for their coconut trees...

Although Europeans sighted Christmas Island in 1615, it was named for the day of its rediscovery in 1643. Steep cliffs...

Aboriginal Australians arrived on the continent at least 60,000 years ago and developed complex hunter-gatherer societies and oral histories. Dutch...

Indonesian fishermen have long fished in the area around Ashmore Reef and Cartier Island. British explorers were the first Europeans...

Tutuila -- the largest island in American Samoa -- was settled by 1000 B.C., and the island served as a...

American sailor John HEARD discovered Heard Island in 1853 while fellow American William MCDONALD discovered the McDonald Islands the following...

In 2007, the Iles Eparses became an integral part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF). The Southern Lands...

This uninhabited volcanic island in Antarctica is almost entirely covered by glaciers, making it difficult to approach. Bouvet Island is...

Speculation over the existence of a "southern land" was confirmed in the early 1820s when British and American commercial operators...

The hunter-gatherer San people first inhabited the area that eventually became Zimbabwe. Farming communities migrated to the area around A.D....

Bantu-speaking groups mainly from the Luba and Lunda Kingdoms in the Congo River Basin and from the Great Lakes region...