Pacific Islands : The quest for world's newest nation

These Islands are the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The original inhabitants of the Pacific Islands are referred to as Pacific Islanders. These islands are many. They can be classified into major, small or uninhabited.

Now, a referendum in the Bougainville island group has delivered a decisive 97 per cent endorsement for independence from the Papua New Guinea mainland.

Bougainville lies about 1,000 miles northeast of Australia.