Polynesia
The international date line crosses the middle of this group. Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu are the sovereign states in it, and the rest are dependencies of the United States, New Zealand, France and the United Kingdom. The corners of the Polynesian triangle, Hawaii, New Zealand and Rapa Nui, are all filed elsewhere in this catalogue.
10 countries
Common questions
Questions about Polynesia
Which countries and territories are filed under Polynesia?
Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu as sovereign states; American Samoa as a territory of the United States; the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau under New Zealand; French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna under France; and the Pitcairn Islands under the United Kingdom. The M49 standard of the UN Statistics Division draws the same group.
Why is New Zealand not filed in Polynesia?
New Zealand is one of the three corners of the Polynesian triangle, with Hawaii and Rapa Nui, and each corner is filed with the state that administers it: New Zealand under Australasia, Hawaii inside the United States, Rapa Nui under Chile. The catalogue records both the cultural reading and the administrative one and takes no position on which grouping is right.
Why do Samoa and American Samoa keep different dates?
Samoa and Tokelau moved from the eastern to the western side of the international date line at the end of 29 December 2011, and Friday 30 December 2011 did not occur there. Apia has kept UTC+13 since, and Pago Pago, about 125 kilometres away, keeps UTC-11, so the two read the same hour on different calendar dates.