Guam and Micronesia: Research Sites in the Asia-Pacific Region

Abstract

Pacific means “peaceful.” Ferdinand Magellan named it when he became the first European to sail across the ocean in 1521. Since it was so calm, he called it the Pacific Ocean. Magellan never saw one of the Pacific typhoons. A few years before Magellan, a Spanish explorer named Balboa was the first European to see the ocean when he walked across the Isthmus of Panama. Since he was facing south, he named the ocean the South Seas. Actually, most of the ocean was to the west of him. If you look at a globe of the Earth, you will notice that the Pacific Ocean is the single largest feature on Earth. All other oceans and all continents are smaller than the Pacific. (Ridgell, 1995, p. 3)