Geography of New Caledonia point is Mont Panié at elevation. The total area of New Caledonia is , of those being land. A territorial dispute exists with regard to the uninhabited Matthew and Hunter Islands, which are claimed by both France (as part of New Caledonia) and Vanuatu. The New Caledonian archipelago is a microcontinental island chain which originated as a fragment of Zealandia, a nearly submerged continent or microcontinent which was part of the southern supercontinent of Gondwana during the time of the dinosaurs. The Grande Terre group of New Caledonia, with Mont Panié at as its highest point, is the most elevated
Solomon Islands (archipelago) Solomon Islands (archipelago) The Solomon Islands are an archipelago in the western South Pacific Ocean, located northeast of Australia. They are in the Melanesia subregion and bioregion of Oceania. The archipelago forms much of the territory of Solomon Islands, while the northwestern islands are within the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, in eastern Papua New Guinea. It forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The Solomon Islands consist of both volcanic islands of varying activity and of coral atolls. Bougainville Island is the largest in the archipelago. The climate of the islands is tropical, however temperatures do not greatly fluctuate