<P> In Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively . After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888 . By occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations . By 1900 nearly all Pacific islands were in control of Britain, France, United States, Germany, Japan, and Chile . </P> <P> Although the United States gained control of Guam and the Philippines from Spain in 1898, Japan controlled most of the western Pacific by 1914 and occupied many other islands during World War II . However, by the end of that war, Japan was defeated and the U.S. Pacific Fleet was the virtual master of the ocean . Since the end of World War II, many former colonies in the Pacific have become independent states . </P> <P> The Pacific separates Asia and Australia from the Americas . It may be further subdivided by the equator into northern (North Pacific) and southern (South Pacific) portions . It extends from the Antarctic region in the South to the Arctic in the north . The Pacific Ocean encompasses approximately one - third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 165,200,000 km (63,800,000 sq mi)--significantly larger than Earth's entire landmass of some 150,000,000 km (58,000,000 sq mi). </P> <P> Extending approximately 15,500 km (9,600 mi) from the Bering Sea in the Arctic to the northern extent of the circumpolar Southern Ocean at 60 ° S (older definitions extend it to Antarctica's Ross Sea), the Pacific reaches its greatest east - west width at about 5 ° N latitude, where it stretches approximately 19,800 km (12,300 mi) from Indonesia to the coast of Colombia--halfway around the world, and more than five times the diameter of the Moon . The lowest known point on Earth--the Mariana Trench--lies 10,911 m (35,797 ft; 5,966 fathoms) below sea level . Its average depth is 4,280 m (14,040 ft; 2,340 fathoms), putting the total water volume at roughly 710,000,000 km (170,000,000 cu mi). </P>

Where does the pacific ocean begin and end