Melanesian mythology is a European way of referring to the custom stories of the world area known since the 19th century as "Melanesia", an umbrella term used for the archipelagos of New Guinea, the Torres Strait Islands, the Admiralty Islands, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu. In this geographical area are approximately one quarter of all the languages spoken on earth, and many diverse and disparate peoples with little in common except inhabiting what to Westerners appears to be one place, the so-called "Melanesia".