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Information about Oceania

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World map exhibiting a common interpretation of Oceania; other interpretations may vary.


Oceania (sometimes Oceanica) is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The exact scope of Oceania is defined variously, with interpretations often including Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and various islands of the Malay Archipelago. Ethnologically, the islands of Oceania are divided into the subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.[1] Also, the term is often used in many languages to define one of the continents.[2][3][4]

Extent

Originally coined by the French explorer Dumont d'Urville in 1831, Oceania has been traditionally divided into Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Australasia. As with any region, however, interpretations vary; increasingly, geographers and scientists divide Oceania into Near Oceania and Remote Oceania.[5]

Most of Oceania consists of small island nations. Australia is the only continental country but Indonesia has land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia.

Territories and regions

Name of territory,
with flag[6]		 Area
(km²)		 Population
(1 July 2002 estimate)		 Population density
(per km²)		 Capital
Australasia[7]
Australia7,686,85021,050,0002.5Canberra
Christmas Island (Australia)[8]13514933.5Flying Fish Cove
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)<ref name="ccau" />1463245.1West Island
New Zealand[9]268,6804,108,03714.5Wellington
Norfolk Island (Australia)351,86653.3Kingston
Melanesia[10]
Fiji18,270856,34646.9Suva
Indonesia (Oceanian part only)[11]499,8524,211,5328.4Jakarta
New Caledonia (France)19,060207,85810.9Nouméa
Papua New Guinea[12]462,8405,172,03311.2Port Moresby
Solomon Islands28,450494,78617.4Honiara
Vanuatu12,200196,17816.1Port Vila
Micronesia
Federated States of Micronesia702135,869193.5Palikir
Guam (USA)549160,796292.9Hagåtña
Kiribati81196,335118.8South Tarawa
Marshall Islands18173,630406.8Majuro
Nauru2112,329587.1Yaren
Northern Mariana Islands (USA)47777,311162.1Saipan
Palau45819,40942.4Melekeok[13]
Polynesia[14]
American Samoa (USA)19968,688345.2Pago Pago, Fagatogo[15]
Cook Islands (NZ)24020,81186.7Avarua
French Polynesia (France)4,167257,84761.9Papeete
Niue (NZ)2602,1348.2Alofi
Pitcairn Islands (UK)54710Adamstown
Samoa2,944178,63160.7Apia
Tokelau (NZ)101,431143.1—[16]
Tonga748106,137141.9Nuku'alofa
Tuvalu2611,146428.7Funafuti
Wallis and Futuna (France)27415,58556.9Mata-Utu
Total9,008,45835,834,6704.0


See Also: List of Oceanian countries by population




Enlarge picture
Political map of Oceania

Interpretative details and controversies

  • Australia is sometimes not included in Oceania, although a term like Pacific Islands would normally be used to describe Oceania without Australia (and New Zealand). The term "Australasia" invariably includes Australia, and usually includes New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and parts of Oceania, but this term is sometimes controversial outside of Australia, as it may be seen as indicating a link with Asia — a separate continent — or as too greatly emphasising Australia. "Austral" means "of, relating to, or coming from the south", and is the common root of both Australia and Australasia.
  • Hawaii is the northern corner of the Polynesian triangle and is generally included in Oceania, though politically it is part of the United States. The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian member of the Oceanic language family, and Hawaiian culture is one of the major cultures of Polynesia.
  • The few U.S. territories in the North Pacific are generally considered part of Oceania.
  • Rapa Nui or Easter Island is the eastern corner of the Polynesian triangle, a Polynesian island in the eastern Pacific Ocean, part of the territory of Chile, and is generally included in Oceania, in which case the most easterly place in Polynesia and Oceania, is its dependency Sala y Gómez 415 km to the East.
  • New Zealand is the western corner of the Polynesian triangle and its indigenous Māori constitute one of the major cultures of Polynesia.
  • On very rare occasions the term may be stretched even further to include other Pacific island groups such as the Aleutian Islands.
  • The line in Indonesia dividing Oceania from Asia varies in location and is sometimes considered to be the Wallace Line. See the transcontinental country article.
  • Although Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands belong to the Commonwealth of Australia, they are west of Sumatra and commonly associated with Asia.
  • The Philippines, an archipelago in the Western Pacific Ocean, is sometimes included in Oceania, due to its Austronesian people, its role as the centre of the former Spanish East Indies, and as a former naval power in the Pacific when it was a territory of the United States from (1898–1946). Except for Palawan all of its larger islands lie to the East of the Wallace line
  • East Timor is frequently reckoned as a part of Oceania due to its geographical position to the east of the Wallace Line and its cultural ties to the Pacific people. See transcontinental country.

Ecogeography

Oceania is one of eight terrestrial ecozones, which constitute the major ecological regions of the planet. The Oceania ecozone includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. New Zealand, along with New Guinea and nearby islands, Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia, constitute the separate Australasia ecozone.

History

Further information: History of Oceania

Sport

Pacific Games

The Pacific Games (formerly known as the South Pacific Games) is a multi-sport event, much like the Olympics, (albeit on a much smaller scale), with participation exclusively from countries around the South Pacific. It is held every four years and began in 1963.

Rugby codes

Rugby League and Rugby Union are two of the region's most popular sports. Rugby union is the national sport of New Zealand, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. Rugby League is the national sport in Papua New Guinea (the second most populous country in Oceania after Australia) and is very popular in Australia and has a significant following in New Zealand.

Australia has won the Rugby World Cup twice, the only nation to have done so (as of September, 2007); New Zealand won the inaugural World Cup in 1987. Australia and New Zealand jointly hosted the World Cup in 1987; Australia hosted it in 2003 and New Zealand is to host it in 2011.

Australian rules football

Australian rules football is the national sport in Nauru and is most popular in Australia. It is also very popular in Papua New Guinea.

Soccer

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of six association football (soccer) confederations under the auspices of FIFA, the international governing body of the sport. The OFC is the only confederation without an automatic qualification to the World Cup Finals. Currently the winner of the OFC qualification tournament must play-off against an Asian confederation side to qualify for the World Cup.

Currently Vanuatu is the only country in Oceania to call soccer its national sport.

Oceania has only been represented at three World Cup Finals—Australia in 1974, 2006, and New Zealand in 1982. However, Australia is now no longer a member of the Oceania Football Confederation, having joined the Asian Football Confederation in 2006.

See also

Notes

1. ^ "Oceania". 2005. The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press.
2. ^ World Atlas of Canada
3. ^ List of IOC members (122) by continent. International Olympic Committee: 112th session, Moscow 2001
4. ^ Encarta Mexico "Oceanía"
5. ^ Ben Finney, The Other One-Third of the Globe, Journal of World History, Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall, 1994
6. ^ Regions and constituents as per UN categorisations/map except notes 2-3, 6. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 3, 5-7, 9) may be in one or both of Oceania and Asia or North America.

7. ^ The use and scope of this term varies. The UN designation for this subregion is "Australia and New Zealand."
8. ^ Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia.

9. ^ New Zealand is often considered part of Polynesia rather than Australasia.

10. ^ Excludes Timor-Leste and parts of Indonesia, island territories in Southeastern Asia (UN region) frequently reckoned in this region.

11. ^ Indonesia is generally considered a territory of Southeastern Asia (UN region); wholly or partially, it is also frequently included in Australasia or Melanesia. Figures include Indonesian portion of New Guinea (Irian Jaya) and Maluku Islands.

12. ^ Papua New Guinea is often considered part of Australasia as well as Melanesia.

13. ^ On 7 October 2006, government officials moved their offices in the former capital of Koror to Melekeok, located 20 km northeast of Koror on Babelthuap Island.

14. ^ Excludes the US state of Hawaii, which is distant from the North American landmass in the Pacific Ocean, and Easter Island, a territory of Chile in South America.

15. ^ Fagatogo is the seat of government of American Samoa.

16. ^ Tokelau, a domain of New Zealand, has no capital: each atoll has its own administrative centre.

External links

 •  • [ e]
Countries and territories of Oceania
1 Often included in Polynesia 2 New Guinea is often included in Australasia


 •  • [ e]
Regions of the world
Africa Central Eastern Northern Southern Western
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Europe Central Eastern Northern Southern Western
Oceania Australasia Melanesia Micronesia Polynesia
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See also


Geography - (from the Greek words Geo (γη) or Gaea (γαία), both meaning "Earth", and graphein (γράφειν) meaning "to describe" or "to write"
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Geopolitics is the study that analyzes geography, history and social science with reference to spatial politics and patterns at various scales (ranging from home, city, region, state to international and cosmopolitics).
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Region is a geographical term that is used in various ways among the different branches of geography. In general, region medium-scale area of land or water, smaller than the whole areas of interest (which could be, for example, the world, a nation, a river basin, mountain range,
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island (IPA: /aɪ.lɪnd/) or isle (IPA: /aɪ.ʌl
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Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Southern Ocean


The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum
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Anthem
Advance Australia Fair [1]


Capital Canberra

Largest city Sydney
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Anthem
"God Defend New Zealand"
"God Save the Queen" 1


Capital Wellington

Largest city Auckland
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New Guinea<nowiki />

Political division of New Guinea

Geography
<nowiki/>
Location Island north of Australian continent
Coordinates
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Malay Archipelago<nowiki />

World map highlighting Malay Archipelago, with the island of New Guinea—not part of the Malay Archipelago by some definitions—in light green.
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Melanesia (from Greek: μέλας black, νῆσος island) is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western side of the West Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia.
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Micronesia, from the Greek mikros (μικρός) (meaning small) and nesos (νῆσος) (meaning island), is a subregion of Oceania, comprising hundreds of small islands in the Pacific Ocean.
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Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean.
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continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, but seven areas are commonly regarded as continents – they are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America,
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Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (May 23, 1790, Condé-sur-Noireau, France – May 8, 1842, Meudon, France) was a French explorer and naval officer, who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1800s  1810s  1820s  - 1830s -  1840s  1850s  1860s
1828 1829 1830 - 1831 - 1832 1833 1834

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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Australasia is a term variably used to describe a region of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes (1756).
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Near Oceania is the part of Oceania comprising Australia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The other part of Oceania is Remote Oceania. Most linguists and scientists consider this a natural division of Oceania.
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Remote Oceania is the part of Oceania comprising Polynesia, Micronesia and island Melanesia southeast of the Solomon Islands, including islands such as Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. The other part of Oceania is Near Oceania. This division was invented in 1973 by linguists.
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Motto
"Bhinneka Tunggal Ika"   (Old Javanese)
"Unity in Diversity"
National ideology: Pancasila[1]
Anthem
Indonesia Raya
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Motto
Unity in diversity[1]
Anthem
O Arise, All You Sons[2]


Capital Port Moresby

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Motto
"Unidade, Acção, Progresso"   (Portuguese)
"Unity, Action, Progress"
Anthem
Pátria
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Motto
"Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu"
"Unity Is Strength" 1
Anthem
Negaraku
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flag is a piece of woven cloth, often flown from a pole or mast, generally used symbolically for signalling or identification. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.
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This is a list of the countries of the world sorted by total area. The list ranks sovereign states, as well as self-governing dependent territories. Total areas are included, covering land and inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers).
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list of countries ordered according to population. The list includes and ranks sovereign states and self-governing dependent territories. Figures are based on the most recent estimate or projection by the national census authority where available and generally rounded off.
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July 1 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining. The end of this day marks the halfway point of a leap year.
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List of countries and dependencies by population density in inhabitants/km². The list includes sovereign states and self-governing dependent territories that are recognized by the United Nations.
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capital (also called capital city or political capital — although the latter phrase has a second meaning based on an alternative sense of "capital") is the center of government.
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Australasia is a term variably used to describe a region of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes (1756).
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