Oceania
 |
World map showing Oceania (geographically) |
Oceania is a
geographical, often
geopolitical,
region consisting of numerous lands—mostly
islands but sometimes including
Australia—in the
Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The exact scope of Oceania is defined variously, with interpretations including Australia,
New Zealand,
Papua New Guinea,
East Timor, and those parts of
Indonesia east of the
Wallace Line.
For the
oceans of the Earth, see
Oceans.
|
Geopolitical map of Oceania |
The primary use of the term Oceania is to describe a macrogeographical region that lies between
Asia and the
Americas, with the
Australian continent as the major
landmass and consisting of some 10,000 islands in the Pacific. The name
Oceania is used because, unlike the other regional groupings, it is the ocean and adjacent
seas rather than a
continent that link the lands together.
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.
Most of Oceania consists of small island nations. Australia is the only continental country; by some definitions,
Indonesia has land borders with
East Timor and
Papua New Guinea.
Territories and regions
Name of territory,
with flag[Regions and constituents as per UN categorisations/map except note 2. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 3-5) may be in one or both of Oceania and Asia or North America.]
| Area
(km²) | Population
(1 July 2002 estimate) | Population density
(per km²)! Capital |
|---|
Australasia[The use of this term is disputed. The UN designation for this subregion is "Australia and New Zealand."] |
| Australia | 7,686,850 | 19,546,792 | 2.5 | Canberra |
Christmas Island (Australia)[Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia.]
| 135 | 474 | 3.5 | The Settlement |
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia) | 14 | 632 | 45.1 | West Island |
| New Zealand | 268,680 | 3,908,037 | 14.5 | Wellington |
| Norfolk Island (Australia) | 35 | 1,866 | 53.3 | Kingston |
| Melanesia |
| Fiji | 18,270 | 856,346 | 46.9 | Suva |
Indonesia[ Indonesia is generally considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania (Melanesia); population and area figures are for Oceanian portion only, east of the Wallace line.]
| 745,798 | 28,159,300 | 37.8 | Jakarta |
| New Caledonia (France) | 19,060 | 207,858 | 10.9 | Nouméa |
| Papua New Guinea | 462,840 | 5,172,033 | 11.2 | Port Moresby |
| Solomon Islands | 28,450 | 494,786 | 17.4 | Honiara |
East Timor[ East Timor is sometimes considered a transcontinental country. It is geographically in Oceania (Melanesia), but has historical, social, and political connections with Southeastern Asia.]
| 15,007 | 952,618 | 63.5 | Dili |
| Vanuatu | 12,200 | 196,178 | 16.1 | Port Vila |
| Micronesia |
| Federated States of Micronesia | 702 | 135,869 | 193.5 | Palikir |
| Guam (USA) | 549 | 160,796 | 292.9 | Hagåtña |
| Kiribati | 811 | 96,335 | 118.8 | Bairiki |
| Marshall Islands | 181 | 73,630 | 406.8 | Majuro |
| Nauru | 21 | 12,329 | 587.1 | Yaren |
| Northern Mariana Islands (USA) | 477 | 77,311 | 162.1 | Saipan |
| Palau | 458 | 19,409 | 42.4 | Koror |
Polynesia[Excludes the US state of Hawaii, which is distant from the North American landmass in the Pacific Ocean and frequently reckoned in this region.]
|
| American Samoa (USA) | 199 | 68,688 | 345.2 | Fagatogo, Utulei[Fagatogo is the legislative and judicial seat of American Samoa; Utulei is the executive seat.]
|
| Cook Islands (NZ) | 240 | 20,811 | 86.7 | Avarua |
| French Polynesia (France) | 4,167 | 257,847 | 61.9 | Papeete |
| Niue (NZ) | 260 | 2,134 | 8.2 | Alofi |
| Pitcairn Islands (UK) | 47 | 47 | 1.0 | Adamstown |
| Samoa | 2,944 | 178,631 | 60.7 | Apia |
| Tokelau (NZ) | 10 | 1,431 | 143.1 | "[Tokelau, a domain of New Zealand, has no capital: each atoll has its own administrative centre.]
|
| Tonga | 748 | 106,137 | 141.9 | Nuku'alofa |
| Tuvalu | 26 | 11,146 | 428.7 | Funafuti |
| Wallis and Futuna (France) | 274 | 15,585 | 56.9 | Mata-Utu |
| - style=" font-weight:bold; " | Total | 9,269,453 | 60,735,056 | 6.6 |
Notes:Other interpretations of Oceania
* Australia is sometimes
not included in Oceania, although a term like
Pacific islands would normally be used to describe Oceania without Australia. The term "Australasia" invariably includes Australia and New Zealand along with parts of Oceania, but this term is sometimes controversial outside of Australia, as it may be seen as too greatly emphasising Australia (even though "Austral" means "of, relating to, or coming from the south", and is the common root of both Australia and Australasia).
*
Hawaii is correctly included in Oceania. Hawaiians are a Polynesian race and, although the Hawaiian Islands are some distance from most of the islands of Oceania, they are still physically as well as culturally much closer to the rest of Oceania than to North America - and they are no further from the rest of Oceania than from United States territories in the North Pacific.
* The few U.S. territories in the North Pacific are uninhabited except by itinerant service personnel, and are normally grouped with the mainland United States in
North America. They are certainly not part of Oceania and, unlike Hawaii, they
are closer to North America - most of them closer to North America than they are to Hawaii.
*
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the eastern Pacific Ocean, part of the territory of Chile, and is correctly included in Oceania.
*
New Zealand is within the
Polynesian triangle and in this sense is part of Polynesia - the
Māori of New Zealand 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, but these are obviously islands off the coast of North America. It would be just as logical to include the Pacific islands of Russia, all of Japan and the Philippines, insular Malyasia, and all of Indonesia as part of Oceania, as to include the Aleutians.
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.
The
Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of six football confederations under the auspices of
FIFA, the international governing body of
football (soccer). The OFC is the only confederation without an automatic qualification to the
World Cup Finals. Currently the winner of the OFC must play-off against a
South American confederation side.
Oceania has only been represented at three World Cup Finals -
Australia in
1974,
New Zealand in
1982 and Australia in
2006. However, Australia is now no longer a member of the Oceania Football Confederation, having joined the
Asian Football Confederation in 2006.
*
Portal:Oceania*
Culture of Oceania*
Economy of Oceania*
Flags of Oceania*
History of Oceania*
Australasia*
New Zealand*
Australia (continent)*
Pacific Islands*
Pacific Islands Forum*
Jane's Oceania Home Page*
Oceania photos and information*
Open-Site Oceania - Information about the different
countries of Oceania.
*
Oceania Paper Moneyzh-yue:大洋洲
