   #copyright

Oceania

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Oceania
(Australasia)

   World map exhibiting a common interpretation of Oceania.
   Enlarge
   World map exhibiting a common interpretation of Oceania.

   Oceania (sometimes Oceanica) is a geographical, often geopolitical,
   region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands and usually
   including Australia—in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The exact scope
   of Oceania is defined variously, with interpretations normally
   including Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and various islands of
   the Malay Archipelago. The term is also used by many authors and in
   many languages to define one of the continents. , , .

Overview

   Geopolitical map of Oceania
   Enlarge
   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 25,000 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.

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.

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

Territories and regions

   Name of territory,
   with flag Area
   (km²) Population
   ( 1 July 2002 estimate) Population density
   (per km²) Capital
   Australasia
   Australia Australia 7,686,850 20,697,241 2.5 Canberra
   Christmas Island Christmas Island (Australia) 135 474 3.5 The
   Settlement
   Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia) 14 632 45.1
   West Island
   New Zealand New Zealand 268,680 3,908,037 14.5 Wellington
   Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (Australia) 35 1,866 53.3 Kingston
   Melanesia
   Fiji Fiji 18,270 856,346 46.9 Suva
   Indonesia Indonesia 499,852 4,211,532 8.4 Jakarta
   New Caledonia New Caledonia (France) 19,060 207,858 10.9 Nouméa
   Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea 462,840 5,172,033 11.2 Port Moresby
   Solomon Islands Solomon Islands 28,450 494,786 17.4 Honiara
   Vanuatu Vanuatu 12,200 196,178 16.1 Port Vila
   Micronesia
   Federated States of Micronesia Federated States of Micronesia 702
   135,869 193.5 Palikir
   Guam Guam (USA) 549 160,796 292.9 Hagåtña
   Kiribati Kiribati 811 96,335 118.8 Bairiki
   Marshall Islands Marshall Islands 181 73,630 406.8 Majuro
   Nauru Nauru 21 12,329 587.1 Yaren
   Northern Mariana Islands Northern Mariana Islands (USA) 477 77,311
   162.1 Saipan
   Palau Palau 458 19,409 42.4 Melekeok
   Polynesia
   American Samoa American Samoa (USA) 199 68,688 345.2 Fagatogo, Utulei
   Cook Islands Cook Islands (NZ) 240 20,811 86.7 Avarua
   French Polynesia French Polynesia (France) 4,167 257,847 61.9 Papeete
   Niue Niue (NZ) 260 2,134 8.2 Alofi
   Pitcairn Islands Pitcairn Islands (UK) 5 47 10 Adamstown
   Samoa Samoa 2,944 178,631 60.7 Apia
   Tokelau Tokelau (NZ) 10 1,431 143.1 —
   Tonga Tonga 748 106,137 141.9 Nuku'alofa
   Tuvalu Tuvalu 26 11,146 428.7 Vaiaku
   Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna (France) 274 15,585 56.9 Mata-Utu
   Total 9,008,458 35,834,670 4.0

   Notes:
    1. ^ 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.
    2. ^ The use and scope of this term varies. The UN designation for
       this subregion is "Australia and New Zealand."
    3. ^ ^a ^b Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are Australian
       external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia.
    4. ^ New Zealand is often considered part of Polynesia rather than
       Australasia.
    5. ^ Excludes Timor-Leste and parts of Indonesia, island territories
       in Southeastern Asia (UN region) frequently reckoned in this
       region.
    6. ^ 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.
    7. ^ Papua New Guinea is often considered part of Australasia as well
       as Melanesia.
    8. ^ 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.
    9. ^ Excludes the US state of Hawaii, which is distant from the North
       American landmass in the Pacific Ocean and frequently reckoned in
       this region.
   10. ^ Fagatogo is the legislative and judicial seat of American Samoa;
       Utulei is the executive seat.
   11. ^ Tokelau, a domain of New Zealand, has no capital: each atoll has
       its own administrative centre.

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. 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
       completely separate continent, or 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 generally included in Oceania, even though it is a part
       of the United States. 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 (for example the Hawaiian language is a
       member of the Oceanic language family) - 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
       generally not considered 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 generally 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.

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.

Sport

   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.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceania"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
