Oceania
Kids Encyclopedia

Oceania
	; Geopolitical Oceania
Area	8,525,989 km2 (3,291,903 sq mi)
Population	36,659,000 (2010, 6th)
Pop. density	4.19/km2 (10.9/sq mi)
Demonym	Oceanian
Countries	14 (list of countries) Associated (2) (list)
Dependencies	External (21) (list) Internal (4) (list)
Languages	29
Time Zones	UTC+14 (Kiribati) to UTC-11 (American Samoa and Niue) (West to East)
Largest cities	List of cities in Oceania

"South West Pacific" redirects here. For the 1943 documentary, see South West Pacific (film).

This page is about the region. For the continent, see Australia (continent). For other uses, see Oceania (disambiguation).

Oceania (UK /ˌoʊʃiˈɑːniə, ˌoʊsi-/ or US /ˌoʊʃiːˈæniə/), also known as Oceanica, is a region centred on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Opinions of what constitutes Oceania range from its three subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia to, more broadly, the entire insular region between Southeast Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago.

The term is often used more specifically to denote a continent comprising Australia and proximate islands or biogeographically as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone (Wallacea and Australasia) or the Pacific ecozone (Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia, excluding both New Zealand and mainland New Guinea).

Etymology and semantics

The term was coined as Océanie circa 1812 by geographer Conrad Malte-Brun. The word Océanie is a French word derived from the Latin word oceanus, and this from the Greek word ὠκεανός (ōkeanós), ocean. Natives and inhabitants of this region are called Oceanians or Oceanicans.

Definitions

See also: List of Oceanian countries by population and List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Oceania

Oceania

Wider Geographic Oceania.
Little of the South Pacific is apparent at this scale, though Hawaii is just visible near the eastern horizon.

Area	10,975,600 km² (4,237,700 sq mi)
Population	37.8 million (2010)
Time zones	UTC+7 (Western Indonesian Time) to UTC-6 (Easter Island)
Largest Cities	Jakarta Manila Sydney Bandung Melbourne Surabaya Medan

Narrower Geographic Oceania.
Island Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (apart from New Zealand)

Area	183,000 km² (71,000 sq mi)
Population	5.2 million (2008)
Time zones	UTC+9 (Palau) to UTC-6 (Easter Island)
Largest Cities	Honolulu Nouméa Suva Papeete Honiara

Aoraki / Mount Cook, located on the South Island of New Zealand

Puncak Jaya / Carstensz Pyramid, highest summit in Oceania

As an ecozone, Oceania includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. New Zealand, along with New Guinea and nearby islands, part of the Philippine islands, Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia, constitute the separate Australasian ecozone. In geopolitical terms, however, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are almost always considered part of Oceania. Australia and Papua New Guinea are usually considered part of Oceania along with the Maluku Islands and Papua in Indonesia. Puncak Jaya in Papua is often considered the highest peak in Oceania.

Physiographical

Oceania was originally conceived as the lands of the Pacific Ocean, stretching from the Strait of Malacca to the coast of the Americas. It comprised four regions: Polynesia, Micronesia, Malaysia (now called the Malay Archipelago), and Melanesia. Today, parts of three geological continents are included in the term "Oceania": Eurasia, Australia, and Zealandia, as well the non-continental volcanic islands of the Philippines, Wallacea, and the open Pacific. The area extends to Sumatra in the west, the Bonin Islands in the northwest, the Hawaiian Islands in the northeast, Rapa Nui and Sala y Gómez Island in the east, and Macquarie Island in the south. Not included are the Pacific islands of Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands and the Japanese archipelago, all on the margins of Asia, and the Aleutian Islands of North America.

The islands at the geographic extremes of Oceania are Bonin, a politically integral part of Japan, Hawaii, a state of the United States, and Easter Island, belonging to Chile. There is also a smaller geographic definition that excludes land on the Sunda Plate but includes Indonesian New Guinea on the Australian continent.

Biogeographical

Biogeographically, Oceania is used as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone (Wallacea and Australasia) or the Pacific ecozone (Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia apart either from New Zealand or from mainland New Guinea).

Ecogeographical

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, New Guinea, Melanesia apart from Fiji, and Australia constitute the separate Australasian ecozone. The Malay Archipelago is part of the Indomalaya ecozone. Related to these concepts are Near Oceania, that part of western Island Melanesia which has been inhabited for tens of millennia, and Remote Oceania which is more recently settled.

Geopolitical

In the geopolitical conception used by the United Nations, International Olympic Committee, and many atlases, Oceania includes Australia and the nations of the Pacific from Papua New Guinea east, but not the Malay Archipelago or Indonesian New Guinea.

Other definitions

The term is often used to denote a continent comprising Australia and proximate islands.
New Zealand forms the south-western corner of the Polynesian Triangle. Its indigenous Māori constitute one of the major cultures of Polynesia. It is also, however, considered part of Australasia.
The widest definition of Oceania includes the entire region between continental Asia and the Americas, thereby including islands in the Pacific Rim such as the Japanese archipelago, Taiwan, and the Aleutian islands.

Various maps of Oceania

Satellite image of Oceania

A map of Oceania from the CIA World Factbook

Ethno-cultural definition of Oceania

Köppen classification in Oceania climate.

History

Main pages: History of Oceania and History of the Pacific Islands

The history of Oceania in the medieval period was synonymous with the history of the indigenous peoples of Australasia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia. The arrival of European settlers in subsequent centuries resulted in a significant alteration in the social and political landscape of Oceania. In more contemporary times there has been increasing discussion on national flags and a desire by some Oceanians to display their distinguishable and individualistic identity.

Demographics

Main page: Demographics of Oceania

The linked map below shows the Exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of the islands of Oceania and neighbouring areas, as a guide to the following table. (There are no political boundaries that can be drawn on a map of the Pacific at this scale.)

Chatham

Federated States
of Micronesia

(Phoenix)

Daito

Bonin

Parece
Vela

Marcus

Midway

Johnston

Clipperton

Socorro

Kermadec

Bounties

Antipodes

West
Papua

The demographic table below shows the subregions and countries of geopolitical Oceania. The countries and territories in this table are categorised according to the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations. The information shown follows sources in cross-referenced articles; where sources differ, provisos have been clearly indicated. These territories and regions are subject to various additional categorisations, of course, depending on the source and purpose of each description.

Arms	Flag	Name of region, followed by countries	Area (km²)	Population	Population density (per km²)	Capital	ISO 3166-1
Australasia
	Template:Country data Ashmore and Cartier Islands	Ashmore and Cartier Islands (Australia)	199
		Australia	7,686,850	23,034,879	2.7	Canberra	AU
		Christmas Island (Australia)	135	1,493	3.5	Flying Fish Cove	CX
		Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)	14	628	45.1	West Island	CC
	Template:Country data Coral Sea Islands	Coral Sea Islands (Australia)	10	4
		New Zealand	268,680	4,465,900	16.5	Wellington	NZ
		Norfolk Island (Australia)	35	2,302	61.9	Kingston	NF
Melanesia
		Fiji	18,270	856,346	46.9	Suva	FJ
		New Caledonia (France)	19,060	240,390	12.6	Nouméa	NC
		Maluku Islands (Indonesia)	74,505	1,895,000			ML
		Papua (Indonesia)	319,036	3,486,432	11	Jayapura	PA
		West Papua (Indonesia)	140,375	760,855	5.4	Manokwari	PB
		Papua New Guinea	462,840	5,172,033	11.2	Port Moresby	PG
		Solomon Islands	28,450	494,786	17.4	Honiara	SB
		Vanuatu	12,200	240,000	19.7	Port Vila	VU
Micronesia
		Federated States of Micronesia	702	135,869	193.5	Palikir	FM
		Guam (United States)	549	160,796	292.9	Hagåtña	GU
		Kiribati	811	96,335	118.8	South Tarawa	KI
		Marshall Islands	181	73,630	406.8	Majuro	MH
		Nauru	21	12,329	587.1	Yaren (de facto)	NR
		Northern Mariana Islands (United States)	477	77,311	162.1	Saipan	MP
		Palau	458	19,409	42.4	Ngerulmud	PW
	Template:Country data Wake Island	Wake Island (United States)	2	150		Wake Island	UM
Polynesia
		American Samoa (United States)	199	68,688	345.2	Pago Pago, Fagatogo	AS
		Cook Islands (New Zealand)	240	20,811	86.7	Avarua	CK
		Easter Island (Chile)	164	5,761	31	Hanga Roa	CL
		French Polynesia (France)	4,167	257,847	61.9	Papeete	PF
		Hawaii (United States)	16,636	1,360,301	81.8	Honolulu	US
		Niue (New Zealand)	260	2,134	8.2	Alofi	NU
		Pitcairn Islands (United Kingdom)	5	47	10	Adamstown	PN
		Samoa	2,944	179,000	63.2	Apia	WS
		Tokelau (New Zealand)	10	1,431	143.1	Nukunonu	TK
		Tonga	748	106,137	141.9	Nukuʻalofa	TO
		Tuvalu	26	11,146	428.7	Funafuti	TV
		Wallis and Futuna (France)	274	15,585	56.9	Mata-Utu	WF
Total			8,919,530	41,050,699	4.4
Total minus mainland Australia			1,232,680	19,022,699	14.8

Geographic map of islands of Oceania

Archaeogenetics

Archaeology, linguistics, and existing genetic studies indicate that Oceania was settled by two major waves of migration. The first migration took place approximately 40 thousand years ago, and these migrants, Papuans, colonised much of Near Oceania. Approximately 3.5 thousand years ago, a second expansion of Austronesian speakers arrived in Near Oceania, and the descendants of these people spread to the far corners of the Pacific, colonising Remote Oceania.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) studies quantify the magnitude of the Austronesian expansion and demonstrate the homogenising effect of this expansion. With regards to Papuan influence, autochthonous haplogroups support the hypothesis of a long history in Near Oceania, with some lineages suggesting a time depth of 60 thousand years. Santa Cruz, a population located in Remote Oceania, is an anomaly with extreme frequencies of autochthonous haplogroups of Near Oceanian origin.

Religion

The predominant religion in Oceania is Christianity (73.3%). A 2011 survey found that 65.6% of Australia and New Zealand population, 92.1% in Melanesia, 93.1% in Micronesia and 96.1% in Polynesia described themselves as Christians.

Traditional religions are often animist, and prevalent among traditional tribes is the belief in spirits (masalai in Tok Pisin) representing natural forces. In recent Australian and New Zealand censuses, large proportions of the population say they belong to "no religion" (which includes atheism, agnosticism, deism, secular humanism, and rationalism). In Tonga, everyday life is heavily influenced by Polynesian traditions and especially by the Christian faith. The Ahmadiyya mosque in Marshall Islands is the only mosque in Micronesia. Another one in Tuvalu belongs to the same sect. The Bahá'í House of Worship in Tiapapata, Samoa, is one of seven designations administered in the Bahá'í Faith.

Images

Fans welcome to the Australian team in Sydney after winning 2007 Cricket World Cup
Fiji playing Wales at seven-a-side rugby

Oceania Kids Encyclopedia

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