Oceania

[oh-shee-an-ee-uh, -ah-nee-uh]

Oceania or Oceanica, collective name for the approximately 25,000 islands of the Pacific, usually excluding such nontropical areas as the Ryukyu and Aleutian islands and Japan, as well as Taiwan, Indonesia, and the Philippines, whose populations are more closely related to mainland Asia. Oceania is generally considered synonomous with the South Sea Islands and is divided ethnologically into Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

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Oceania

Collective name for the islands scattered throughout most of the Pacific Ocean. The term especially refers to islands of the central and southern Pacific, including those of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia; New Zealand is often included and sometimes Australia. In its most restricted sense, excluding Australia but including Papua New Guinea, Oceania includes more than 10,000 islands and has a land area of about 317,000 sq mi (821,000 sq km).

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Oceania

Area
Population	32,000,000 (6th)
Countries
Dependencies
Languages
Time Zones	UTC+8 (Australian Western Standard Time) to UTC-6 (Easter Island) (West to East)

Oceania (sometimes Oceanica) is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Dumont d'Urville. The term is used today in many languages to define one of the continents and is one of eight terrestrial ecozones.

Ethnologically, the islands that are included in Oceania are divided into the subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

The boundaries of Oceania are defined in a number of ways. Most definitions recognize New Zealand, parts of Australasia such as Australia and New Guinea, and all or part of the Malay Archipelago as belonging to Oceania.

Extent

Oceania is traditionally understood as being comprised of three regions: Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. As with any region, however, interpretations vary; increasingly, geographers and scientists divide Oceania into Near Oceania and Remote Oceania.

Most of Oceania consists of island nations composed of thousands of coral atolls and volcanic islands, with small human populations. Australia is the only continental country but Indonesia has land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. If the Australia-New Guinea continent is included then the highest point is Puncak Jaya in Papua at and the lowest point is Lake Eyre, Australia at below sea level.

Regions

Descriptions of the regions and constituents of Oceania vary according to source. The table below shows the subregions and countries of Oceania as broadly 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.

Name of region, followed by countries and their flags	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2002 estimate)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Australasia
	7,686,850	21,050,000	2.7	Canberra
(Australia)	135	1,493	3.5	Flying Fish Cove
(Australia)	14	632	45.1	West Island
	268,680	4,108,037	14.5	Wellington
(Australia)	35	1,866	53.3	Kingston
Melanesia
	18,270	856,346	46.9	Suva
(Oceanian part only)	499,852	4,211,532	8.4	Jakarta
(France)	19,060	207,858	10.9	Nouméa
	462,840	5,172,033	11.2	Port Moresby
	28,450	494,786	17.4	Honiara
	12,200	196,178	16.1	Port Vila
Micronesia
	702	135,869	193.5	Palikir
(USA)	549	160,796	292.9	Hagåtña
	811	96,335	118.8	South Tarawa
	181	73,630	406.8	Majuro
	21	12,329	587.1	Yaren
(USA)	477	77,311	162.1	Saipan
	458	19,409	42.4	Melekeok
Wake Island (USA)	2			Wake Island
Polynesia
(USA)	199	68,688	345.2	Pago Pago, Fagatogo
Austral Islands	148	6,310	48	Rurutu
Chatham Islands (NZ)	966	609	3.2	Waitangi
(NZ)	240	20,811	86.7	Avarua
Easter Island (Chile)	163.6	3,791	23.1	Hanga Roa
(France)	3,961	257,847	61.9	Papeete
Gambier Islands	31	986	14.1	Rikitea
Hawaii (USA)	10,931	1,283,388	188.6	Honolulu
Juan Fernández Islands (Chile)	181	598	3.3	San Juan Bautista
Loyalty Islands (France)	1,981	22,080	11.14	Wé
Marquesas	1,049	8,632	8	Taiohae
(NZ)	260	2,134	8.2	Alofi
(UK)	5	47	10	Adamstown
Rotuma	44	2,095	8.2	Rotuma
	2,944	214,265	60.7	Apia
Swains Island (American Samoa)	1.5	37	0.3	Taulaga
(NZ)	10	1,431	143.1	—
	748	106,137	141.9	Nukualofa
Tuamotu Islands	800	14,846	18	Rangiroa
	26	11,146	428.7	Funafuti
(France)	274	15,585	56.9	Mata-Utu
Total	9,008,458	35,834,670	4.0
Total minus mainland Australia	1,321,608	14,784,670	11.2

Interpretative details and controversies

New Zealand is the 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.
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 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 and part of the territory of Chile, it 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.
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.
East Timor is often reckoned as a part of Oceania due to its location to the east of the Wallace Line and its cultural ties to Pacific peoples. See transcontinental country; Biogeographically, East Timor lies within Wallacea, an ecological transition zone between Asia and Australasia. This transition is less known and less favoured these days as a continental boundary.
Australia is sometimes not included in Oceania. Terms such as Pacific Islands or South Sea Islands might 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 some other parts of Oceania. This term is sometimes controversial, though, as it may may be interpreted as implying an association with Asia — a separate continent — or too great an association with Australia. The term is actually derived from the word "Austral", meaning "of, relating to, or coming from the south". This word represents the common root of both names: Australia and Australasia.
Although Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands belong to the Commonwealth of Australia, they are west of Sumatra and are commonly associated with Asia, and not with Oceania.
In its widest sense, the term may embrace the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, thereby including other islands in the Pacific rim such as the Ryukyu, Kuril and Aleutian islands, the Japanese Archipelago and Taiwan.

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

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 Pacific. It is held every four years and began in 1963.

Football

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of six association football 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.

Oceania has only been represented at three World Cup Finals — Australia in 1974 plus 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.