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Oceania

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Oceania

Area
Population 32,000,000 (6th)
Countries
Dependencies
Languages English, French, and many others
Time Zones UTC-11 (Samoa) to UTC+14 (Kiribati)

Oceania (sometimes Oceanica) is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term is often used 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 exact scope of Oceania is variably defined: it generally includes New Zealand, is often taken to include parts of Australasia such as Australia and New Guinea, and sometimes all or part of the Malay Archipelago.

Extent

Originally coined by the French explorer Dumont d'Urville in 1831, Oceania has been traditionally divided into 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

The regions and constituents of Oceania may vary according to source. In the table below, the subregions and countries of Oceania are broadly categorised according to the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations, and data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are clearly indicated. Apropos, according to different definitions, the following territories and regions may be subject to various other categorisations.

Name of region, followed by countries
and their flags 		Area
(km²) 		Population
(1 July 2002 estimate) 		Population density
(per km²) 		Capital
Australasia
Australia 7,686,850 21,050,000 2.5 Canberra
Christmas Island (Australia) 135 1493 3.5 Flying Fish Cove
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia) 14 632 45.1 West Island
New Zealand 268,680 4,108,037 14.5 Wellington
Norfolk Island (Australia) 35 1,866 53.3 Kingston
Melanesia
Fiji 18,270 856,346 46.9 Suva
Indonesia (Oceanian part only) 499,852 4,211,532 8.4 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
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 South Tarawa
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 Melekeok
Polynesia
American Samoa (USA) 199 68,688 345.2 Pago Pago, Fagatogo
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) 5 47 10 Adamstown
Samoa 2,944 178,631 60.7 Apia
Tokelau (NZ) 10 1,431 143.1 —
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
Total 9,008,458 35,834,670 4.0
Total minus mainland Australia 1,321,608 14,784,670 11.2

See Also: List of Oceanian countries by population


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.
  • 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 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, 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • In its widest sense, the term may embrace the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, thereby including other Pacific island groups such as the Ryukyu, Kuril and Aleutian islands, and the Japanese Archipelago.

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

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, 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.

Football (soccer)

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

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

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.

See also

Notes

External links



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Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 10:24:56 PDT (GMT -0700)
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