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Revision as of 20:49, 6 August 2007

For other uses, see Oceania (disambiguation).

World map exhibiting a common interpretation of Oceania; other interpretations may vary.

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 numerous authors and in many languages to define one of the continents.

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. 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	7,686,850	19,546,792	2.5	Canberra
Christmas Island (Australia)	135	474	3.5	Flying Fish Cove
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	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	Vaiaku
Wallis and Futuna (France)	274	15,585	56.9	Mata-Utu
Total	9,008,458	35,834,670	4.0

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 (and New Zealand). 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 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 now politically a part of the United States and some distance from most of the islands of Oceania, it is within the Polynesian triangle and in this sense is part of Polynesia. The Hawaiian language is a member of the Oceanic language family.
The few U.S. territories in the North Pacific are generally considered part of Oceania.
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.
The line in Indonesia dividing Oceania from Asia varies in location and is commonly considered to be the Wallace Line. See the transcontinental country article.
Although Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands belong to the Commonwealth of Australia, they are west of Sumatra and commonly associated with Asia.
The Philippines, an archipelago in the Western Pacific Ocean, is sometimes included in Oceania, due to its Austronesian people, its role as the center of Spanish East Indies, and as a former naval power in the Pacific when it was a territory of the United States from (1898–1946).
East Timor is frequently reckoned as a part of Oceania due to its geographical position to the east of the Wallace Line and its cultural ties to the Pacific people. See transcontinental country.

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

Rugby codes

Rugby League and Rugby Union are two of the regions most popular sports. Rugby union being 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 resonable following in New Zealand.

Australia has won the Rugby World Cup a record 2 times. New Zealand won the inagural 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 one of the most popular in Australia. It is also very popular in Papua New Guinea.

Football (soccer)

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

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

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

Notes

World Atlas of Canada
List of IOC members (122) by continent. International Olympic Committee: 112th session, Moscow 2001
Encarta Mexico "Oceanía"
Ben Finney, The Other One-Third of the Globe, Journal of World History, Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall, 1994
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.
The use and scope of this term varies. The UN designation for this subregion is "Australia and New Zealand."
^ Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia.
New Zealand is often considered part of Polynesia rather than Australasia.
Excludes Timor-Leste and parts of Indonesia, island territories in Southeastern Asia (UN region) frequently reckoned in this region.
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.
Papua New Guinea is often considered part of Australasia as well as Melanesia.
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.
Excludes the US state of Hawaii, which is distant from the North American landmass in the Pacific Ocean, and Easter Island, a territory of Chile in South America.
Fagatogo is the seat of government of American Samoa.
Tokelau, a domain of New Zealand, has no capital: each atoll has its own administrative centre.

External links

Oceania at the Open Directory Project

Countries and territories of Oceania

Sovereign states

Entire	Australia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
In part	Chile Easter Island Juan Fernández Islands Ecuador Galápagos Islands Indonesia Central Papua Highland Papua Papua South Papua Southwest Papua West Papua United States Hawaii Palmyra Atoll

Associated states

Dependencies and
other territories

Australia	Ashmore and Cartier Islands Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Coral Sea Islands Norfolk Island
France	Clipperton Island French Polynesia New Caledonia Wallis and Futuna
New Zealand	Tokelau
United Kingdom	Pitcairn Islands
United States	American Samoa Baker Island Guam Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Midway Atoll Northern Mariana Islands Wake Island

Earth's primary regions and subregions

Africa	Mediterranean Saharan Northern Maghreb Mashriq Middle East Middle East and North Africa Sub-Saharan Central East Horn Great Lakes Southern Western
Antarctica	East Antarctica Antarctic Plateau Transantarctic Mountains West Antarctica Antarctic Peninsula
Asia	Asia–Pacific Central Aral Sea Aralkum Desert Caspian Sea Eastern Inner Asia Greater Central Asia Northeastern Far East Pacific Asia Russian Far East Northern Siberia Ural Southeastern Mainland Maritime Southern Himalayan states Indian subcontinent Subregions Western Arabian Peninsula Caucasus South Caucasus Greater Iran Iranian plateau Levant Dead Sea Levantine Sea Middle East Mashriq Middle East and North Africa Near East
Europe	Central Eastern Balkans Caucasus North Caucasus South Caucasus Southern Russia European Russia Southeastern Northern Baltic British Isles Nordic Northwestern Scandinavia Scandinavian Peninsula Southern Mediterranean Middle East Italy Italian Peninsula South-eastern Balkan Peninsula South-western Iberian Peninsula Western Atlantic Low Countries Northwestern Celtic Germanic Romance Slavic
North America	Aridoamerica Caribbean Central Mesoamerica Middle Northern Appalachia Bible Belt East Coast Great Lakes Mid-Atlantic Midwest Mountain states New England Northeastern United States Pacific Northwest Southern United States Southwest West Coast West South Central United States Western United States Atlantic Canada Canadian Prairies Central Canada Eastern Canada Northern Canada Western Canada Northern Mexico West Indies Anglo French Latin Ibero Hispanic Portuguese Latin America and the Caribbean
Oceania	Australasia Australia Mainland Australia New Guinea Tasmania Zealandia Melanesia Island Melanesia Micronesia Near Oceania Polynesia Remote Oceania
South America	Amazon Plain Amazon Basin Amazon Rainforest Andean States Brazilian Highlands Caribbean South America The Guianas Latin America and the Caribbean Southern Cone Patagonia

Islands

By continent	Africa America North America Caribbean Central America South America Antarctica Asia Europe by area by population Oceania Australia New Zealand
By ocean	Arctic Ocean Atlantic Ocean Baltic Sea Black Sea Caribbean Sea Irish Sea Mediterranean Sea Adriatic Sea Aegean Sea Ionian Sea Indian Ocean Persian Gulf Pacific Ocean East China Sea South China Sea Southern Ocean