Oceania

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For the fictional superstate in George Orwell's novel, see Oceania (Nineteen Eighty-Four). For other uses, see Oceania (disambiguation).

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

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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. ^[1]^[2]^[3]

1 Extent
- 1.1 Territories and regions
- 1.2 Interpretative details and controversies
2 Ecogeography
3 Sport
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

[edit] Territories and regions

Name of territory, with flag^[4]	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2002 estimate)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Australasia^[5]
Australia	7,686,850	20,697,241	2.5	Canberra
Christmas Island (Australia)^[6]	135	474	3.5	The Settlement
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)^[6]	14	632	45.1	West Island
New Zealand^[7]	268,680	3,908,037	14.5	Wellington
Norfolk Island (Australia)	35	1,866	53.3	Kingston
Melanesia^[8]
Fiji	18,270	856,346	46.9	Suva
Indonesia^[9]	499,852	4,211,532	8.4	Jakarta
New Caledonia (France)	19,060	207,858	10.9	Nouméa
Papua New Guinea^[10]	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	Bairiki
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^[11]
Polynesia^[12]
American Samoa (USA)	199	68,688	345.2	Fagatogo, Utulei^[13]
Cook Islands (NZ)	240	20,811	86.7	Avarua
Easter Island (Chile)	163	3,791	23.2	Hanga Roa
French Polynesia (France)	4,167	257,847	61.9	Papeete
Hawaii (USA)	29,311	1,211,537	42.75	Honolulu
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	—^[14]
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	9,037,932	38,200,447	4.2

Political map of Oceania

Notes:

^ World Atlas of Canada
^ Encarta Mexico "Oceanía"
^ List of IOC members (122) by continent. International Olympic Committee: 112th session, Moscow 2001
^ 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."
^ ^a ^b Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia and are also commonly considered as part of Southeast Asia.
^ 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 only.
^ 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 frequently reckoned in this region.
^ Fagatogo is the legislative and judicial seat of American Samoa; Utulei is the executive seat.
^ Tokelau, a domain of New Zealand, has no capital: each atoll has its own administrative centre.

[edit] 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 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 now politically 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^{[citation needed]}.
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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Sport

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 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.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Oceania Portal

Oceania at the Open Directory Project

v • d • e

Countries and territories of Oceania

	Australia	Australia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Norfolk Island
	Melanesia	Fiji · New Caledonia · Papua New Guinea · Solomon Islands · Vanuatu
	Micronesia	Federated States of Micronesia · Guam · Kiribati · Marshall Islands · Nauru · Northern Mariana Islands · Palau
	Polynesia	American Samoa · Clipperton Island · Cook Islands · French Polynesia · New Zealand · Niue · Pitcairn · Samoa · Tokelau · Tonga · Tuvalu · Wallis and Futuna

v • d • e

Regions of the world

	Africa	Central · Eastern · Northern · Southern · Western
	Americas	North · Central · South · Northern · Middle · Caribbean · Anglo · Latin
	Asia	Central · Eastern · Northern · Southern · Southeastern · Southwest / Western
	Europe	Central · Eastern · Northern · Southern · Western

	Oceania	Australasia · Melanesia · Micronesia · Polynesia
	Other	Asia Pacific · Far East · Middle East
	Polar	Arctic · Antarctic
	Oceans	World · Arctic · Atlantic · Indian · Pacific · Southern