Oceania Zone
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Oceania ( , ) is a
geographical region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
including
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
,
Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...
,
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...
, and
Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...
. Outside of the
English-speaking world The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English language, English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the ...
, Oceania is generally considered a
continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...
, while
Mainland Australia Mainland Australia is the main landmass of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, excluding the Aru Islands Regency, Aru Islands, New Guinea, Tasmania, and other list of islands of Australia, Australian offshore islands. The landmass ...
is regarded as its continental
landmass A landmass, or land mass, is a large region or area of land that is in one piece and not noticeably broken up by oceans. The term is often used to refer to lands surrounded by an ocean or sea, such as a continent or a large island. In the fiel ...
. Spanning the
Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...
and
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
hemispheres, at the centre of the
water hemisphere The land hemisphere and water hemisphere are the hemispheres of Earth containing the largest possible total areas of land and ocean, respectively. By definition (assuming that the entire surface can be classified as either "land" or "ocean"), t ...
, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of about and a population of around 46.3 million as of 2024. Oceania is the smallest continent in land area and the second-least populated after
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
. Oceania has a diverse mix of economies from the highly developed and globally competitive
financial markets A financial market is a market in which people trade financial securities and derivatives at low transaction costs. Some of the securities include stocks and bonds, raw materials and precious metals, which are known in the financial marke ...
of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
,
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
,
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
, and
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, which rank high in
quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...
and
Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...
, to the much less developed economies of
Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...
,
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
,
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...
,
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
, and
Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly Dutch and granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region ...
. The largest and most populous country in Oceania is Australia, and the largest city is
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
.
Puncak Jaya Puncak Jaya (; literally "Victorious Peak", Amungme: ''Nemangkawi Ninggok'') or Carstensz Pyramid (, , ) on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of , is the highest mountain peak of an island on Earth, and the highest peak in Indones ...
in
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
is the highest peak in Oceania at . The first settlers of Australia, New Guinea, and the large islands just to the east arrived more than 60,000 years ago. Oceania was first explored by Europeans from the 16th century onward. Portuguese explorers, between 1512 and 1526, reached the
Tanimbar Islands The Tanimbar Islands (; ), also called ''Timur Laut'' (literally, "North East"; ), are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the sout ...
, some of the
Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...
and west
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
. Spanish and Dutch explorers followed, then British and French. On his first voyage in the 18th century,
James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...
, who later arrived at the highly developed
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
, went to
Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...
and followed the
east coast of Australia The eastern states of Australia are the states adjoining the east continental coastline of Australia. These are the mainland states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and the island state of Tasmania. The Australian Capital Territory ...
for the first time. The arrival of European settlers in subsequent centuries resulted in a significant alteration in the social and political landscape of Oceania. The Pacific theatre saw major action during the
First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
and
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
s. The
rock art In archaeology, rock arts are human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type al ...
of
Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...
is the longest continuously practiced artistic tradition in the world. Most Oceanian countries are
parliamentary democracies A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legisl ...
, with
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
serving as a large source of income for the Pacific island nations.


Definition


Characteristics

Definitions of Oceania vary. The broadest definition encompasses the islands between mainland
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
and the
Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
. The island nation of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
is the only piece of land in the area which is large enough to typically be considered a continent. The culture of the people who lived on these islands was often distinct from that of Asia and
pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...
America. Before
Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common ancestry, language, faith, historical continuity, etc. There are ...
arrived in the area, the sea shielded Australia and south central Pacific islands from cultural influences that spread through large continental landmasses and adjacent islands. The islands of the
Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...
, north of Australia, mainly lie on the
continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...
of Asia, and their inhabitants had more exposure to mainland Asian culture as a result of this closer proximity. The geographer
Conrad Malte-Brun Conrad Malte-Brun (; born Malthe Conrad Bruun; 12 August 177514 December 1826), sometimes referred to simply as Malte-Brun, was a Dano- French geographer and journalist. His second son, Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun, was also a geographer. Today he ...
coined the French expression ''Terres océaniques'' (Oceanic lands) 1804. In 1814 another French cartographer, Adrien-Hubert Brué, coined from this expression the shorter "Océanie", which derives from the
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
word , and this from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
word (''ōkeanós''), "ocean". The term ''Oceania'' is used because, unlike the other continental groupings, it is the ocean that links the parts of the region together. John Eperjesi's 2005 book ''The Imperialist Imaginary'' says that Since the mid-19th century,
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
cartographers have used the term ''Oceania'' to organize and classify the
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...
region. In the 19th century, many geographers divided Oceania into mostly racially based subdivisions: ''Australasia'', ''
Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. It is a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical kingdom. It was first recognized as a distinct region ...
'' (encompassing the
Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...
), ''Melanesia'', ''Micronesia'' and ''Polynesia''. The 2011 book ''Maritime Adaptations of the Pacific'', by Richard W. Casteel and Jean-Claude Passeron, states that, Oceania has traditionally been considered a continent in anthropological studies, similar to Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Bartholomew Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John (1:45–51; cf. 21:2). New Testament references The name ''Bartholomew ...
described Oceania as one of six major world divisions, including Australia and Pacific islands. American author
Samuel Griswold Goodrich Samuel Griswold Goodrich (August 19, 1793 – May 9, 1860), better known by his pseudonym Peter Parley, was an American author and politician who established the children's magazine ''Merry's Museum''. He was a Massachusetts Senate, Massachuse ...
wrote in his 1854 book ''History of All Nations'' that, some 19th-century geographers classified the Pacific islands as a third continent called Oceania, alongside the New and Old Worlds. In this book, the other two continents were categorized as being the New World (the Americas) and the
Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...
(
Afro-Eurasia Afro-Eurasia (also Afroeurasia and Eurafrasia) is a landmass comprising the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The terms are compound (linguistics), compound words of the names of its constituent parts. Afro-Eurasia has also been called th ...
). In his 1879 book ''Australasia'', British naturalist
Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...
commented that, geographers commonly used ''Oceania'' to refer to the Pacific islands, with Australia as its central landmass. He did not explicitly label Oceania a continent in the book, but did note that it was one of the six major divisions of the world. ''The Oxford Handbook of World History'' (2011) describes the Oceania is often treated as a secondary topic in world history, appearing at the end of global narratives as a marginal region.
In most non- English-speaking countries Oceania is treated as a continent in the sense that it is "one of the parts of the world", and Australia is only seen as an island nation. In other non-English-speaking countries Australia and
Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...
are thought of as continents, while Asia, Europe, and Oceania are regarded as "parts of the world". Nevertheless, various writers from English-speaking countries have described Oceania as a continent over the years. Prior to the 1950s, before the popularization of the theory of
plate tectonics Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...
,
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
, Australia, and
Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
were sometimes described as island continents, but none were usually taught as one of the world's continents in the English-speaking countries.: "...the 1950s... was also the period when... Oceania as a "great division" was replaced by Australia as a continent along with a series of isolated and continentally attached islands. [Footnote 78: When Southeast Asia was conceptualised as a world region during World War II..., Indonesia and the Philippines were perforce added to Asia, which reduced the extent of Oceania, leading to a reconceptualisation of Australia as a continent in its own right. This manoeuvre is apparent in postwar atlases]" In his 1961 book ''The United States and the Southwest Pacific'', American author C. Hartley Grattan, Clinton Hartley Grattan commented that, By 1961, the term ''Oceania'' to describe Australia,
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, and the Pacific Islands was considered somewhat outdated. Australia is a founding member of the
Pacific Islands Forum The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organisation that aims to enhance cooperation among countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 197 ...
in 1971, and at times has been interpreted as the largest Pacific island. Some geographers group the Australian tectonic plate with others in the Pacific to form a geological continent. ''National Geographic'' defines Oceania as a continent based on its connection to the Pacific Ocean rather than landmass. Others have labelled it as the "liquid continent". The Pacific Ocean itself has been labelled as a "continent of islands", and contains approximately 25,000, which is more than all the other major oceans combined. In a 1991 article, American archeologist Toni L. Carrell wrote, The vast size and distances within the
Pacific Basin The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
make it challenging to view it as a single geographical unit. Oceania's subregions of
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
,
Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...
,
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...
, and
Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...
cover two major plates; the Australian Plate (also known as the Indo-Australian Plate) and the Pacific Plate, in addition to two minor plates; the
Nazca Plate The Nazca plate or Nasca plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic list of tectonic plates, tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru– ...
and the
Philippine Sea Plate The Philippine Sea plate or the Philippine plate is a tectonic plate comprising oceanic lithosphere that lies beneath the Philippine Sea, to the east of the Philippines. Most segments of the Philippines, including northern Luzon, are part of ...
. The Australian Plate includes Australia,
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
,
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
,
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
,
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
, and parts of New Zealand. The Pacific Plate covers the
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...
and parts of New Zealand, as well as Micronesia (excluding the westernmost islands near the Philippine Sea Plate) and Polynesia (excluding Easter Island). The Nazca Plate, which includes Easter Island, neighbours the
South American Plate The South American plate is a major tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America as well as a sizable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the African plate, with which it forms the southern part of the Mid ...
, and is still considered to be a separate tectonic plate, despite only containing a handful of islands.
The new terms
Near Oceania Near Oceania is the part of Oceania that features greater biodiversity, due to the islands and atolls being closer to each other. The distinction of Near Oceania and Remote Oceania was first suggested by Pawley & Green (1973) and was further el ...
and Remote Oceania were proposed in 1973 by anthropologists Roger Green and
Andrew Pawley Andrew Kenneth Pawley (born 1941 in Sydney) is an Australian–New Zealand linguist and Emeritus Professor at the School of Culture, History and Language of the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. Career Paw ...
. By their definition, Near Oceania consists of New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands, with the exception of the
Santa Cruz Islands The Santa Cruz Islands form an archipelago in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. They lie approximately to the southeast of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), Solomon Islands archipelago, just north of the archipelago of Vanuatu and are con ...
. They are designed to dispel the outdated categories of
Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...
,
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...
, and
Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...
; many scholars now replace those categories with Green's terms since the early 1990s, but the old categories are still used in science, popular culture and general usage.


Boundaries

Islands at the geographic extremes of Oceania are generally considered to be the
Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a list of islands of Japan, Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and Island#Tropical islands, tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total ...
, a politically integral part of Japan;
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
, a state of the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
;
Clipperton Island Clipperton Island ( ; ), also known as Clipperton Atoll and previously as Clipperton's Rock, is an uninhabited French coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The only French territory in the North Pacific, Clipperton is from Paris, France ...
, a possession of
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
; Rapa Nui (Easter Island), belonging to
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
; and
Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island in the south-western Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has been governed as a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1880. It became a Protected areas of Tasmania, Tasmania ...
, belonging to Australia.


United Nations interpretation

The
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
(UN) has used its own geopolitical definition of Oceania since its foundation in 1947, which utilizes four of the five subregions from the 19th century: Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. This definition consists of discrete political entities, and so excludes the Bonin Islands, Hawaii, Clipperton Island and the Juan Fernández Islands, along with Easter Island — which was annexed by Chile in 1888. It is used in statistical reports, by the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
, and by many atlases. The UN categorizes Oceania, and by extension the Pacific area, as one of the major continental divisions of the world, along with Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Their definition includes
American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...
, Australia and their external territories, the
Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...
,
Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses the majority of the Caroline Islands (excluding Palau) and consists of four Admin ...
,
French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
, Fiji,
Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
,
Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...
, the Marshall Islands,
Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...
, New Caledonia, New Zealand,
Niue Niue is a self-governing island country in free association with New Zealand. It is situated in the South Pacific Ocean and is part of Polynesia, and predominantly inhabited by Polynesians. One of the world's largest coral islands, Niue is c ...
, the
Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territory and Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States consistin ...
,
Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...
, Papua New Guinea,
Pitcairn Islands The Pitcairn Islands ( ; Pitkern: '), officially Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, are a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the ...
,
Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
, the Solomon Islands,
Tokelau Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, an ...
,
Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
,
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...
,
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
,
Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (), is a French island territorial collectivity, collectivity in the Oceania, South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga t ...
, and the
United States Minor Outlying Islands The United States Minor Outlying Islands is a statistical designation applying to the minor outlying islands and groups of islands that comprise eight United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean (Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Isla ...
(
Baker Island Baker Island, once known as New Nantucket in the early 19th century, is a small, uninhabited atoll located just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean, approximately southwest of Honolulu. Positioned almost halfway between Hawaii a ...
,
Howland Island Howland Island () is a coral island and strict nature reserve located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean, about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia and is an Territories of the ...
,
Jarvis Island Jarvis Island (; formerly known as Bunker Island or Bunker's Shoal) is an uninhabited coral island located in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands. It is an Territories of the United States#Unincorporated u ...
,
Midway Atoll Midway Atoll (colloquialism, colloquial: Midway Islands; ; ) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the United States and is an Insular area#Unorganized unincorporated territories, unorganized and unincorpo ...
,
Palmyra Atoll Palmyra Atoll (), also referred to as Palmyra Island, is one of the Line Islands, Northern Line Islands (southeast of Kingman Reef and north of Kiribati). It is located almost due south of the Hawaiian Islands, roughly one-third of the way be ...
, and
Wake Island Wake Island (), also known as Wake Atoll, is a coral atoll in the Micronesia subregion of the Pacific Ocean. The atoll is composed of three islets – Wake, Wilkes, and Peale Islands – surrounding a lagoon encircled by a coral reef. The neare ...
). The original UN definition of Oceania from 1947 included these same countries and semi-independent territories, which were mostly still
colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...
at that point. Hawaii had not yet become a U.S. state in 1947, and as such was part of the original UN definition of Oceania. The island states of Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines,
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
and Taiwan, all located within the bounds of the Pacific or associated marginal seas, are excluded from the UN definition. The states of
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
and
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
, located in both mainland Asia and marginal seas of the Pacific, are also excluded, as are
Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...
,
East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...
and Indonesian New Guinea/Western New Guinea. The CIA World Factbook also categorizes Oceania as one of the major continental divisions of the world, but the name "Australia and Oceania" is used. Their definition does not include all of Australia's external territories, but is otherwise the same as the UN's definition, and is also used for statistical purposes. The Pacific Islands Forum expanded during the early 2010s, and areas that were already included in the UN definition of Oceania, such as French Polynesia, gained membership.


Early interpretations

French writer Gustave d'Eichthal remarked in 1844 that, Oceania's boundaries as extending across the entire Pacific Ocean.
Conrad Malte-Brun Conrad Malte-Brun (; born Malthe Conrad Bruun; 12 August 177514 December 1826), sometimes referred to simply as Malte-Brun, was a Dano- French geographer and journalist. His second son, Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun, was also a geographer. Today he ...
in 1824 defined Oceania as covering Australia, New Zealand, the islands of Polynesia (which then included all the Pacific islands) and the Malay Archipelago.
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...
described Oceania as a collection of numerous Pacific islands, categorizing it as one of the world's five major divisions. He also viewed Oceania as covering Australia, New Zealand, the Malay Archipelago and the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. In 1887, the
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...
referred to Australia as the area's westernmost land, while in 1870, British Reverend Alexander Mackay identified the
Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a list of islands of Japan, Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and Island#Tropical islands, tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total ...
as its northernmost point, and
Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island in the south-western Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has been governed as a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1880. It became a Protected areas of Tasmania, Tasmania ...
as its southernmost point. The Bonin Islands at that time were a possession of Britain; Macquarie Island, to the south of
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
, is a subantarctic island in the Pacific. It was politically associated with Australia and Tasmania by 1870.
Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...
believed in 1879 that Oceania extended to the
Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...
, which are among the northernmost islands of the Pacific. The islands, now politically associated with
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
, have historically had
inhabitants In law and conflict of laws, domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal law", which includes the law that governs a person's status and their property. It is independent of a person's nationality. Although a domicile may change from time ...
that were related to Indigenous Americans, in addition to having non-tropical biogeography similar to that of Alaska and
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
. Wallace insisted while the surface area of this wide definition was greater than that of Asia and
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
combined, the land area was only a little greater than that of Europe. American geographer Sophia S. Cornell claimed that the Aleutian Islands were not part of Oceania in 1857. She stated that Oceania was divided up into three groups; Australasia (which included Australia, New Zealand, and the Melanesian islands),
Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. It is a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical kingdom. It was first recognized as a distinct region ...
(which included all present-day countries within the Malay Archipelago, not the modern country of
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
) and Polynesia (which included both the Polynesian and Micronesian islands in her definition). Aside from mainland Australia, areas that she identified as of high importance were Borneo, Hawaii, Indonesia's
Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
and
Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
, New Guinea, New Zealand, the Philippines, French Polynesia's
Society Islands The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country ...
, Tasmania, and Tonga. American geographer Jesse Olney's 1845 book ''A Practical System of Modern Geography'' defined Oceania as consisting of the many islands of the Pacific located southeast of Asia. Olney divided up Oceania into three groups; Australasia (which included Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand), Malesia and Polynesia (which included the combined islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia in his definition). Publication ''Missionary Review of the World'' claimed in 1895 that Oceania was divided up into five groups; Australasia, Malesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. It did not consider Hawaii to be part of Polynesia, due to its geographic isolation, commenting that Oceania also included, "isolated groups and islands, such as the Hawaiian and Galápagos." In 1876, French geographer
Élisée Reclus Jacques Élisée Reclus (; 15 March 18304 July 1905) was a French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork, ''La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes'' ("Universal Geography"), over a period of ...
described Australia’s plant life as highly distinctive and noted that Hawaii and the Galápagos had significant numbers of unique, endemic plant species. Rand McNally & Company, an American publisher of maps and atlases, defined Oceania as including Australia and the Pacific islands while classifying the Malay Archipelago as part of Asia. British linguist
Robert Needham Cust Robert Needham Cust (24 February 1821 – 27 October 1909) was a British administrator and judge in colonial India apart from being an Anglican evangelist and linguist. He was part of the Orientalism movement and active within the British and For ...
argued in 1887 that the Malay Archipelago should be excluded since it had participated in Asian civilization. Cust considered Oceania's four subregions to be Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. New Zealand was categorized by him as being in Polynesia; and the only country in his definition of Australasia was Australia. His definition of Polynesia included both Easter Island and Hawaii, which had not yet been annexed by either Chile or the United States. The ''
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society The ''Journal of the Royal Statistical Society'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of statistics. It comprises three series and is published by Oxford University Press for the Royal Statistical Society. History The Statistical Society of ...
'' stated in 1892 that Australia was a large island within Oceania rather than a small continent. It additionally commented:
It is certainly not necessary to consider the Hawaiian Islands and Australia as being in the same part of the world, it is however permissible to unite in one group all the islands which are scattered over the great ocean. It should be remarked that if we take the Malay Archipelago away from Oceania, as do generally the German geographers, the insular world contained in the great ocean is cut in two, and the least populated of the five parts of the world is diminished in order to increase the number of inhabitants of the most densely populated continent.
Regarding Australia and the Pacific, ''Chambers's New Handy Volume American Encyclopædia'' observed in 1885 that, the term "Oceania" has been used interchangeably with "Australasia," though often excluding the Malay Archipelago, which some writers referred to as "
Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. It is a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical kingdom. It was first recognized as a distinct region ...
." It added there was controversy over the exact limits of Oceania, saying that, the encyclopaedia mentioned the lack of agreement among geographers about the exact boundaries of Oceania. British physician and ethnologist
James Cowles Prichard James Cowles Prichard (11 February 1786 – 23 December 1848) was a British physician and ethnologist with broad interests in physical anthropology and psychiatry. His influential ''Researches into the Physical History of Mankind'' touched upon ...
stated that the Aleutian and
Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...
, along with the coasts of Asia and America, marked the northern boundary of Oceania. However, Prichard argued that these islands were generally not considered part of Oceania because their inhabitants were not connected to the indigenous peoples of the more remote Pacific islands. He added that Hawaii was the most northerly area to be inhabited by races associated with Oceania. The 1926 book ''Modern World History, 1776–1926'', by Alexander Clarence Flick, considered Oceania to include all islands in the Pacific, and associated the term with the Malay Archipelago, the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, the Aleutian Islands, Japan's
Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...
, Taiwan and the Kuril Islands. He further included in his definition
Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...
, an island which is geologically part of the
Japanese Archipelago The is an archipelago of list of islands of Japan, 14,125 islands that form the country of Japan. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China Sea, East China and Philippine Sea, Philippine seas in the southwest al ...
, but that has been administered by Russia since
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Hong Kong, partly located in another marginal sea of the Pacific (the
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...
) was also included in his definition. Australia and New Zealand were grouped together by Flick as Australasia, and categorized as being in the same area of the world as the islands of Oceania. Flick described the demographic composition of Oceania, stating that the majority of the population consisted of "brown and yellow races," while whites were primarily "owners and rulers." Hutton Webster's 1919 book ''Medieval and Modern History ''also defined Oceania broadly, stating that it encompassed all islands in the Pacific. Webster broke Oceania up into two subdivisions; the continental group, which included Australia, the Japanese archipelago, the Malay Archipelago and Taiwan, and the oceanic group, which included New Zealand and the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Charles Marion Tyler's 1885 book ''The Island World of the Pacific Ocean'' considered Oceania to ethnographically encompass Australia, New Zealand, the Malay Archipelago, and the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. However, Tyler included other Pacific islands in his book as well, such as the Aleutian Islands, the Bonin Islands, the Japanese archipelago, the Juan Fernández Islands, the Kuril Islands, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
's
Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...
and
Farallon Islands The Farallon Islands ( ), or Farallones (), are a group of islands and sea stacks in the Gulf of the Farallones, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States. The islands are also sometimes referred to by mariners as the Devil's ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
's
Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...
and
Queen Charlotte Islands Haida Gwaii (; / , literally "Islands of the Haida people"), previously known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The islands are separ ...
(now known as Haida Gwaii), Chile's
Chiloé Island Chiloé Island (, , ), also known as Greater Island of Chiloé (''Isla Grande de Chiloé''), is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the west coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean. The island is located in southern Chile, in the Los L ...
, Ecuador's Galápagos Islands, Mexico's
Guadalupe Island Guadalupe Island () is a volcanic island located off the western coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and about southwest of the city of Ensenada in the state of Baja California, in the Pacific Ocean. The various volcanoes are extinc ...
,
Revillagigedo Islands The Revillagigedo Islands (, ) or Revillagigedo Archipelago are a group of four volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, known for their unique ecosystem. They lie approximately from Socorro Island south and southwest of Cabo San Lucas, the sout ...
, San Benito Islands and Tres Marías Islands, and Peru's
Chincha Islands The Chincha Islands () are a group of three small islands off the southwest coast of Peru, to which they belong, near the town of Pisco. Since pre-Incan times they were of interest for their extensive guano deposits, but the supplies were mostl ...
. Islands in marginal seas of the Pacific were also covered in the book, including Alaska's
Pribilof Islands The Pribilof Islands (formerly the Northern Fur Seal Islands; , ) are a group of four volcanic islands off the coast of mainland Alaska, in the Bering Sea, about north of Unalaska and 200 miles (320 km) southwest of Cape Newenham. The ...
and China's
Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...
. Tyler additionally profiled the
Anson Archipelago The Anson Archipelago was a designation for a widely scattered group of purported islands in the Western North Pacific Ocean between Japan and Hawaii. The group was supposed to include Wake Island and Marcus Island, as well as many phantom islands ...
, which during the 19th century was a designation for a widely scattered group of purported islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean between Japan and Hawaii. The Anson archipelago included
phantom island A phantom island is a purported island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. They usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions, and are commonly the result of navigati ...
s such as Ganges Island and Los Jardines which were proven to not exist, as well as real islands such as Marcus Island and Wake Island. Tyler described Australia as "the
leviathan Leviathan ( ; ; ) is a sea serpent demon noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, and the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. Leviathan is of ...
of the island groups of the world". In his 1857 book ''A Treatise on Physical Geography'', Francis B. Fogg defined Oceania, or "the Maritime World," as being divided into three major subregions: Australasia, Malesia, and Polynesia. Fogg defined Polynesia as covering the combined islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, as well as the Ryukyu Islands. He listed additional significant islands in the Pacific beyond those in the standard subregions of Oceania. Scottish academic John Merry Ross in 1879 considered Polynesia to cover the entire South and Central Pacific area, not just islands ethnographically within Polynesia. He wrote in ''The Globe Encyclopedia of Universal Information'' that, in its broadest sense, Polynesia could include islands spanning from Sumatra to the Galápagos, along with Australia. Ross acknowledged that Oceania had historically been applied to this vast region but noted that, by his time, the Malay Archipelago was often excluded.


Historical and contemporary interpretations

In a 1972 article for the ''
Music Educators Journal The ''Music Educators Journal'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers in the field of education. The editor-in-chief is Ella Wilcox, and the Academic Editor is Corin Overland (University of Miami). It was established in 1914 and ...
'' titled ''Musics of Oceania'', author Raymond F. Kennedy wrote:
Many meanings have been given to the word Oceania. The most inclusive–but not always the most useful–embraces about 25,000 land areas between Asia and the Americas. A more popular and practical definition excludes Indonesia, East Malaysia (Borneo), the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, and other islands closely related to the Asian mainland, as well as the Aleutians and the small island groups situated near the Americas. Thus, Oceania most commonly refers to the land areas of the South and Central Pacific.
Kennedy defined Oceania as including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The U.S. Government Publishing Office's ''Area Handbook for Oceania'' from 1971 states that Australia and New Zealand are the principal large sovereignties of the area. It further states:
In its broadest definition Oceania embraces all islands and island groups of the Pacific Ocean that lie between Asia and the two American continents. In popular usage, however, the designation has a more restricted application. The islands of the North Pacific, such as the Aleutians and the Kuriles, usually are excluded. In addition, the series of sovereign island nations fringing Asia (Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, East Malaysia, the Republic of Indonesia) are not ordinarily considered to be part of the area.
In 1948, American military journal ''Armed Forces Talk'' broke the islands of the Pacific up into five major subdivisions; Indonesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and the non-tropical Islands. The Indonesia subdivision consisted of the islands of the Malay Archipelago, while the non-tropical islands were categorized as being North Pacific islands such as Alaska's
Kodiak archipelago The Kodiak Archipelago () is an archipelago (group of islands) south of the main land-mass of the state of Alaska (United States), about by air south-west of Anchorage in the Gulf of Alaska. The largest island in the archipelago is Kodiak Islan ...
, the Aleutian Islands, Japan, the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin. Japan's Bonin and Ryukyu Islands are also considered to be subtropical islands, with the main Japanese archipelago being non-tropical. The journal associated the term Oceania with the Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian subdivisions, but not with the Indonesian or non-tropical subdivisions. The ''Pacific Islands Handbook'' (1945), by Robert William Robson, stated that, "Pacific Islands generally are regarded as Pacific islands lying within the tropics. There are a considerable number of Pacific Islands outside the tropics. Most of them have little economic or political importance." He noted the political significance of the Aleutian Islands, which were invaded by the Japanese military in World War II, and categorized New Zealand's
Antipodes Islands The Antipodes Islands (, ) are inhospitable and uninhabited volcanic islands in subantarctic waters to the south of – and territorially part of – New Zealand. The archipelago lies to the southeast of Stewart Island / Rakiura, and to the ...
,
Auckland Islands The Auckland Islands ( Māori: ''Motu Maha'' "Many islands" or ''Maungahuka'' "Snowy mountains") are an archipelago of New Zealand, lying south of the South Island. The main Auckland Island, occupying , is surrounded by smaller Adams Island ...
,
Bounty Islands The Bounty Islands (; "Island of angry wind") are a small group of uninhabited granite islets and numerous rocks, with a combined area of circa in the South Pacific Ocean. Territorially part of New Zealand, they lie about east-south-east o ...
,
Campbell Islands The Campbell Islands (or Campbell Island Group) are a group of subantarctic islands, belonging to New Zealand. They lie about 600 km south of Stewart Island. The islands have a total area of , consisting of one big island, Campbell Is ...
,
Chatham Island Chatham Island ( ) ( Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) is the largest island of the Chatham Islands group, in the south Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is said to be "halfway between the equator and the pole, a ...
and
Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( ; ) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total area and uninhabit ...
as being non-tropical islands of the South Pacific, along with Australia's
Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...
and Norfolk Island. The Kermadec Islands, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island are also considered to be subtropical islands. Other non-tropical areas below the
equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...
, such as Chiloé Island, Macquarie Island, Tasmania, and the southern portions of mainland Australia and New Zealand, were not included in this category. According to the 1998 book ''Encyclopedia of Earth and Physical Sciences'', Oceania refers to Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and more than 10,000 islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean. It notes that, "the term asalso come under scrutiny by many geographers. Some experts insist that Oceania encompasses even the cold Aleutian Islands and the islands of Japan. Disagreement also exists over whether or not Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan should be included in Oceania." The Japanese Archipelago, the Malay Archipelago and Taiwan and other islands near China are often deemed as a geological extension of Asia, since they do not have oceanic geology, instead being detached fragments of the Eurasian continent that were once physiographically connected. Certain Japanese islands off the main archipelago are not geologically associated with Asia. The book ''The World and Its Peoples: Australia, New Zealand, Oceania'' (1966) asserts that, "Japan, Taiwan, the Aleutian Islands, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia ndthe Pacific archipelagos bordering upon the Far East Asian mainland are excluded from Oceania", and that "all the islands lying between Australia and the Americas, including Australia, are part of Oceania." Furthermore, the book adds that Hawaii is still within Oceania, despite being politically integrated into the U.S., and that the Pacific Ocean "gives unity to the whole" since "all these varied lands emerge from or border upon the Pacific." The 1876 book ''The Countries of the World'', by British scientist and explorer
Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...
, labelled the Malay Archipelago as Northwestern Oceania, but Brown still noted that these islands belonged more to the Asian continent. They are now often referred to as
Maritime Southeast Asia Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the Southeast Asian countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor. The terms Island Southeast Asia and Insular Southeast Asia are sometimes given the same meaning as ...
, with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore being founding members of the
ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...
regional organization for
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
in 1967 (Brunei and East Timor did not exist as independent nations at that point). Brown also categorized Japan and Taiwan as being in the same part of the world as the islands of Oceania, and excluded them from ''The Countries of the World: Volume 5'', which covered mainland Asia and Hong Kong. However, Brown did not explicitly associate Japan or Taiwan with the term Oceania. He divided Oceania into two subregions: Eastern Oceania, which included the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, and Southwestern Oceania, which included Australia and New Zealand. The Galápagos Islands, the Juan Fernández Islands and the Revillagigedo Islands were identified as the easternmost areas of Oceania in the book. Brown wrote, "they lie nearest the American continent of all oceanic islands, and though rarely associated with Polynesia, and never appearing to have been inhabited by any aboriginal races, are, in many ways, remarkable and interesting." Brown went on to add, "the small islands lying off the continent, like the Queen Charlotte's in the North Pacific, the Farallones off California, and the Chinchas off Peru are—to all intents and purposes, only detached bits of the adjoining shores. But in the case of the Galápagos, at least, this is different." The Juan Fernández Islands and the neighbouring Desventuradas Islands are today seen as the easternmost extension of the Indo-West Pacific biogeographic region. The islands lie on the Nazca Plate with Easter Island and the Galápagos Islands, and have a significant south central Pacific component to their marine fauna. According to scientific journal '' PLOS One'', the
Humboldt Current The Humboldt Current, also called the Peru Current, is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America.Montecino, Vivian, and Carina B. Lange. "The Humboldt Current System: Ecosystem components and pro ...
helps create a biogeographic barrier between the marine fauna of these islands and South America. Chile's government have occasionally considered them to be within Oceania along with Easter Island. Chile's government also categorize Easter Island, the Desventuradas Islands and the Juan Fernández Islands as being part of a region titled
Insular Chile Insular Chile, also called ''Las islas Esporádicas'', or "the Sporadic Islands", is a scattered group of oceanic islands of volcanic origin located in the South Pacific, and which are under the sovereignty of Chile. The islands lie on the N ...
. They further include in this region Salas y Gómez, a small uninhabited island to the east of Easter Island. ''PLOS One'' describe Insular Chile as having "cultural and ecological connections to the broader insular Pacific." In her 1997 book ''Australia and Oceania'', Australian historian
Kate Darian-Smith Katherine Darian-Smith, (born 25 February 1961) is an Australian social historian and academic. She is executive dean and pro vice-chancellor at the University of Tasmania. Early life and education Katherine Darian-Smith was born in Sydney, Ne ...
defined the area as covering Australia, New Zealand and the islands of the Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. She excluded Hawaii from her definition, but not Easter Island. The
International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...
stated in a 1986 report that they include Easter Island in their definition of Oceania "on the basis of its Polynesian and biogeographic affinities even though it is politically apart", further noting that other oceanic islands administered by Latin American countries had been included in definitions of Oceania. In 1987, ''The Journal of Australasian Cave Research'' described Oceania as being "the region from
Irian Jaya New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Austral ...
(Western New Guinea, a province of New Guinea) in the west to Galápagos Islands (Equador) and Easter Island (Chile) in the east." In a 1980 report on
venereal disease A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also referred to as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and the older term venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, or ...
s in the South Pacific, the ''British Journal of Venereal Diseases'' categorized the Desventuradas Islands, Easter Island, the Galápagos Islands and the Juan Fernández Islands as being in an eastern region of the South Pacific, along with areas such as Pitcairn Islands and French Polynesia, but noted that the Galápagos Islands were not a member of the South Pacific Commission, like other islands in the South Pacific. The South Pacific Commission is a developmental organization formed in 1947 and is currently known as the Pacific Community; its members include Australia and other Pacific Islands Forum members. In a 1947 article on the formation of the South Pacific Commission for the ''Pacific Affairs'' journal, author Roy E. James stated the organization's scope encompassed all non-self governing islands below the equator to the east of Papua New Guinea (which itself was included in the scope and then known as
Dutch New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea (, ) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1949 to 1962. It contained ...
). Easter Island and the Galápagos Islands were defined by James as falling within the organization's geographical parameters. The 2007 book ''Asia in the Pacific Islands: Replacing the West'', by New Zealand Pacific scholar
Ron Crocombe Ronald Gordon Crocombe (8 October 1929 – 19 June 2009) was a Professor of Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific. His reputation was such that he was described as the "father of Pacific Studies". Biography Ron Crocombe was born i ...
, defined the term "Pacific Islands" as being islands in the South Pacific Commission, and stated that such a definition "does not include Galápagos and other ceanicislands off the Pacific coast of the Americas; these were uninhabited when Europeans arrived, then integrated with a South American country and have almost no contact with other Pacific Islands." He adds, "Easter Island still participates in some Pacific Island affairs because its people are Polynesian."
Thomas Sebeok Thomas Albert Sebeok (, ; November 9, 1920December 21, 2001) was a Hungarian-born American polymath,Cobley, Paul; Deely, John; Kull, Kalevi; Petrilli, Susan (eds.) (2011). Semiotics Continues to Astonish: Thomas A. Sebeok and the Doctrine of S ...
's two volume 1971 book ''Linguistics in Oceania'' defines Easter Island, the Galápagos Islands, the Juan Fernández Islands,
Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
's
Cocos Island Cocos Island () is a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean administered by Costa Rica, approximately southwest of the Costa Rican mainland. It constitutes the 11th of the 15 districts of Puntarenas Canton of the Puntarenas Province, Province of ...
and
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
's
Malpelo Island Malpelo is a small oceanic island in the eastern Pacific Ocean, located about west of the Colombian mainland with a military post manned by the Colombian Armed Forces. It consists of a sheer and barren rock with three high peaks, the highest ...
(all oceanic) as making up a
Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
segment of Oceania. Cocos Island and Malpelo Island are the only landmasses located on the Cocos Plate, which is to the north of the Nazca Plate. The book observed that a native Polynesian language was still understood on Easter Island, unlike with the other islands, which were uninhabited when discovered by Europeans and mostly being used as prisons for convicts. Additionally, the book includes Taiwan and the entire Malay Archipelago as part of Oceania. While not oceanic in nature, Taiwan and Malay Archipelago countries like Indonesia and the Philippines share
Austronesia The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Southeast Asia, parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesi ...
n ethnolinguistic origins with Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, hence their inclusion in the book. Hainan, which neighbours Taiwan, also has Austronesian ethnolinguistic origins, although it was not included in the book. The book defined Oceania's major subregions as being Australia, Indonesia (which included all areas associated with the Malay Archipelago), Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. In 2010, Australian historian Bronwen Douglas claimed in ''The Journal of Pacific History'' that "a strong case could be made for extending Oceania to at least Taiwan, the homeland of the Austronesian language family whose speakers colonized significant parts of the region about 6,000 years ago." For political reasons, Taiwan was a member of the
Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...
during the 1970s and 1980s, rather than the
Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...
. Ian Todd's 1974 book ''Island Realm: A Pacific Panorama'' also defines oceanic Latin American islands as making up a Spanish language segment of Oceania, and included the Desventuradas Islands, Easter Island, the Galápagos Islands, Guadalupe Island, the Juan Fernández Islands, the Revillagigedo Islands and Salas y Gómez. Cocos Island and Malpelo Island were not explicitly referenced in the book, despite being areas which would fall within this range. All other islands associated with Latin American countries were excluded, as they are continental in nature, unlike Guadalupe Island and the Revillagigedo Islands (both situated on the Pacific Plate) and the oceanic islands situated on the Cocos Plate and Nazca Plate. Todd defined the oceanic Bonin Islands as making up a
Japanese language is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese dia ...
segment of Oceania, and excluded the main Japanese archipelago. Todd further included the Aleutian Islands in his definition of Oceania. The island chain borders both the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and is geologically a partially submerged volcanic extension of the
Aleutian Range The Aleutian Range is a major mountain range located in southwest Alaska. It extends from Chakachamna Lake (80 miles/130 km southwest of Anchorage) to Unimak Island, which is at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. It includes all of the mountain ...
on the Alaskan mainland. He did not include the volcanic Kuril Islands and Ryukyu Islands, which similarly border both the Eurasian Plate and the Pacific Plate, nor did he include the neighbouring Kodiak archipelago in the North Pacific Ocean, which is firmly situated on the North American Plate. ''The Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies'' stated in 1996 that Oceania was defined as Australia and an ensemble of various Pacific Islands, "particularly those in the central and south Pacific utnever those in the extreme north, for example the Aleutian chain." In the ''Pacific Ocean Handbook'' (1945), author Eliot Grinnell Mears claimed, "it is customary to exclude the Aleutians of the North Pacific, the American coastal islands and the
Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...
", and that he included Australia and New Zealand in Oceania for "scientific reasons; Australia's fauna is largely continental in character, New Zealand's are clearly insular; and neither
Commonwealth realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations that has the same constitutional monarch and head of state as the other realms. The current monarch is King Charles III. Except for the United Kingdom, in each of the re ...
has close ties with Asia." In his 2002 book ''Oceania: An Introduction to the Cultures and Identities of Pacific Islanders'', Andrew Strathern excluded
Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...
and the rest of the Ryukyu Islands from his definition of Oceania, but noted that the islands and their indigenous inhabitants "show many parallels with Pacific island societies." In the 2006 book ''Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds'', American paleontologist
David Steadman David William Steadman is a paleontologist and ornithologist, and Curator Emeritus of ornithology at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. His research has concentrated on the evolution, biogeography, conservation, a ...
wrote, "no place on earth is as perplexing as the 25,000 islands that make Oceania." Steadman viewed Oceania as encompassing Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (including Easter Island and Hawaii). He excluded from his definition the larger islands of New Guinea and New Zealand, and argued that Cocos Island, the Galápagos Islands, the Revillagigedo Islands and other oceanic islands nearing the Americas were not part of Oceania, due to their biogeographical affinities with that area and lack of prehistoric indigenous populations. In his 2018 book ''Regionalism in South Pacific'', Chinese author Yu Changsen wrote that some "stress a narrow vision of the Pacific as those Pacific Islands excluding Australia and even sometimes New Zealand", adding that the term Oceania "promotes a broader concept that has room for Australia and New Zealand." American marine geologist Anthony A. P. Koppers wrote in the 2009 book ''Encyclopedia of Islands'' that, "as a whole, the islands of the Pacific Region are referred to as Oceania, the tenth continent on earth. Inherent to their remoteness and because of the wide variety of island types, the Pacific Islands have developed unique social, biological and geological characteristics." Koppers considered Oceania to encompass the entire 25,000 islands of the Pacific Ocean. In this book, he included the Aleutian Islands, the Galápagos Islands, the Japanese archipelago, the Kuril Islands and continental islands off the coast of the Americas such as the Channel Islands, the Farallon Islands and Vancouver Island; all of these islands lie in or close to the Pacific
Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes. It is about long and up to about wide, and surrounds most of the Pa ...
, as is the case with New Guinea and New Zealand, which were also included. In the 2013 book ''The Environments of the Poor in Southeast Asia, East Asia and the Pacific'', Paul Bullen critiqued the definition of Oceania in ''Encyclopedia of Islands'', and wrote that since Koppers included areas such as Vancouver Island, it is "not clear what the referents of 'Pacific Region', 'Oceania' or 'Pacific Islands' are." Bullen added that, "Asia, Europe and the Maritime Continent are not literal geographic continents. The '
Asia–Pacific The Asia–Pacific (APAC) also Known as Indo-Pacific is the region of the world adjoining the western Pacific Ocean. The region's precise boundaries vary depending on context, but countries and territories in Australasia, East Asia, and Southea ...
region' would comprise two quasi-continents. 'The Pacific' would not refer to the Pacific Ocean and everything in it e.g., the Philippines." ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names'' (2017), by John Everett-Heath, states that Oceania is "a collective name for more than 10,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean" and that "it is generally accepted that Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the islands north of Japan (the Kurils and Aleutians) are excluded." In his 1993 book ''A New Oceania: Rediscovering Our Sea of Islands'', New Guinea-born Fijian scholar Epeli Hauʻofa wrote that, "Pacific Ocean islands from Japan, through the Philippines and Indonesia, which are adjacent to the Asian mainland, do not have oceanic cultures, and are therefore not part of Oceania." ''The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania'' (2018) defined Oceania as only covering Austronesian-speaking islands in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, with this definition including New Guinea and New Zealand. Other Austronesian areas such as Indonesia and the Philippines were not included, due to their closer cultural proximity to mainland Asia. Australia was also not included, as it was settled several thousands of years before the arrival of Austronesian-speaking peoples in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The book stated, "this definition of Oceania might seem too restrictive: Why not include Australia, for example, or even too broad, for what does Highland New Guinea have to do with Hawai'i?", further noting that, "a few other islands in the Pacific such as those of Japan or the Channel Islands off the southern California coast are not typically considered Oceania as the indigenous populations of these places do not share a common ancestry with Oceanic groups, except for a time far before humans sailed Pacific waters." It has been theorized that the indigenous
Jōmon people The Jōmon (縄文) were a prehistoric hunter-gatherer culture that inhabited the Japanese archipelago approximately between 14,000 BC and 300 BC. Both genetically and culturally, the Jōmon are among the earliest known ancestors of the modern ...
of the Japanese archipelago are related to Austronesians, along with the indigenous inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands. Some also theorize that
Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...
s are related to the
Ainu people The Ainu are an Indigenous peoples, indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, such as Sakhalin, the Ku ...
, who are the original inhabitants of Japan's
Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...
, the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin. In their 2019 book ''Women and Violence: Global Lives in Focus'', Kathleen Nadeau and Sangita Rayamajhi wrote:
the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and most of Indonesia are not usually considered to be part of the region of Oceania as it is understood today. These regions are usually considered to be part of Maritime Southeast Asia. Although these regions, as well as the large East Asian islands of Taiwan, Hainan and the Japanese archipelago, have varying degrees of cultural connections.
In ''Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pacific Islands: A Comprehensive Guide'' (2013), George R. Zug claimed that "a standard definition of Oceania includes Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, and New Zealand and the oceanic islands of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia." He went on to write that his preferred definition of Oceania emphasizes islands with oceanic geology, stating that oceanic islands are, "islands with no past connections to a continental landmass" and that, "these boundaries encompass the Hawaiian and Bonin Islands in the north and Easter Island in the south, and the
Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...
Islands in the west to the Galápagos Islands in the east." 320 pp. . Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and New Caledonia (which is geologically associated with New Zealand) were all excluded, as these areas are descendants of the ancient
Pangaea Pangaea or Pangea ( ) was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous period approximately 335 mi ...
supercontinent, along with landmasses such as the Americas and
Afro-Eurasia Afro-Eurasia (also Afroeurasia and Eurafrasia) is a landmass comprising the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The terms are compound (linguistics), compound words of the names of its constituent parts. Afro-Eurasia has also been called th ...
. Volcanic islands which are geologically associated with continental landmasses, such as the Aleutian Islands, Japan's
Izu Islands The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo Prefecture. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōsh ...
, the Kuril Islands, the Ryukyu Islands and most of the Solomon Islands, were also excluded from his definition. Unlike the United Nations, the World Factbook defines the still-uninhabited Clipperton Island as being a discrete political entity, and they categorize it as part of North America, presumably due to its relative proximity (situated 1,200 kilometres off Mexico on the Pacific Plate). Clipperton is not politically associated with the Americas, as is the case with other oceanic islands nearing the Americas, having had almost no interaction with the continent throughout its history. From the early 20th century to 2007, the island was administratively part of French Polynesia, which itself was known as French Oceania up until 1957. In terms of marine fauna, Clipperton shares similarities with areas of the Pacific which are much farther removed from the Americas. Scottish author Robert Hope Moncrieff considered Clipperton to be the easternmost point of Oceania in 1907, while Ian Todd also included it in his definition of Oceania in ''Island Realm: A Pacific Panorama''. Other uninhabited Pacific Ocean landmasses have been explicitly associated with Oceania, including the highly remote Baker Island and Wake Island (now administered by the
U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...
). This is due to their location in the centre of the Pacific, their biogeography and their oceanic geology. Less isolated oceanic islands that were once uninhabited, such as the Bonin Islands, the Galápagos Islands and the Juan Fernández Islands, have since been sparsely populated by citizens of their political administrators. Archaeological evidence suggests that
Micronesians The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan. Eth ...
may have lived on the Bonin Islands years ago, but they were uninhabited at the time of European discovery in the 16th century.


Boundaries between subregions

Depending on the definition, New Zealand could be part of Polynesia, or part of Australasia with Australia. New Zealand was originally settled by the Polynesian
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
, and has long maintained a political influence over the subregion. Through immigration and high Māori birth rates, New Zealand has attained the largest population of Polynesians in the world, while Australia has the third largest Polynesian population (consisting entirely of immigrants). Modern-day Indigenous Australians are loosely related to Melanesians, and Australia maintains political influence over Melanesia, which is mostly located on the same tectonic plate. Despite this, Australia is rarely seen as a part of the subregion. As with Australia and New Zealand, Melanesia's New Caledonia has a significant non-indigenous European population, numbering around 71,000. Conversely, New Caledonia has still had a similar history to the rest of Melanesia, and their French-speaking Europeans make up only 27% of the total population. As such, it is not also culturally considered a part of the predominantly English-speaking Australasia. Some cultural and political definitions of Australasia include most or all of Melanesia, due to its geographical proximity to Australia and New Zealand, but these are rare. Australia, New Zealand and the islands of Melanesia are more commonly grouped together as part of the Australasian biogeographical realm. Papua New Guinea is geographically the closest country to Australia, and is often geologically associated with Australia as it was once physiologically connected. Australia's Indian Ocean external territories of
Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an States and territories of Australia#External territories, Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about south o ...
and
Cocos (Keeling) Islands The Cocos (Keeling) Islands (), officially the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands (; ), are an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean, comprising a small archipelago approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka and rel ...
are situated within the bounds of the Australian Plate and have been geographically associated with Southeast Asia, due to their proximity to western Indonesia. Both were uninhabited when discovered by Europeans during the 17th century. Approximately half of the population on these islands are
European Australian European Australians are citizens or residents of Australia whose ancestry originates from the peoples of Europe. They form the largest panethnic group in the country. At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categorised within E ...
mainlanders (with smaller numbers being
European New Zealanders New Zealanders of Ethnic groups in Europe, European descent are mostly of British people, British and Irish New Zealanders, Irish ancestry, with significantly smaller percentages of other European ancestries such as German New Zealanders, Germ ...
), while the other half are immigrants from China or the nearby Malay Archipelago. Australia's Indian Ocean external territory Heard Island and McDonald Islands lie on the Antarctic Plate and are also thought of as being in Antarctica or no region at all, due to their extreme geographical isolation. The World Factbook define Heard Island and McDonald Islands as part of Antarctica, while placing Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands as the westernmost extent of Oceania.
Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...
, an external territory of Australia, was inhabited in prehistoric times by either Melanesians or Polynesians, and is geographically adjacent to the islands of Melanesia. The current inhabitants are mostly European Australians, and the UN categorize it as being in the Australasia subregion. The 1982 edition of the ''South Pacific Handbook'', by David Stanley, groups Australia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, and Hawaii together under an "Anglonesia" category. This is in spite of the geographical distance separating these areas from Hawaii, which technically lies in the North Pacific. The 1985 edition of the ''South Pacific Handbook'' also groups the Galápagos Islands as being in Polynesia, while noting that they are not culturally a part of the subregion. The islands are typically grouped with others in the southeastern Pacific that were never inhabited by Polynesians. The Bonin Islands are in the same biogeographical realm as the geographically adjacent Micronesia, and are often grouped in with the subregion because of this.


History


Colonisation of Oceania


Australia

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...
are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands who migrated from
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
to
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
70,000 years ago and arrived in Australia 50,000 years ago. They are believed to be among the earliest human migrations out of Africa. Although they likely migrated to Australia through Southeast Asia, they are not demonstrably related to any known Asian or Polynesian population. There is evidence of genetic and linguistic interchange between Australians in the far north and the Austronesian peoples of modern-day
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
and the islands, but this may be the result of recent trade and intermarriage. They reached
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
40,000 years ago by migrating across a
land bridge In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regression, in which sea le ...
from the mainland that existed during the last
ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
. It is believed that the first
early human migration Early human migrations are the earliest Human migration, migrations and expansions of Homo, archaic and modern humans across continents. They are believed to have begun approximately 2 million years ago with the early expansions of hominin ...
to Australia was achieved when this landmass formed part of the
Sahul continent __NOTOC__ Sahul (), also called Sahul-land, Meganesia, Papualand and Greater Australia, was a paleocontinent that encompassed the modern-day landmasses of mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands. Sahul was in the south-we ...
, connected to the island of New Guinea via a land bridge. The
Torres Strait Islanders Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of the res ...
are indigenous to the
Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...
Islands, which are at the northernmost tip of
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
near
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
. The earliest definite human remains found in Australia are that of
Mungo Man Mungo may refer to: People * Mungo (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Mungo people, an ethnic group in Cameroon Places * Mungo, Angola, a town and municipality * Mungo National Park, Australia * Lake Mungo, Australi ...
, which have been dated at 40,000 years old. It is estimated that 4% to 6% of the genome in
Melanesians Melanesians are the predominant and Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in an area stretching from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands. Most speak one of the many languages of the Austronesian languages, Austronesian l ...
(e.g. Papua New Guinean and Bougainville Islander) derives from the Denisova hominin, an ancient human species discovered in 2010, while no Eurasians or Africans displayed contributions of the Denisovan genes.


Melanesia

The original inhabitants of the group of islands now named Melanesia were likely the ancestors of the present-day Papuan-speaking people. Migrating from Southeast Asia, they appear to have occupied these islands as far east as the main islands in the Solomon Islands archipelago, including
Makira The island of Makira (previously known as San Cristóbal) is the largest island of Makira-Ulawa Province in Solomon Islands. It is third most populous of the Solomon Islands after Malaita and Guadalcanal, with a population of 55,126 as of 2020 ...
and possibly the smaller islands farther to the east. Particularly along the north coast of New Guinea and in the islands north and east of New Guinea, the
Austronesian people The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Southeast Asia, parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesi ...
, who had migrated into the area somewhat more than 3,000 years ago, came into contact with these pre-existing populations of Papuan-speaking peoples. In the late 20th century, some scholars theorized a long period of interaction, which resulted in many complex changes in genetics, languages, and culture among the peoples.


Micronesia

Micronesia began to be settled several millennia ago, although there are competing theories about the origin and arrival of the first settlers. There are numerous difficulties with conducting archaeological excavations in the islands, due to their size, settlement patterns and storm damage. As a result, much evidence is based on linguistic analysis. The earliest archaeological traces of civilization have been found on the island of
Saipan Saipan () is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated Territories of the United States, territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Cens ...
, dated to 1500 BCE or slightly before. The ancestors of the
Micronesians The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan. Eth ...
settled there over 4,000 years ago. A decentralized chieftain-based system eventually evolved into a more centralized economic and religious culture centred on
Yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...
and
Pohnpei Pohnpei (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, from Pohnpeian: "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')") is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei State, one of the fou ...
. The prehistories of many Micronesian islands such as Yap are not known very well. The first people of the Northern Mariana Islands navigated to the islands and discovered it at some period between 4000 BCE to 2000 BCE from
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
. They became known as the
Chamorros The Chamorro people (; also Chamoru) are the Indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, politically divided between the United States territory of Guam and the encompassing Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia, a commonweal ...
. Their
language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
was named after them. The ancient Chamorro left a number of megalithic ruins, including Latte stone. The Refaluwasch or Carolinian people came to the Marianas in the 1800s from the
Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...
. Micronesian colonists gradually settled the Marshall Islands during the 2nd millennium BCE, with inter-island navigation made possible using Marshall Islands stick chart, traditional stick charts.


Polynesia

The Polynesian people are considered to be by linguistic, archaeological and human genetic ancestry a subset of the sea-migrating
Austronesian people The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Southeast Asia, parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesi ...
and tracing Polynesian languages places their Prehistory, prehistoric origins in the
Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...
, and ultimately, in Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan. Between 3000 and 1000 BCE, speakers of Austronesian languages began spreading from Taiwan into Island Southeast Asia, as tribes whose Taiwanese aborigines, natives were thought to have arrived through South China 8,000 years ago to the edges of western Micronesia and on into Melanesia. In the archaeological record there are well-defined traces of this expansion which allow the path it took to be followed and dated with some certainty. It is thought that by roughly 1400 BCE, "Lapita culture, Lapita Peoples", so-named after their pottery tradition, appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago of north-west Melanesia. Easter Islanders claimed that a chief Hotu Matuꞌa discovered the island in one or two large canoes with his wife and extended family. They are believed to have been Polynesians, Polynesian. Around 1200, Tahitians, Tahitian explorers discovered and began settling the area. This date range is based on Glottochronology, glottochronological calculations and on three Radiocarbon dating, radiocarbon dates from charcoal that appears to have been produced during forest clearance activities. Moreover, a recent study which included radiocarbon dates from what is thought to be very early material suggests that the island was discovered and settled as recently as 1200.


European exploration

Oceania was first explored by Europeans from the 16th century onwards. Portuguese navigators, between 1512 and 1526, reached the Maluku Islands (by António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão in 1512), Timor, the Aru Islands Regency, Aru Islands (Martim A. Melo Coutinho), the
Tanimbar Islands The Tanimbar Islands (; ), also called ''Timur Laut'' (literally, "North East"; ), are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the sout ...
, some of the
Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...
(by Gomes de Sequeira in 1525), and west
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
(by Jorge de Menezes in 1526). In 1519, a Spanish Empire, Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan sailed down the east coast of South America, found and sailed through the Strait of Magellan, strait that bears his name and on 28 November 1520 entered the ocean which he named "Pacific". The three remaining ships, led by Magellan and his captains Duarte Barbosa and João Serrão, then sailed north and caught the trade winds which carried them across the Pacific to the Philippines where Magellan was killed. One surviving ship led by Juan Sebastián Elcano returned west across the Indian Ocean and Trinidad (ship), the other went north in the hope of finding the westerlies and reaching Mexico. Unable to find the right winds, it was forced to return to the East Indies. The Timeline of Magellan's circumnavigation, Magellan-Elcano expedition achieved the first circumnavigation of the world and reached the Philippines, the Mariana Islands, and other islands of Oceania. From 1527 to 1595, a number of other large Spanish expeditions crossed the Pacific Ocean, leading to the arrival in Marshall Islands and
Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...
in the North Pacific, as well as
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...
, the Marquesas Islands, the Solomon Islands archipelago, the
Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...
, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the quest for Terra Australis, Spanish explorations in the 17th century, such as the expedition led by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, sailed to Pitcairn Islands, Pitcairn and
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
archipelagos, and sailed the
Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...
between Australia and New Guinea, named after navigator Luís Vaz de Torres. Willem Janszoon, made the first completely documented European landing in Australia (1606), in Cape York Peninsula. Abel Tasman circumnavigated and landed on parts of the Australian continental coast and discovered Van Diemen's Land (now
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
), New Zealand in 1642, and
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
. He was the first known European explorer to reach these islands. On 23 April 1770, British explorer
James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...
made his first recorded direct observation of
Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...
at Brush Island near Bawley Point, New South Wales, Bawley Point. On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell, New South Wales, Kurnell Peninsula. It is here that James Cook made first contact with an aboriginal tribe known as the Gweagal. His expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline of Australia.


European settlement and colonisation

In 1789, the mutiny on the Bounty against William Bligh led to several of the mutineers escaping the Royal Navy and settling on
Pitcairn Islands The Pitcairn Islands ( ; Pitkern: '), officially Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, are a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the ...
, which later became a British colony. Britain also established colonies in Australia in 1788, New Zealand in 1840 and Colonial Fiji, Fiji in 1872, with much of Oceania becoming part of the British Empire. The Gilbert Islands (now known as
Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...
) and the Ellice Islands (now known as
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...
) came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century. French Catholic missionaries arrived on Tahiti in 1834; their expulsion in 1836 caused France to send a gunboat in 1838. In 1842, Tahiti and Tahuata were declared a Protectorate, French protectorate, to allow Catholic missionaries to work undisturbed. On 24 September 1853, under orders from Napoleon III, Admiral Auguste Febvrier Despointes, Febvrier Despointes took formal possession of New Caledonia. The Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar landed in the Marshall Islands in 1529. They were named by Adam Johann von Krusenstern, Krusenstern, after English explorer John Marshall (British captain), John Marshall, who visited them together with Thomas Gilbert (captain), Thomas Gilbert in 1788, en route from Botany Bay to Guangzhou, Canton (two ships of the First Fleet). In 1905, the British government transferred some administrative responsibility over southeast New Guinea to Australia (which renamed the area "Territory of Papua"); and in 1906, transferred all remaining responsibility to Australia. The Marshall Islands were claimed by Spain in 1874. Germany established colonies in New Guinea in 1884, and German Samoa, Samoa in 1900. The United States also expanded into the Pacific, beginning with
Baker Island Baker Island, once known as New Nantucket in the early 19th century, is a small, uninhabited atoll located just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean, approximately southwest of Honolulu. Positioned almost halfway between Hawaii a ...
and
Howland Island Howland Island () is a coral island and strict nature reserve located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean, about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia and is an Territories of the ...
in 1857, and with Hawaii becoming a Territory of Hawaii, US territory in 1898. Disagreements between the US, the UK, and Germany over Samoa led to the Tripartite Convention (1899), Tripartite Convention of 1899.


Modern history

One of the first land offensives in Oceania was the Occupation of German Samoa in August 1914 by New Zealand Defence Force, New Zealand forces. The campaign to take Samoa ended without bloodshed after over 1,000 New Zealanders landed on the German colony. Australian forces attacked German New Guinea in September 1914. A company of Australians and a British warship besieged the Germans and their colonial subjects, ending with a German surrender. The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of 7 December 1941. The attack led to the Military history of the United States during World War II, United States' entry into World War II. The Japanese subsequently invaded New Guinea, Solomon Islands and other Pacific islands. The Japanese were turned back at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Kokoda Track campaign before they were finally defeated in 1945. Some of the most prominent Oceanic battlegrounds were the Battle of Bita Paka, the Solomon Islands campaign, the Bombing of Darwin, Air raids on Darwin, the Kokoda Track campaign, Kokoda Track, and the Borneo campaign. The United States fought the Battle of Guam (1944), Battle of Guam from 21 July to 10 August 1944, to recapture the island from Japanese military occupation. Australia and New Zealand became British Dominions, dominions in the 20th century, adopting the Statute of Westminster 1931, Statute of Westminster Act in 1942 and 1947 respectively. In 1946, Polynesians were granted French citizenship and the islands' status was changed to an overseas administrative territorial entity, overseas territory; the islands' name was changed in 1957 to ''Polynésie Française'' (
French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
). Hawaii became a U.S. state in 1959.
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
and
Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
became independent in 1970. On 1 May 1979, in recognition of the evolving political status of the Marshall Islands, the United States recognised the constitution of the Marshall Islands and the establishment of the government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The South Pacific Forum was founded in 1971, which became the
Pacific Islands Forum The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organisation that aims to enhance cooperation among countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 197 ...
in 2000.


Geography

Under a four subregion model, the islands of Oceania extend to New Guinea in the west, the
Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a list of islands of Japan, Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and Island#Tropical islands, tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total ...
in the northwest, the
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
in the northeast, Easter Island and Isla Salas y Gómez, Sala y Gómez Island in the east, and
Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island in the south-western Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has been governed as a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1880. It became a Protected areas of Tasmania, Tasmania ...
in the south. Excluded under most definitions of Oceania are the Pacific landmasses of Taiwan, the
Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...
, and the Japanese archipelago, which are all on the margins of Asia, as well as the
Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...
and other Alaskan or Canadian islands. In its periphery, Oceania's islands would sprawl 28th parallel north, 28 degrees north to the Bonin Islands in the Northern Hemisphere, and 55th parallel south, 55 degrees south to Macquarie Island in the Southern Hemisphere. Oceanian islands are of four basic types: continental islands, high islands, coral reefs and uplifted coral island, coral platforms. High islands are of volcanic origin, and many contain active volcanoes. Among these are Bougainville Island, Bougainville, Hawaii, and Solomon Islands. Oceania is one of eight terrestrial biogeographic realms, which constitute the major ecological regions of the planet. Related to these concepts are
Near Oceania Near Oceania is the part of Oceania that features greater biodiversity, due to the islands and atolls being closer to each other. The distinction of Near Oceania and Remote Oceania was first suggested by Pawley & Green (1973) and was further el ...
, that part of western Island Melanesia which has been inhabited for tens of millennia, and Remote Oceania which is more recently settled. Although the majority of the Oceanian islands lie in the South Pacific, a few of them are not restricted to the Pacific Ocean – Kangaroo Island and Ashmore and Cartier Islands, for instance, are situated in the Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean, respectively, and West Coast, Tasmania, Tasmania's west coast faces the Southern Ocean. The coral reefs of the South Pacific are low-lying structures that have built up on basaltic lava flows under the ocean's surface. One of the most dramatic is the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia with chains of reef patches. A second island type formed of coral is the uplifted coral platform, which is usually slightly larger than the low coral islands. Examples include Banaba Island, Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and Makatea in the Tuamotu group of
French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
.


Regions

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...
, which lies north of the equator and west of the International Date Line, includes the Mariana Islands in the northwest, the
Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...
in the centre, the Marshall Islands to the west and the islands of
Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...
in the southeast.
Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...
, to the southwest, includes
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, the world's second largest island after
Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
and by far the largest of the Pacific islands. The other main Melanesian groups from north to south are the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, the
Santa Cruz Islands The Santa Cruz Islands form an archipelago in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. They lie approximately to the southeast of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), Solomon Islands archipelago, just north of the archipelago of Vanuatu and are con ...
,
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
,
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
and
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
.
Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...
, stretching from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south, also encompasses
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...
,
Tokelau Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, an ...
,
Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
,
Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
, and the
Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( ; ) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total area and uninhabit ...
to the west, the
Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...
,
Society Islands The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country ...
and Austral Islands in the centre, and the Marquesas Islands, the Tuamotus, Mangareva Islands, and Easter Island to the east.
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
comprises Australia, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. Along with India most of Australasia lies on the Indo-Australian Plate with the latter occupying the Southern area. It is flanked by the Indian Ocean to the west and the Southern Ocean to the south.


Geology

The Pacific Plate, which makes up most of Oceania, is an oceanic Plate tectonics, tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate contains an interior Hotspot (geology), hot spot forming the
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
. It is almost entirely oceanic crust. The oldest member disappearing by way of the
plate tectonics Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...
cycle is early-Cretaceous (145 to 137 million years ago). Australia became part of the Indo-Australian Plate 45 to 40 million years ago and this is in the process of separating again with the Australian Plate being relevant to Oceania. It is the lowest, flattest, and oldest landmass on Earth and it has had a relatively stable geological history. Geological forces such as tectonic uplift of mountain ranges or clashes between tectonic plates occurred mainly in Australia's early history, when it was still a part of Gondwana. Australia is situated in the middle of the tectonic plate, has occasional middle-sized earthquakes, and currently has no active volcanism (but some volcanoes in southeast Australia erupted within the last 10,000 years). The geology of New Zealand is noted for its volcanic activity, earthquakes, and Geothermal activity, geothermal Geothermal areas in New Zealand, areas because of its position on the boundary of the Australian Plate and Pacific Plates. Much of the basement rock of New Zealand was once part of the super-continent of Gondwana, along with South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Antarctica and Australia. The rocks that now form the continent of Zealandia (continent), Zealandia were nestled between Eastern Australia and Western Antarctica. The Australia-New Zealand continental fragment of Gondwana split from the rest of Gondwana in the late Cretaceous time (95–90 Ma). By 75 Ma, Zealandia was essentially separate from Australia and Antarctica, although only shallow seas might have separated Zealandia and Australia in the north. The Tasman Sea, and part of Zealandia then locked together with Australia to form the Australian Plate (40 Ma), and a new plate boundary was created between the Australian Plate and Pacific Plate. Most islands in the Pacific are high islands (volcanic islands), such as, Easter Island,
American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...
and
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
, among others, having peaks up to 1300 m rising abruptly from the shore. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands were formed 7 to 30 million years ago, as shield volcanoes over the same volcanic Hotspot (geology), hotspot that formed the Emperor Seamounts to the north and the Main Hawaiian Islands to the south. Hawaii's tallest mountain Mauna Kea is above mean sea level.


Flora

The most diverse country of Oceania when it comes to the environment is Australia, with tropical rainforests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east, and dry desert in the centre. Deserts of Australia, Desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land. The Eastern Australian temperate forests, coastal uplands and a Brigalow Belt, belt of Brigalow grasslands lie between the coast and the mountains, while inland of the dividing range are large areas of grassland. The northernmost point of the east coast is the tropical-rainforested Cape York Peninsula. Prominent features of the Australian flora are adaptations to aridity and fire which include sclerophyll, scleromorphy and serotiny. These adaptations are common in species from the large and well-known families Proteaceae (''Banksia''), Myrtaceae (''Eucalyptus'' – gum trees), and Fabaceae (''Acacia'' – wattle). The flora of Fiji, Solomon Islands,
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
, and
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
is tropical dry forest, with tropical vegetation that includes palm trees, ''Premna protrusa'', ''Psydrax odorata'', ''Gyrocarpus americanus'', and ''Derris trifoliata''. New Zealand's landscape ranges from the fjord-like sounds of the southwest to the tropical beaches of the far north. South Island is dominated by the Southern Alps. There are 18 peaks of more than 3000 metres (9800 ft) in the South Island. All summits over 2,900 m are within the Southern Alps, a chain that forms the backbone of the South Island; the highest peak of which is Aoraki / Mount Cook, at . Earthquakes are common, though usually not severe, averaging 3,000 per year. There is a wide variety of native trees, adapted to all the various micro-climates in New Zealand. In Hawaii, one endemic plant, ''Brighamia'', now requires hand-pollination because its natural pollinator is presumed to be extinct. The two species of ''Brighamia'' – ''B. rockii'' and ''B. insignis'' – are represented in the wild by around 120 individual plants. To ensure these plants set seed, biologists rappel down cliffs to brush pollen onto their stigmas.


Fauna

The aptly named Pacific kingfisher is found in the Pacific Islands, as is the Red-vented bulbul, Polynesian starling, Brown goshawk, Pacific Swallow and the Cardinal myzomela, among others. Birds breeding on Pitcairn include the fairy tern, common noddy, and red-tailed tropicbird. The Pitcairn reed warbler, endemic to Pitcairn Island, was added to the endangered species list in 2008. Native to Hawaii is the Hawaiian crow, which has been extinct in the wild since 2002. The brown tree snake is native to northern and eastern coasts of Australia, Papua New Guinea, Guam and Solomon Islands. Native to Australia, New Guinea and proximate islands are birds of paradise, honeyeaters, Australasian treecreeper, Australasian robin, kingfishers, butcherbirds, and bowerbirds. A unique feature of Australia's fauna is the relative scarcity of native placentalia, placental mammals, and dominance of the marsupials – a group of mammals that raise their young in a pouch (marsupial), pouch, including the Macropodidae, macropods, Phalangeriformes, possums, and dasyuromorphia, dasyuromorphs. The passerines of Australia, also known as songbirds or perching birds, include wrens, the Artamidae, magpie group, Acanthiza, thornbills, corvids, pardalotes, lyrebirds. Predominant bird species in the country include the Australian magpie, Australian raven, the pied currawong, crested pigeons and the laughing kookaburra. The koala, emu, platypus and kangaroo are national animals of Australia, and the Tasmanian devil is also one of the well-known animals in the country. The goanna is a predatory lizard native to the Australian mainland. The birds of New Zealand evolved into an avifauna that included a large number of Endemism, endemic species. As an island archipelago New Zealand accumulated bird diversity and when Captain James Cook arrived in the 1770s he noted that the bird vocalization, bird song was deafening. The mix includes species with unusual biology such as the kākāpō which is the world's only flightless, nocturnal, Lek mating, lek-breeding parrot, but also many species that are similar to neighbouring land areas. Some of the more well known and distinctive bird species in New Zealand are the Kiwi (bird), kiwi, kea, takahē, Kākāpō, Yellowhead (bird), mohua, tūī, and the New Zealand bellbird, bellbird. The tuatara is a notable reptile endemic to New Zealand. Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Wallacea, and the islands of the Pacific Ocean collectively possess 42% of the world's parrot species, including half of all Critically Endangered parrots, many of which are endemic to the region.


Climate

The Pacific Islands are ruled by a tropical rainforest and tropical savanna climate. In the tropical and subtropical Pacific, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects weather conditions. In the tropical western Pacific, the monsoon and the related wet season during the summer months contrast with dry winds in the winter which blow over the ocean from the Asian landmass. November is the only month in which all the tropical cyclone basins are active. To the southwest of the region, in the Australian landmass, the climate is mostly desert or Semi-arid climate, semi-arid, with the southern coastal corners having a Temperateness, temperate climate, such as oceanic climate, oceanic and humid subtropical climate in the east coast and Mediterranean climate in the west. The northern parts of the country have a tropical climate. Snow falls frequently on the highlands near the east coast, in the states of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, New South Wales,
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
and in the Australian Capital Territory. Most regions of New Zealand belong to the temperate zone with a maritime climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb) characterised by four distinct seasons. Conditions vary from extremely wet on the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast of the South Island to almost Semi-arid climate, semi-arid in Central Otago and subtropical in North Auckland Peninsula, Northland. Snow falls in New Zealand's South Island and at higher altitudes in the North Island. It is extremely rare at sea level in the North Island. Hawaii, although being in the tropics, experiences many different climates, depending on latitude and its geography. The Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii for example hosts 4 (out of 5 in total) climate groups on a surface as small as according to the Köppen climate types: tropical, arid, temperate and polar. The Hawaiian Islands receive most of their precipitation during the winter months (October to April). A few islands in the northwest, such as
Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
, are susceptible to typhoons in the wet season. The highest recorded temperature in Oceania occurred in Oodnadatta, South Australia (2 January 1960), where the temperature reached . The lowest temperature ever recorded in Oceania was , at Ranfurly, New Zealand, Ranfurly in Otago in 1903, with a more recent temperature of recorded in 1995 in nearby Ophir, New Zealand, Ophir.
Pohnpei Pohnpei (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, from Pohnpeian: "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')") is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei State, one of the fou ...
of the Senyavin Islands in
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...
is the wettest settlement in Oceania, and one of the wettest places on earth, with annual recorded rainfall exceeding each year in certain mountainous locations. Big Bog, Maui, The Big Bog on the island of Maui is the wettest place, receiving an average each year.


Politics


Australia

Australia is a federalism, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy with Charles III at its apex as the Monarchy of Australia, King of Australia, a role that is distinct from his position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The King is represented in Australia by the Governor-General of Australia, Governor-General at the federal level and by the Governors of the Australian states, Governors at the state level, who by convention act on the advice of his ministers. There are two major political groups that usually form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party and the Coalition (Australia), Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party of Australia, National Party. Within Australian political culture, the Coalition is considered centre-right and the Labor Party is considered centre-left. The Australian Defence Force is by far the largest military force in Oceania.


New Zealand

New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy, although Constitution of New Zealand, its constitution is Uncodified constitution, not codified. Charles III is the Monarchy of New Zealand, King of New Zealand and the head of state. The King is represented by the Governor-General of New Zealand, Governor-General, whom he appoints on the Advice (constitutional), advice of the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister. The New Zealand Parliament holds legislative power and consists of the King and the New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives. A Elections in New Zealand, parliamentary general election must be called no later than three years after the previous election. New Zealand is identified as one of the world's most stable and well-governed states, with high government transparency and among the lowest perceived levels of corruption.


Pacific Islands

In Politics of Samoa, Samoan politics, the Prime Minister of Samoa is the head of government. The Constitution of Samoa, 1960 constitution, which formally came into force with independence from New Zealand in 1962, builds on the British pattern of parliamentary democracy, modified to take account of Samoan customs. The national government (''malo'') generally controls the Legislative Assembly of Samoa, legislative assembly. Politics of Tonga takes place in a framework of a constitutional monarchy, whereby the King of Tonga is the Head of State. Politics of Fiji, Fiji has a multiparty system with the Prime Minister of Fiji as head of government. The Executive (government), executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Fiji.
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
's Head of State of Fiji, Head of State is the President of Fiji, President. In the politics of Papua New Guinea the List of Prime Ministers of the Papua New Guinea, Prime Minister is the head of government, and the head of state is Monarchy of the United Kingdom, the monarch of the United Kingdom, represented by a Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, Governor-General. In Politics of Kiribati, Kiribati, a Parliamentary system, Parliamentary regime, the President of Kiribati is the head of state and government, and of a multi-party system. Politics of New Caledonia, New Caledonia remains an integral part of the French Republic. Inhabitants of New Caledonia are French citizens. New Caledonia sends two representatives to the French National Assembly and two senators to the French Senate. Politics of Hawaii, Hawaii is dominated by the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. As codified in the Constitution of Hawaii, Hawaiian Constitution, there are three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. The governor is elected statewide.


Economy

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 few land boundaries that can be drawn on a map of the Pacific at this scale).


Australia

Australia and New Zealand are the only highly Developed country, developed independent nations in the region, although the economy of Australia is by far the largest and most dominant economy in the region and one of the largest in the world. New Caledonia, Hawaii, and French Polynesia are highly developed too but are not sovereignty, sovereign states. Australia's per-capita GDP is List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita, higher than that of the UK, Canada, Germany, and France in terms of purchasing power parity. New Zealand is also one of the most globalised economies and depends greatly on international trade. The Australian Securities Exchange in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
is the largest List of stock exchanges in Oceania, stock exchange in Australia and in the South Pacific. In 2012, Australia was the 12th largest national economy by nominal GDP and the 19th-largest measured by Purchasing power parity, PPP-adjusted GDP. Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranks Sydney tenth in the world in terms of quality of living, making it one of the world's most livable cities, most livable cities. It is classified as an Alpha World City by Globalization and World Cities Research Network, GaWC. Melbourne also ranked highly in the World's Most Livable Cities, world's most liveable city list, and is a leading financial centre in the Asia–acific region. The majority of people living in Australia work in health care, retail and education sectors. Australia boasts the largest amount of manufacturing in the region, Automotive industry in Australia, producing cars, electrical equipment, machinery and clothing industry, clothes.


New Zealand

New Zealand's Economy of New Zealand, economy is the List of countries by GDP (nominal), 53rd-largest in the world measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and List of countries by GDP (PPP), 68th-largest in the world measured by purchasing power parity (PPP). A major economic and cultural powerhouse of the Southern Hemisphere, Auckland is ranked as a Beta+ world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Auckland and Wellington are frequently ranked among the world's most liveable cities, with Auckland being ranked Global Liveability Ranking, first in the world according to the Global Liveability Ranking.
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
has a large GDP for its population of 5.2 million, and sources of revenue are spread throughout the large island nation. The country has one of the most globalised economies and depends greatly on international trade – mainly with
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, China, the European Union, Japan,
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
, South Korea and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. New Zealand's 1983 Closer Economic Relations agreement with Australia means that the economy aligns closely with Economy of Australia, that of Australia. In 2005, the World Bank praised New Zealand as the most business-friendly country in the world. The economy diversified and by 2008, tourism had become the single biggest generator of foreign exchange. The New Zealand dollar is the 10th-most traded currency in the world. [pg.10 of PDF]


Pacific Islands

The overwhelming majority of people living in the Pacific islands work in the service industry which includes tourism, education and financial services. Oceania's largest export markets include Japan, China, the United States and South Korea. The smallest Pacific nations rely on trade with Australia, New Zealand and the United States for exporting goods and for accessing other products. Australia and New Zealand's trading arrangements are known as Closer Economic Relations. Australia and New Zealand, along with other countries, are members of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the East Asia Summit (EAS), which may become trade blocs in the future particularly EAS. The main produce from the Pacific is copra or coconut, but timber, beef, palm oil, Cocoa bean, cocoa, sugar, and ginger are also commonly grown across the tropics of the Pacific. Fishing provides a major Industry (economics), industry for many of the smaller nations in the Pacific, although many fishing areas are exploited by other larger countries, namely Japan. Natural Resources, such as lead, zinc, nickel, and gold, are mined in Australia and Solomon Islands. Oceania's largest export markets include Japan, China, the United States, India, South Korea and the European Union. Endowed with forest, mineral, and fish resources,
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
is one of the most developed of the Pacific island economics, economies, though it remains a developing nation, developing country with a large subsistence agriculture sector. Agriculture accounts for 18% of gross domestic product, although it employed some 70% of the workforce as of 2001. Sugar exports and the growing tourist industry are the major sources of foreign exchange. Sugar cane processing makes up one-third of industrial activity. Coconuts, ginger, and copra are also significant. The history of Hawaii's economy can be traced through a succession of dominant industries; sandalwood, whaling, sugarcane, pineapple, the military, tourism and education. Hawaiian exports include food and clothing. These industries play a small role in the Hawaiian economy, due to the shipping distance to viable markets, such as the West Coast of the contiguous U.S. The state's food exports include coffee, macadamia nuts, pineapple, livestock, sugarcane and honey. , Honolulu was ranked high on world livability rankings, and was also ranked as the 2nd safest city in the U.S.


Tourism

Tourists mostly come from Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Economy of Fiji#Tourism, Fiji currently attracts almost half a million tourists each year, more than a quarter of whom come from Australia. This has contributed $1 billion or more to Fiji's economy since 1995, but the Government of Fiji likely underestimates these figures due to the invisible economy inside the tourism industry. Vanuatu is widely recognised as one of the premier vacation destinations for scuba divers wishing to explore coral reefs of the South Pacific region. Tourism has been promoted, in part, by Vanuatu being the site of several reality-TV shows. The ninth season of the reality TV series ''Survivor (US TV series), Survivor'' was filmed on Vanuatu, entitled ''Survivor: Vanuatu – Islands of Fire''. Two years later, Australia's ''Celebrity Survivor'' was filmed at the same location used by the U.S. version. Tourism in Australia is an important component of the Australian economy. In the financial year 2014/15,
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
represented 3% of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
's Gross domestic product, GDP contributing A$47.5 billion to the national economy. In 2015, there were 7.4 million visitor arrivals. Popular Australian destinations include the Sydney Harbour (Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, Royal Botanic Garden, etc.), Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast (theme parks such as Warner Bros. Movie World, Dreamworld (Australian theme park), Dreamworld and Sea World (Australia), Sea World), Walls of Jerusalem National Park and Mount Field National Park in
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
, Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, the Great Barrier Reef in
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, The Twelve Apostles (Victoria), The Twelve Apostles in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Australian outback. Tourism in New Zealand contributes New Zealand dollar, NZ$7.3 billion (or 4%) of the country's gross domestic product, GDP in 2013, as well as directly supporting 110,800 full-time equivalent jobs (nearly 6% of New Zealand's workforce). International tourist spending accounted for 16% of New Zealand's export earnings (nearly NZ$10 billion). International and domestic tourism contributes, in total, NZ$24 billion to New Zealand's economy every year. Tourism New Zealand, the country's official tourism agency, is actively promoting the country as a destination worldwide. Milford Sound in South Island is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination. In 2003 alone, according to state government data, there were over 6.4 million Tourism in Hawaii, visitors to the Hawaiian Islands with expenditures of over $10.6 billion. Due to the mild year-round weather, tourist travel is popular throughout the year. In 2011, Hawaii saw increasing arrivals and share of foreign tourists from Canada, Australia, and China increasing 13%, 24% and 21% respectively from 2010.


Demographics

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, depending on the source and purpose of each description. ! style="text-align:right;" , 16.6


Largest city for regions

*
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
(metro, urban or proper largest city:
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
) *
Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...
(metro, urban or proper largest city: Jayapura) *
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...
(metro, urban or proper largest city: Tarawa) *
Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...
(metro, urban or proper largest city: Auckland)


Cities by metropolitan area


Religion

The predominant religion in Oceania is Christianity (73%). A 2011 survey found that 92% in
Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...
, 93% in
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...
and 96% in
Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...
described themselves as Christians. Traditional religions are often Animism, animist, and prevalent among traditional tribes is the belief in spirits (''masalai'' in Tok Pisin) representing natural forces. In the 2018 census, 37% of New Zealanders affiliated themselves with Christianity and 48% declared no religion. In the 2016 Census, 52% of the Australian population declared some variety of Christianity and 30% stated "no religion". In recent Australian and New Zealand censuses, large proportions of the population say they belong to "Irreligion, no religion" (which includes atheism, agnosticism, deism, and secular humanism). In
Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
, everyday life is heavily influenced by Polynesian culture, Polynesian traditions and especially by the Christian faith. The Ahmadiyya mosque in Marshall Islands is the only mosque in Micronesia. Another one in
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...
belongs to the same sect. The Baháʼí House of Worship in Tiapapata,
Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
, is one of seven designations administered in the Baháʼí Faith. Hinduism is a minority faith in Oceania. Hinduism in Fiji, Fiji has the highest percentage of Hindus in Oceania at 29.7% In absolute numbers, Hinduism in Australia, Australia has the largest population of Hindus in Oceania constituting 2.7% of the country's population. In Hinduism in New Zealand, New Zealand, Hindus form 2.65% of the population of. Hinduism in Samoa, Samoa also has a significant Hindu population. Other religions in the region include Islam and Buddhism, which are prominent minority religions in Australia and New Zealand. Judaism, Sikhism and Jainism are also present. Sir Isaac Isaacs was the first Australian-born Governor General of Australia and was the first Jewish vice-regal representative in the British Empire. Prince Philip Movement is followed around Yaohnanen village on the southern island of Tanna (island), Tanna in
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
.


Languages

Native languages of Oceania fall into three major geographic groups: * The large Austronesian languages, Austronesian language family, with such languages as Malay language, Malay (Indonesian), and Oceanic languages such as Gilbertese language, Gilbertese, Fijian language, Fijian, Māori language, Māori, and Hawaiian language, Hawaiian * The Aboriginal Australian languages, including the large Pama–Nyungan family * The Papuan languages of
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
and neighbouring islands, including the large Trans–New Guinea family Immigrants brought their own languages to the region. Common non-indigenous languages include English in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and many other territories; French in
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
,
French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
,
Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (), is a French island territorial collectivity, collectivity in the Oceania, South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga t ...
; Japanese in the
Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a list of islands of Japan, Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and Island#Tropical islands, tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total ...
; and Spanish language, Spanish on Easter Island and the Galápagos Islands. There are also Creole language, Creoles formed from the interaction of Malay or the colonial languages with indigenous languages, such as Tok Pisin, Bislama, Chavacano, various Malay trade and creole languages, Hawaiian Pidgin, Norfuk, and Pitkern. Contact between Austronesian and Papuan resulted in several instances in mixed languages such as Maisin language, Maisin.


Immigration

The most multicultural areas in Oceania, which have a List of sovereign states and dependent territories by immigrant population, high degree of immigration, are Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii. Since 1945, more than 7 million people have settled in Australia. From the late 1970s, there was a significant increase in immigration from Asian and other non-European countries, making Australia a Multiculturalism in Australia, multicultural country. Sydney is the most Multiculturalism, multicultural city in Oceania, having more than 250 different languages spoken with about 40% of residents speaking a Languages Other Than English, language other than English at home. Furthermore, 36 percent of the population reported having been foreign born, born overseas, with top countries being Italy, Lebanon, Vietnam and Iraq, among others. Melbourne is also fairly multicultural, having the largest Greek community of Melbourne, Greek-speaking population outside of Europe, and the second largest Asian Australians, Asian population in Australia after Sydney. European migration to New Zealand provided a major influx following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Subsequent immigration has been chiefly from the British Isles, but also from continental Europe, the Pacific, The Americas and Asia. Auckland is home to over half (51.6 percent) of New Zealand's overseas born population, including 72 percent of the country's Pacific Island-born population, 64 percent of its Asian people, Asian-born population, and 56 percent of its Middle Eastern people, Middle Eastern and African born population. Hawaii is a majority-minority state. Chinese people, Chinese workers on Western trading ships settled in Hawaii starting in 1789. In 1820, the first American missionaries arrived to preach Christianity and teach the Hawaiians Western ways. , a large proportion of Hawaii's population have Asian ancestry – especially Filipino people, Filipino, Japanese, Korean immigration to Hawaii, Korean and Chinese. Many are descendants of immigrants brought to work on the sugarcane plantations in the mid-to-late 19th century. Almost 13,000 Portuguese people, Portuguese immigrants had arrived by 1899; they also worked on the sugarcane plantations. Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii began in 1899 when Puerto Rico's sugar industry was devastated by two hurricanes, causing a worldwide shortage of sugar and a huge demand for sugar from Hawaii. Between 2001 and 2007 Australia's Pacific Solution policy transferred asylum seekers to several Pacific nations, including the Nauru detention centre. Australia, New Zealand, and other nations took part in the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands between 2003 and 2017 after a request for aid.


Archaeogenetics

Archaeology, linguistics, and existing genetics, genetic studies indicate that Oceania was settled by two major waves of migration. The first migration of Australo-Melanesians took place 40 to 80 thousand years ago, and these migrants, Indigenous people of New Guinea, Papuans, colonised much of
Near Oceania Near Oceania is the part of Oceania that features greater biodiversity, due to the islands and atolls being closer to each other. The distinction of Near Oceania and Remote Oceania was first suggested by Pawley & Green (1973) and was further el ...
. Approximately 3.5 thousand years ago, a second expansion of Austronesian languages, 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 peoples, 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 Islands, Santa Cruz, a population located in Remote Oceania, is an anomaly with extreme frequencies of autochthonous haplogroups of Near Oceanian origin. Large areas of
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
are unexplored by scientists and anthropologists due to extensive forestation and mountainous terrain. Known indigenous tribes in
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
have very little contact with local authorities aside from the authorities knowing who they are. Many remain preliterate and, at the national or international level, the names of tribes and information about them is extremely hard to obtain. The
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
n provinces of Papua (province), Papua and West Papua (province), West Papua on the island of New Guinea are home to an estimated 44 uncontacted peoples, uncontacted tribal groups.


Culture


Australia

Since 1788, the primary influence behind Australian culture has been Anglo-Celtic Western culture, with some Indigenous Australians, Indigenous influences. The divergence and evolution that has occurred in the ensuing centuries has resulted in a distinctive Australian culture. Since the mid-20th century, Culture of the United States, American popular culture has strongly influenced Australia, particularly through television and cinema. Other cultural influences come from neighbouring Asian countries, and through large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking nations. ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'' (1906), the world's first feature length film, spurred a boom in cinema of Australia, Australian cinema during the silent film era. The Australian Museum in Sydney and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne are the oldest and List of largest art museums, largest museums in Oceania. The city's Sydney New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve celebrations are the largest in Oceania. Australia is also known for its Coffeehouse, cafe and coffee culture in Urban area, urban centres. Australia and
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
were responsible for the flat white coffee. Most Indigenous Australian tribal groups subsisted on a simple hunter-gatherer diet of native fauna and flora, otherwise called bush tucker. The first settlers introduced British cuisine, British food to the continent, much of which is now considered typical Australian food, such as the Sunday roast. Multicultural immigration transformed Australian cuisine; post-World War II European migrants, particularly from the Mediterranean, helped to build a thriving Australian coffee culture, and the influence of Culture of Asia, Asian cultures has led to Australian variants of their staple foods, such as the Chinese cuisine, Chinese-inspired dim sim and Chiko Roll.


Hawaii

The music of Hawaii includes traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern Rock music, rock and Hip hop music, hip hop. Hawaii's musical contributions to the music of the United States are out of proportion to the state's small size. Styles such as slack-key guitar are well known worldwide, while Hawaiian-tinged music is a frequent part of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood soundtracks. Hawaii also made a major contribution to country music with the introduction of the steel guitar. The Hawaiian religion is Polytheism, polytheistic and Animism, animistic, with a belief in many deities and spirits, including the belief that spirits are found in non-human beings and objects such as animals, the waves, and the sky. The cuisine of Hawaii is a fusion of many foods brought by immigrants to the Hawaiian Islands, including the earliest Polynesians and Native Hawaiian cuisine, native Hawaiians, and Cuisine of the United States, American, Chinese cuisine, Chinese, Filipino cuisine, Filipino, Japanese cuisine, Japanese, Korean cuisine, Korean, Polynesian cuisine, Polynesian, and Portuguese cuisine, Portuguese origins. Native Hawaiian musician and Hawaiian sovereignty activist Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, famous for his medley of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World", was named "The Voice of Hawaii" by NPR in 2010 in its 50 great voices series.


New Zealand

New Zealand as a culture is a Western culture, which is influenced by the cultural input of the indigenous
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
and the various waves of multi-ethnic migration which followed the History of New Zealand, British colonisation of New Zealand. The Māori people constitute one of the major cultures of Polynesia. The country has been broadened by globalisation and immigration specifically from Oceania, Europe, and Asia. New Zealand marks two national days of remembrance, Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day, and also celebrates many holidays such as the King's Birthday, Labour Day, and Christmas Day, as well as public anniversaries of the founding dates of most regions. The New Zealand recording industry began to develop from 1940 onwards and many New Zealand musicians have obtained success in Britain and the United States. Some artists release Māori language songs and the Māori tradition-based art of ''kapa haka'' (song and dance) has made a resurgence. The country's diverse scenery and compact size, plus government incentives, have encouraged some Film producer, producers to film big budget movies in New Zealand, including ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'', ''The Lord of the Rings (film series), The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Hobbit (film series), The Hobbit'', ''The Chronicles of Narnia (film series), The Chronicles of Narnia'', ''King Kong (2005 film), King Kong'' and ''The Last Samurai''. The national cuisine has been described as Pacific Rim, incorporating the native Māori cuisine and diverse culinary traditions introduced by settlers and immigrants from Europe, Polynesia and Asia. New Zealand yields produce from land and sea – most crops and livestock, such as maize, potatoes and pigs, were gradually introduced by the early European settlers. Distinctive ingredients or dishes include Lamb and mutton, lamb; salmon; Paranephrops, koura (crayfish); whitebait; shellfish including dredge oysters, pāua, mussels, scallops, Paphies australis, pipi and tuatua; Sweet potato, kumara (sweet potato); kiwifruit; tamarillo; and Pavlova (food), pavlova (considered a national dish).


Samoa

The fa'a Samoa, or traditional Samoan way, remains a strong force in Samoan life and politics. Despite centuries of European influence, Samoa maintains its historical customs, social and political systems, and Samoan language, language. Cultural customs such as the Samoa 'ava ceremony are significant and solemn rituals at important occasions including the bestowal of ''fa'amatai, matai'' chiefly titles. Items of great cultural value include the finely woven '''ie toga''. The Samoan word for dance is ''siva Samoa, siva'', which consists of unique gentle movements of the body in time to music and which tell a story. Samoan male dances can be more snappy. The ''sasa (dance), sasa'' is also a traditional dance where rows of dancers perform rapid synchronization, synchronised movements in time to the rhythm of wooden drums ''(pate (musical instrument), pate)'' or rolled mats. Another dance performed by males is called the ''fa'ataupati'' or the slap dance, creating rhythmic sounds by slapping different parts of the body. As with other Polynesian cultures (Hawaiian culture, Hawaiian, Tahitians, Tahitian and Māori culture, Māori) with significant and unique tattoos, Samoans have two gender specific and culturally significant tattoos.


Arts

The artistic creations of native Oceanians varies greatly throughout the cultures and regions. The subject matter typically carries themes of fertility or the supernatural. Petroglyphs, tattooing, painting, wood carving, stone carving, and textile work are other common art forms. Art of Oceania properly encompasses the artistic traditions of the people indigenous to Australia and the Pacific Islands. These early peoples lacked a writing system, and made works on perishable materials, so few records of them exist from this time. Indigenous Australian rock art is the oldest and richest unbroken tradition of art in the world, dating as far back as 60,000 years and spread across hundreds of thousands of sites. These rock paintings served several functions. Some were used in magic, others to increase animal populations for hunting, while some were simply for amusement. Sculpture in Oceania first appears on New Guinea as a series of stone figures found throughout the island, but mostly in mountainous highlands. Establishing a chronological timeframe for these pieces in most cases is difficult, but one has been dated to 1500 BCE. By 1500 BCE the Lapita culture, descendants of the second wave, would begin to expand and spread into the more remote islands. At around the same time, art began to appear in New Guinea, including the earliest examples of sculpture in Oceania. Beginning 1100 CE, the people of Easter Island would begin construction of nearly 900 moai (large stone statues). At 1200 CE, the people of Pohnpei, a Micronesian island, would embark on another megalithic construction, building Nan Madol, a city of artificial islands and a system of canals. Hawaiian art includes wood carvings, feather work, petroglyphs, bark cloth (called kapa in Hawaiian and Tapa cloth, tapa elsewhere in the Pacific), and tattoos. Native Hawaiians had neither metal nor woven cloth.


Sport

Rugby union is one of the region's most prominent sports, and is the national sport of New Zealand, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. The most popular overall sport in Australia is cricket, with their Australia national cricket team, national team having won the Cricket World Cup a record five times. The most popular sport among Australian women is netball, while Australian rules football garners the highest spectatorship numbers and television ratings. Rugby union is the most popular sport among New Zealanders, and they are tied with South Africa for the most Rugby World Cup titles, having won the tournament three times. Australia's team Australia national rugby union team, the Wallabies have won the World Cup twice, despite Rugby union being less popular among Australians. In Papua New Guinea, the most popular sport is Rugby league. Fiji national rugby sevens team, Fiji's sevens team is one of the most successful in the world, as is New Zealand national rugby sevens team, New Zealand's. Australian rules football is the national sport in Australian rules football in Nauru, Nauru. It has a large following in Papua New Guinea, where it is the second most popular sport after Rugby League. Additionally, it attracts significant attention across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. The highest level of the sport is the Australian Football League (AFL), which was the fourth best attended sporting league in the world during the 2010s. Football in Vanuatu, Vanuatu is the only country in Oceania to call association football its national sport. However, it is also the most popular sport in Football in Kiribati, Kiribati, Football in Solomon Islands, Solomon Islands and Football in Tuvalu, Tuvalu, and has a significant (and growing) popularity in Soccer in Australia, Australia. In 2006 Australia left the
Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...
(OFC) for the
Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...
(AFC), and their men's team Australia men's national soccer team, the Socceroos have qualified for every subsequent FIFA World Cup as an Asian entrant. The sole Micronesian country with membership in the OFC is Kiribati, although they are not recognised by FIFA like the other OFC members. Federated States of Micronesia national football team, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau national football team, Palau all have no presence, primarily due to lack of infrastructure and logistical difficulties related to Micronesia's remoteness. Like Australia, the Micronesian dependent territories of Guam national football team, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands national football team, Northern Mariana Islands currently compete in the AFC instead of the OFC. The OFC was dominated by Australia for many years, and became known for one-sided results. Australians view sport as an important part of their cultural identity, and the country performs well on the international stage, despite having a relatively small population. They have hosted two Summer Olympics: 1956 Summer Olympics, Melbourne 1956 and 2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney 2000, and the city of Brisbane is also set to host the 2032 Summer Olympics, 2032 edition. Australia has hosted five editions of the Commonwealth Games and New Zealand three times. The Pacific Games (formerly known as the South Pacific Games) is a multi-sport event, much like the Olympics on a much smaller scale, with participation exclusively from countries around the Pacific; Australia and New Zealand competed in the games for the first time in 2015. Melbourne hosts the Australian Open every year, considered one of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tournaments in tennis.


See also

*
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
* Europeans in Oceania * Festival of Pacific Arts * Flags of Oceania * Global Southeast *
Insular Chile Insular Chile, also called ''Las islas Esporádicas'', or "the Sporadic Islands", is a scattered group of oceanic islands of volcanic origin located in the South Pacific, and which are under the sovereignty of Chile. The islands lie on the N ...
* List of cities in Oceania * Oceania (journal) * Oceanic cuisine * Indigenous peoples of Oceania * Pacific Islander * Pacific Union * Pacific Community * United Nations geoscheme for Oceania


References

{{Reflist, refs= {{Citation , last=Wells , first=John C. , title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary , year=2008 , edition=3rd , publisher=Longman , isbn=978-1405881180 {{cite web , title=Australia: World Audit Democracy Profile , url=http://www.worldaudit.org/countries/australia.htm , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213032213/http://www.worldaudit.org/countries/australia.htm , archive-date=13 December 2007 , access-date=5 January 2008 , website=WorldAudit.org {{cite web , date=2016 , title=Rankings on Economic Freedom , url=http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking , access-date=30 November 2016 , publisher=The Heritage Foundation , archive-date=16 September 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916153902/http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking , url-status=unfit {{cite web , date=24 May 2011 , title=Kiribati: 2011 Article IV Consultation-Staff Report, Informational Annexes, Debt Sustainability Analysis, Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion, and Statement by the Executive Director for Kiribati , url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=24871.0 , access-date=10 September 2011 , publisher=International Monetary Fund Country Report No. 11/113 , archive-date=24 December 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224064230/https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=24871.0 , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Fast facts about Australia , url=http://www.dfat.gov.au/aib/island_continent.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030820155859/http://www.dfat.gov.au/aib/island_continent.html , archive-date=20 August 2003 , access-date=30 August 2010 {{cite web , title=Secret Instructions to Captain Cook, 30 June 1768 , url=http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/nsw1_doc_1768.pdf , access-date=3 September 2011 , publisher=National Archives of Australia , archive-date=15 August 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815042109/http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/nsw1_doc_1768.pdf , url-status=live "Oceanic art", The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2006. MacKay (1864, 1885) ''Elements of Modern Geography'', p. 283 {{Cite book , last=Drage , first=Jean , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUpmpeJz-8gC , title=New Politics in the South pacific , publisher=Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific , year=1994 , isbn=978-982-02-0115-6 , page=162 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2020-07-28 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728032044/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUpmpeJz-8gC , url-status=live {{OED, Oceania {{Cite book , last1=Lewis , first1=Martin W. , url=https://archive.org/details/mythcontinentscr00lewi , title=The Myth of Continents: a Critique of Metageography , last2=Kären E. Wigen , publisher=University of California Press , year=1997 , isbn=978-0-520-20742-4 , location=Berkeley , pag
32
, quote=Interestingly enough, the answer [from a scholar who sought to calculate the number of continents] conformed almost precisely to the conventional list: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania (Australia plus New Zealand), Africa, and Antarctica. , url-access=limited
{{Cite journal , last1=Rasmussen , first1=Morten , last2=Guo , first2=Xiaosen , last3=Wang , first3=Yong , last4=Lohmueller , first4=Kirk E. , last5=Rasmussen , first5=Simon , last6=Albrechtsen , first6=Anders , last7=Skotte , first7=Line , last8=Lindgreen , first8=Stinus , last9=Metspalu , first9=Mait , last10=Jombart , first10=Thibaut , last11=Kivisild , first11=Toomas , date=7 October 2011 , title=An Aboriginal Australian Genome Reveals Separate Human Dispersals into Asia , journal=Science , volume=334 , issue=6052 , pages=94–98 , bibcode=2011Sci...334...94R , doi=10.1126/science.1211177 , pmc=3991479 , pmid=21940856 , first12=Weiwei , last12=Zhai , first13=Anders , last13=Eriksson , first14=Andrea , last14=Manica , first15=Ludovic , last15=Orlando , first16=Francisco M. De La , last16=Vega , first17=Silvana , last17=Tridico , first18=Ene , last18=Metspalu , first19=Kasper , last19=Nielsen , first20=María C. , last20=Ávila-Arcos , first21=J. Víctor , last21=Moreno-Mayar , first22=Craig , last22=Muller , first23=Joe , last23=Dortch , first24=M. Thomas P. , last24=Gilbert , first25=Ole , last25=Lund , first26=Agata , last26=Wesolowska , first27=Monika , last27=Karmin , first28=Lucy A. , last28=Weinert , first29=Bo , last29=Wang , first30=Jun , last30=Li , first31=Shuaishuai , last31=Tai , first32=Fei , last32=Xiao , first33=Tsunehiko , last33=Hanihara , first34=George van , last34=Driem , first35=Aashish R. , last35=Jha , first36=François-Xavier , last36=Ricaut , first37=Peter de , last37=Knijff , first38=Andrea B. , last38=Migliano , first39=Irene Gallego , last39=Romero , first40=Karsten , last40=Kristiansen , first41=David M. , last41=Lambert , first42=Søren , last42=Brunak , first43=Peter , last43=Forster , first44=Bernd , last44=Brinkmann , first45=Olaf , last45=Nehlich , first46=Michael , last46=Bunce , first47=Michael , last47=Richards , first48=Ramneek , last48=Gupta , first49=Carlos D. , last49=Bustamante , first50=Anders , last50=Krogh , first51=Robert A. , last51=Foley , first52=Marta M. , last52=Lahr , author-link53=Francois Balloux , first53=Francois , last53=Balloux , first54=Thomas , last54=Sicheritz-Pontén , first55=Richard , last55=Villems , first56=Rasmus , last56=Nielsen , first57=Jun , last57=Wang , first58=Eske , last58=Willerslev {{cite web , title=Sequencing Uncovers a 9,000 Mile Walkabout , url=https://www.illumina.com/documents/icommunity/article_2012_04_Aboriginal_Genome.pdf , website=illumina.com , quote=A lock of hair and the HiSeq 2000 system identify a human migration wave that took more than 3,000 generations and 10,000 years to complete. , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2020-04-30 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200430044039/https://www.illumina.com/documents/icommunity/article_2012_04_Aboriginal_Genome.pdf , url-status=live "Aboriginal Australians descend from the first humans to leave Africa, DNA sequence reveals"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006103055/http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_23-9-2011-10-41-8 , date=2014-10-06 , ''Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)''.
{{cite web , title=About Australia: Our Country , url=http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country , publisher=Australian Government , quote=Australia's first inhabitants, the Aboriginal people, are believed to have migrated from some unknown point in Asia to Australia between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2012-02-27 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227080043/http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country , url-status=live Jared Diamond. (1997). ''Guns, Germs, and Steel''. Random House. London. pp. 314–316 Mulvaney, J. and Kamminga, J., (1999), ''Prehistory of Australia''. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington. {{cite book , last1=Lourandos , first1=Harry , title=Continent of Hunter-Gatherers: New Perspectives in Australian Prehistory , date=1997 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , isbn=978-0-521-35946-7 , page=81 , url={{Google books, tTy-I8no1MwC, page=81, plainurl=yes "When did Australia's earliest inhabitants arrive?"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329145442/http://media.uow.edu.au/news/2004/0917a/index.html , date=2012-03-29 , ''University of Wollongong'', 2004. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
{{Cite journal , vauthors=Barbetti M, Allen H , year=1972 , title=Prehistoric man at Lake Mungo, Australia, by 32,000 years BP , journal=Nature , volume=240 , issue=5375 , pages=46–48 , bibcode=1972Natur.240...46B , doi=10.1038/240046a0 , pmid=4570638 , s2cid=4298103 {{Cite journal , last1=Dunn , first1=Michael , last2=Terrill , first2=Angela , last3=Reesink , first3=Ger , last4=Foley , first4=Robert A. , last5=Levinson , first5=Stephen C. , date=23 September 2005 , title=Structural phylogenetics and the reconstruction of ancient language history , journal=Science , volume=309 , issue=5743 , pages=2072–2075 , bibcode=2005Sci...309.2072D , doi=10.1126/science.1114615 , pmid=16179483 , hdl-access=free , hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0013-1B84-E , s2cid=2963726 {{Cite book , last=Spriggs, Matthew , title=The Island Melanesians , publisher=Blackwell , year=1997 , isbn=978-0-631-16727-3 {{Cite journal , last1=Hage , first1=P. , last2=Marck , first2=J. , year=2003 , title=Matrilineality and Melanesian Origin of Polynesian Y Chromosomes , journal=Current Anthropology , volume=44 , issue=S5 , pages=S121 , doi=10.1086/379272, s2cid=224791767 {{Cite journal , last1=Kayser , first1=M. , last2=Brauer , first2=S. , last3=Cordaux , first3=R. , last4=Casto , first4=A. , last5=Lao , first5=O. , last6=Zhivotovsky , first6=L.A. , last7=Moyse-Faurie , first7=C. , last8=Rutledge , first8=R.B. , last9=Schiefenhoevel , first9=W. , last10=Gil , first10=D , last11=Lin , first11=A.A. , display-authors=8 , year=2006 , title=Melanesian and Asian origins of Polynesians: mtDNA and Y chromosome gradients across the Pacific , journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution , volume=23 , issue=11 , pages=2234–2244 , doi=10.1093/molbev/msl093 , pmid=16923821 , doi-access=free , last12=Underhill , first12=P.A. , last13=Oefner , first13=P.J. , last14=Trent , first14=R.J. , last15=Stoneking , first15=M, hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0010-0145-0 , hdl-access=free {{Cite journal , last1=Su , first1=B. , last2=Underhill , first2=P. , last3=Martinson , first3=J. , last4=Saha , first4=N. , last5=McGarvey , first5=S.T. , last6=Shriver , first6=M.D. , last7=Chu , first7=J. , last8=Oefner , first8=P. , last9=Chakraborty , first9=R. , last10=Chakraborty , first10=R. , last11=Deka , first11=R. , year=2000 , title=Polynesian origins: Insights from the Y chromosome , journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS , volume=97 , issue=15 , pages=8225–8228 , bibcode=2000PNAS...97.8225S , doi=10.1073/pnas.97.15.8225 , pmc=26928 , pmid=10899994 , doi-access=free {{Cite book , last=Kirch , first=P.V. , title=On the road of the wings: an archaeological history of the Pacific Islands before European contact , publisher=University of California Press , year=2000 , isbn=978-0-520-23461-1 , location=London Quoted in Kayser, M.; ''et al.'' (2006). {{cite journal , last1=Leach , first1=Helen M. , last2=Green , first2=Roger C. , title=New information for the Ferry Berth site, Mulifanua, western Samoa , journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society , date=1989 , volume=98 , issue=3 , pages=319–329 , jstor=20706295 {{Cite journal , last1=Burley , first1=David V. , last2=Barton , first2=Andrew , last3=Dickinson , first3=William R. , last4=Connaughton , first4=Sean P. , last5=Taché , first5=Karine , year=2010 , title=Nukuleka as a Founder Colony for West Polynesian Settlement: New Insights from Recent Excavations , journal=Journal of Pacific Archaeology , volume=1 , issue=2 , pages=128–144, doi=10.70460/jpa.v1i2.26 , doi-access=free Resemblance of the name to an early Mangarevan founder god ''Atu Motua'' ("Father Lord") has made some historians suspect that Hotu Matua was added to Easter Island mythology only in the 1860s, along with adopting the Mangarevan language. The "real" founder would have been ''Tu'u ko Iho'', who became just a supporting character in Hotu Matu{{okinaa centric legends. See Steven Fischer (1994). ''Rapanui's Tu'u ko Iho Versus Mangareva's 'Atu Motua. Evidence for Multiple Reanalysis and Replacement in Rapanui Settlement Traditions, Easter Island''. The Journal of Pacific History, 29(1), 3–18. See also ''Rapa Nui / Geography, History and Religion''. Peter H. Buck, Vikings of the Pacific, University of Chicago Press, 1938. pp. 228–236
Online version
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050523092130/http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/rapanui/rapa1.html , date=2005-05-23
{{cite web, url=https://archive.hokulea.com/rapanui/hotu.html, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040928070714/http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/rapanui/hotu.html, url-status=dead, title=The Hotu Matua, archivedate=28 September 2004, website=archive.hokulea.com Jared Diamond, Diamond, Jared. ''Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed''. Penguin Books: 2005. {{ISBN, 0-14-303655-6. Chapter 2: Twilight at Easter pp. 79–119. p. 89. {{cite journal , last1=Hunt , first1=Terry L. , last2=Lipo , first2=Carl P. , title=Late Colonization of Easter Island , journal=Science , date=17 March 2006 , volume=311 , issue=5767 , pages=1603–1606 , doi=10.1126/science.1121879 , pmid=16527931 , bibcode=2006Sci...311.1603H , s2cid=41685107 , doi-access=free {{cite book , last1=Kirch , first1=Patrick Vinton , title=The Lapita Peoples: Ancestors of the Oceanic World , date=1997 , publisher=Wiley , isbn=978-1-57718-036-4 {{page needed, date=November 2022 {{cite web , title=Background Note: Micronesia , url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1839.htm , access-date=6 January 2012 , publisher=United States Department of State , archive-date=4 June 2019 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604190535/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1839.htm , url-status=live {{Cite book , last=Morgan , first=William N. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3Z-aH7govUC , title=Prehistoric Architecture in Micronesia , publisher=University of Texas Press , year=1988 , isbn=978-0-292-78621-9 , page=30 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2013-06-16 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616140015/http://books.google.com/books?id=B3Z-aH7govUC , url-status=live The History of Mankind
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927110432/http://www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/orientation.htm , date=27 September 2013 by Professor Friedrich Ratzel, Book II, Section A, The Races of Oceania p. 165, picture of a stick chart from the Marshall Islands. MacMillan and Co., published 1896.
{{Cite book , last=Fernandez-Armesto , first=Felipe , url=https://archive.org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/305 , title=Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration , date=2006 , publisher=W.W. Norton & Company , isbn=978-0-393-06259-5 , page
305–307
}
J.P. Sigmond and L.H. Zuiderbaan (1979) ''Dutch Discoveries of Australia''. Rigby Ltd, Australia. pp. 19–30 {{ISBN, 0-7270-0800-5 {{Cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_i98Pu5dDhkC&pg=PA6 , title=Primary Australian History: Book F [B6] Ages 10–11 , date=2008 , publisher=R.I.C. Publications , isbn=978-1-74126-688-7 , page=6 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2016-04-20 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420234832/https://books.google.com/books?id=_i98Pu5dDhkC&pg=PA6 , url-status=live {{cite web , date=4 March 2009 , title=European discovery of New Zealand , url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/european-discovery-of-new-zealand/2 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101110165647/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/european-discovery-of-new-zealand/2 , archive-date=10 November 2010 , access-date=9 December 2010 , publisher=Encyclopedia of New Zealand {{cite web , title=Cook's Journal: Daily Entries, 22 April 1770 , url=http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700422.html , access-date=21 September 2011 , archive-date=27 September 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927080037/http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700422.html , url-status=live {{cite news , title=Once were warriors , url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/once-were-warriors-20021111-gdft6f.html , work=The Sydney Morning Herald , date=11 November 2002 {{Cite book , last=Simati Faaniu , title=Tuvalu: a history , date=1983 , publisher=Institute of Pacific Studies and Extension Services, University of the South Pacific , editor-last=Hugh Laracy , pages=127–139 , chapter=Chapter 17, Colonial Rule , oclc=20637433 Macdonald, Barrie (2001) ''Cinderellas of the Empire: towards a history of Kiribati and Tuvalu'', Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, {{ISBN, 982-02-0335-X, p. 1 {{cite web , last=Ganse , first=Alexander , title=History of French Polynesia, 1797 to 1889 , url=http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/pacific/frpolyn17971889.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230062212/http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/pacific/frpolyn17971889.html , archive-date=30 December 2007 , access-date=20 October 2007 {{cite web , title=Rapport annuel 2010 , url=http://www.ieom.fr/IMG/pdf/ra2010_nouvelle-caledonie.pdf , access-date=30 January 2013 , publisher=IEOM Nouvelle-Calédonie , archive-date=10 March 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310075134/https://www.ieom.fr/IMG/pdf/ra2010_nouvelle-caledonie.pdf , url-status=live Gray, J.A.C. Amerika Samoa, ''A History of American Samoa and its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute''. 1960. {{Cite book , last=Jose , first=Arthur Wilberforce , title=Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918: Volume IX – The Royal Australian Navy: 1914–1918 , publisher=Angus and Robertson , year=1941 , editor-last=Bean , editor-first=Charles Edwin Woodrow , editor-link=Charles Bean , edition=9th , series=Official Histories, Australian War Memorial , location=Sydney, Australia , chapter=Chapter V – Affairs in the Western Pacific , chapter-url=http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1070027--1-.PDF , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203074454/http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1070027--1-.PDF , archive-date=3 February 2014 , orig-date=1928 Prange, Gordon W., Goldstein, Donald, & Dillon, Katherine. ''The Pearl Harbor Papers'' (Brassey's, 2000), pp. 17ff
Google Books entry
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728032058/https://books.google.com/books?id=q2pFnALHfykC&pg=PA1 , date=2020-07-28 on Prange ''et al''.
Fukudome, Shigeru, "Hawaii Operation". United States Naval Institute, ''Proceedings'', 81 (December 1955), pp. 1315–1331 For the Japanese designator of Oahu. Wilford, Timothy. "Decoding Pearl Harbor", in ''The Northern Mariner'', XII, #1 (January 2002), p. 32 fn 81. {{Cite book , last1=Braithwaite , first1=John , title=Reconciliation and Architectures of Commitment: Sequencing peace in Bougainville , last2=Charlesworth , first2=Hilary , last3=Reddy , first3=Peter , last4=Dunn , first4=Leah , publisher=ANU E Press , year=2010 , isbn=978-1-921666-68-1 , chapter=Chapter 7: The cost of the conflict , chapter-url=http://epress.anu.edu.au/apps/bookworm/view/Reconciliation+and+Architectures+of+Commitment%3A+Sequencing+peace+in+Bougainville/5301/ch07.xhtml , name-list-style=amp , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2013-10-04 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004221445/http://epress.anu.edu.au/apps/bookworm/view/Reconciliation+and+Architectures+of+Commitment%3A+Sequencing+peace+in+Bougainville/5301/ch07.xhtml , url-status=live {{Cite news , last=Kristof , first=Nicholas D. , date=26 September 1997 , title=Shoichi Yokoi, 82, Is Dead; Japan Soldier Hid 27 Years , work=The New York Times , url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7D81F3BF935A1575AC0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 , access-date=30 July 2022 , archive-date=1 February 2009 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201172619/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7D81F3BF935A1575AC0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 , url-status=live {{cite book , last1=Douglas , first1=Bronwen , last2=Ballard , first2=Chris , title=Foreign Bodies: Oceania and the Science of Race 1750–1940 , date=2008 , publisher=ANU E Press , isbn=978-1-921536-00-7 {{page needed, date=November 2022 {{Cite book , last1=Gillespie , first1=Rosemary G. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9ZogGs_fz8C&pg=PA706 , title=Encyclopedia of Islands , last2=Clague , first2=David A. , date=2009 , publisher=University of California Press , isbn=978-0-520-25649-1 , page=706 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2016-04-20 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420214345/https://books.google.com/books?id=g9ZogGs_fz8C&pg=PA706 , url-status=live Ben Finney, The Other One-Third of the Globe, Journal of World History, Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall, 1994. "Coral island"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427013344/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/137072/coral-island , date=2015-04-27 , ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 22 June 2013.

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518100704/http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacific/places/country/nauru.htm , date=2013-05-18 , Charting the Pacific. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
{{Cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cF8NAQAAMAAJ , title=Academic American encyclopedia , date=1997 , publisher=Grolier Incorporated , isbn=978-0-7172-2068-7 , page=8 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2016-04-21 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421165702/https://books.google.com/books?id=cF8NAQAAMAAJ , url-status=live {{Cite book , last1=Lal , first1=Brij Vilash , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&pg=PA63 , title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia , last2=Fortune , first2=Kate , date=2000 , publisher=University of Hawai{{okinai Press , isbn=978-0-8248-2265-1 , page=63 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2016-04-21 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421164832/https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&pg=PA63 , url-status=live {{Cite book , last=West , first=Barbara A. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA521 , title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania , date=2009 , publisher=Infobase Publishing , isbn=978-1-4381-1913-7 , page=521 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2016-04-21 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421021635/https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA521 , url-status=live {{Cite book , last1=Dunford , first1=Betty , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3n2z7E1zH3MC , title=Pacific Neighbors: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia , last2=Ridgell , first2=Reilly , date=1996 , publisher=Bess Press , isbn=978-1-57306-022-6 , page=125 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2016-04-20 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420224420/https://books.google.com/books?id=3n2z7E1zH3MC , url-status=live {{Cite book , last=Douglas , first=Bronwen , title=Science, Voyages, and Encounters in Oceania, 1511–1850 , date=2014 , publisher=Palgrave Macmillan , page=6 {{Cite book , last=de Brosses , first=Charles , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3x_MaYZVJQC , title=Histoire des navigations aux terres Australes. Contenant ce que l'on sçait [sic] des moeurs & des productions des contrées découvertes jusqu'à ce jour; & où il est traité de l'utilité d'y faire de plus amples découvertes, & des moyens d'y former un établissement , publisher=Durand , year=1756 , location=Paris , publication-date=1756 , language=fr , trans-title=History of voyages to the Southern Lands. Containing what is known concerning the customes and products of the countries so far discovered; and treating of the usefulness of making broader discoveries there, and of the means of setting up an establishment there , author-link=Charles de Brosses , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2020-07-26 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726130911/https://books.google.com/books?id=o3x_MaYZVJQC , url-status=live {{cite web , title=SFT and the Earth's Tectonic Plates , url=http://www.ees1.lanl.gov/Wohletz/SFT-Tectonics.htm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217002443/http://www.ees1.lanl.gov/Wohletz/SFT-Tectonics.htm , archive-date=17 February 2013 , access-date=27 February 2013 , publisher=Los Alamos National Laboratory , url-status=dead {{Citation , last1=Frisch , first1=Wolfgang , title=Plate Tectonics: Continental Drift and Mountain Building , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vx1oiTMOTRcC&pg=PA11 , pages=11–12 , year=2010 , publisher=Springer Science & Business Media , isbn=978-3-540-76504-2 , last2=Meschede , first2=Martin , last3=Blakey , first3=Ronald C. {{cite web, url=http://wserver.crc.losrios.edu/~jacksoh/Images/crustageposter.gif, title=Age of the Ocean Floor, website=Wserver.crc.losrios.edu, access-date=19 July 2022, archive-date=6 August 2016, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806131959/http://wserver.crc.losrios.edu/~jacksoh/Images/crustageposter.gif, url-status=live Pain, C.F., Villans, B.J., Roach, I.C., Worrall, L. & Wilford, J.R. (2012): Old, flat and red – Australia's distinctive landscape. In: ''Shaping a Nation: A Geology of Australia''. Blewitt, R.S. (Ed.) Geoscience Australia and ANU E Press, Canberra. pp. 227–275 {{ISBN, 978-1-922103-43-7 {{cite web , last=Kevin Mccue , date=26 February 2010 , title=Land of earthquakes and volcanoes? , url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/land-of-earthquakes-and-volcanoes.htm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100306150520/http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/land-of-earthquakes-and-volcanoes.htm , archive-date=6 March 2010 , access-date=25 April 2010 , publisher=Australian Geographic , url-status=dead New Zealand within Gondwana
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715071623/http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/Geology/GeologyOverview/3/ENZ-Resources/Standard/1/en#breadcrumbtop , date=2009-07-15 from Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
{{cite web , title=Fiji , url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/fiji/ , access-date=28 December 2014 , website=CIA World Factbook , archive-date=27 August 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827055140/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/fiji/ , url-status=live Clague, D.A. and Dalrymple, G.B. (1989) ''Tectonics, geochronology, and origin of the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain'' in Winterer, E.L. et al. (editors) (1989) ''The Eastern Pacific Ocean and Hawaii'', Boulder, Geological Society of America. {{cite web , title=Mauna Kea Volcano, Hawaii , url=http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanoes/maunakea/ , access-date=5 November 2011 , publisher=Hvo.wr.usgs.gov , archive-date=21 October 2006 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061021204300/http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanoes/maunakea/ , url-status=live {{cite web , date=23 November 2011 , title=Parks and Reserves – Australia's National Landscapes , url=http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/national-landscapes/index.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104114011/http://environment.gov.au/parks/national-landscapes/index.html , archive-date=4 January 2012 , access-date=4 January 2012 , publisher=Environment.gov.au {{Cite book , last1=Loffler , first1=Ernst , title=Australia: Portrait of a continent , last2=Anneliese Loffler , last3=A.J. Rose , last4=Denis Warner , publisher=Hutchinson Group (Australia) , year=1983 , isbn=978-0-09-130460-7 , location=Richmond, Victoria , pages=37–39 {{Cite journal , last1=Seabrooka , first1=Leonie , last2=McAlpinea , first2=Clive , last3=Fenshamb , first3=Rod , year=2006 , title=Cattle, crops and clearing: Regional drivers of landscape change in the Brigalow Belt, Queensland, Australia, 1840–2004 , journal=Landscape and Urban Planning , volume=78 , issue=4 , pages=375–376 , doi=10.1016/j.landurbplan.2005.11.007, bibcode=2006LUrbP..78..373S {{WWF ecoregion, name = Einasleigh upland savanna, id=aa0705 , access-date =16 June 2010 {{WWF ecoregion , name=Mitchell grass downs , id=aa0707 , access-date =16 June 2010 {{WWF ecoregion , name = Eastern Australia mulga shrublands, id=aa0802 , access-date =16 June 2010 {{WWF ecoregion, name = Southeast Australia temperate savanna , id=aa0803 , access-date =16 June 2010 {{WWF ecoregion , name=Arnhem Land tropical savanna , id=aa0701, access-date=16 June 2010 {{Cite book , last=Newman , first=Arnold , url=https://archive.org/details/tropicalrainfore00newm_0 , title=Tropical Rainforest: Our Most Valuable and Endangered Habitat With a Blueprint for Its Survival Into the Third Millennium , publisher=Checkmark , year=2002 , isbn=978-0816039739 , edition=2 {{Cite book , last=McKenzie , first=D.W. , title=Heinemann New Zealand atlas , publisher=Heinemann (publisher), Heinemann Publishers , year=1987 , isbn=978-0-7900-0187-6 NZPCN (2006). ''New Zealand indigenous vascular plant checklist''. {{ISBN, 0-473-11306-6. Written by Peter de Lange, John W.D. Sawyer and J.R. Rolfe. {{cite web , title=Hawaiian Native Plant Propagation Database , url=http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/hawnprop/plants/bri-insi.htm , access-date=15 December 2013 , archive-date=28 November 2014 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128012940/http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/hawnprop/plants/bri-insi.htm , url-status=live {{Cite book , last1=Stephen Buchmann , url={{google books, plainurl=y, id=YWTZs5fSqb8C, page=133 , title=The Forgotten Pollinators , last2=Gary Paul Nabhan , date=2012 , publisher=Island Press , isbn=978-1597269087 , access-date=17 December 2013 {{cite iucn , author=BirdLife International , date=2017 , title=''Petroica pusilla'' , volume=2017 , page=e.T103734840A157467789 , doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T103734840A157467789.en , access-date=12 November 2021 {{Cite book , url=http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/sites/all/files/302_Sacred%20Kingfisher_0.pdf , title=Handbook of Australian Birds , date=1999 , publisher=OUP , editor-last=Higgins, P.J , location=Melbourne , page=1178 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2022-04-18 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418051319/https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/sites/all/files/302_Sacred%20Kingfisher_0.pdf , url-status=live {{Cite iucn , author = BirdLife International , title = Pycnonotus cafer , volume = 2016 , date = 2016 , doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22712695A94343459.en {{Cite book , last=Pratt , first=H. Douglas , title=The Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific , publisher=Princeton University Press , year=1987 , isbn=978-0-691-02399-1 , display-authors=etal {{cite web , title=Brown Goshawk {{! Birds in Backyards , url=http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Accipiter-fasciatus , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817202637/http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Accipiter-fasciatus , archive-date=17 August 2016 , access-date=18 August 2016 , website=Birdsinbackyards.net , publisher=Birdlife Australia {{Cite book , last1=Turner , first1=Angela K , url=https://archive.org/details/swallowsmartinsi00turn , title=Swallows & Martins: An Identification Guide and Handbook , last2=Rose , first2=Chris , publisher=Houghton Mifflin , year=1989 , isbn=978-0-395-51174-9 {{cite iucn , author=BirdLife International , date=2017 , title=''Myzomela cardinalis'' , volume=2017 , page=e.T22703868A118657750 , doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22703868A118657750.en , access-date=12 November 2021 {{Cite iucn, url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22714832/94429444, title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, access-date=23 October 2018 {{cite web , last=Howard Youth , title=Hawaii's Forest Birds Sing the Blues , url=http://nationalzoo.si.edu/publications/zoogoer/1995/1/hawaiisforestbirds.cfm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318100849/http://nationalzoo.si.edu/publications/zoogoer/1995/1/hawaiisforestbirds.cfm , archive-date=18 March 2007 , access-date=31 October 2008 , url-status=dead Invasive Species: Animals – Brown Tree Snake
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824120114/https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/profile/brown-tree-snake , date=2019-08-24 , National Agricultural Library, United States Department of Agriculture, Retrieved 31 August 2010
Christidis, L., Boles, W., 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian birds, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. CSIRO Publishing. Steadman. 2006. ''Extinction & biogeography of tropical Pacific birds'' {{cite web , year=2016 , editor-last=Gill , editor-first=Frank , editor-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) , editor2-last=Donsker , editor2-first=David , title=Rollers, ground rollers & kingfishers , url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/rollers/ , access-date=10 October 2016 , website=World Bird List Version 6.3 , publisher=International Ornithologists' Union , archive-date=4 October 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004213031/http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/rollers/ , url-status=live Egerton, L. ed. 2005. ''Encyclopedia of Australian wildlife''. Reader's Digest {{cite web , title=Australia's National Symbols , url=http://dfat.gov.au/about-australia/land-its-people/Pages/australias-national-symbols.aspx , access-date=15 July 2015 , publisher=Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade , archive-date=19 July 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150719062442/http://dfat.gov.au/about-australia/land-its-people/Pages/australias-national-symbols.aspx , url-status=live {{Cite news , date=June 2008 , title=Welcome , page=1 , work=Save the Tasmanian Devil , url=http://www.tassiedevil.com.au/tasdevil.nsf/downloads/D595436FECB69A66CA2576ED0083D3F6/$file/DevilNews_June_2008.pdf , access-date=6 October 2010 , archive-date=17 February 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217185140/http://www.tassiedevil.com.au/tasdevil.nsf/downloads/D595436FECB69A66CA2576ED0083D3F6/$file/DevilNews_June_2008.pdf , url-status=dead Underhill D (1993) ''Australia's Dangerous Creatures'', Reader's Digest, Sydney, New South Wales, {{ISBN, 0-86438-018-6 {{cite journal , last1=Trewick , first1=Steven A. , last2=Gibb , first2=Gillian C. , title=Vicars, tramps and assembly of the New Zealand avifauna: a review of molecular phylogenetic evidence , journal=Ibis , date=April 2010 , volume=152 , issue=2 , pages=226–253 , doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.2010.01018.x , doi-access=free {{cite journal , last1=Trewick , first1=Steve , title=Vicars & Vagrants , journal=Australasian Science , date=September 2011 , volume=32 , issue=7 , pages=24–27 , url=https://www.australasianscience.com.au/article/issue-september-2011/vicars-vagrants.html , access-date=14 November 2022 , archive-date=14 November 2022 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114035634/https://www.australasianscience.com.au/article/issue-september-2011/vicars-vagrants.html , url-status=dead {{cite web , last=Climate Prediction Center , author-link=Climate Prediction Center , date=30 June 2014 , title=ENSO: Recent Evolution, Current Status and Predictions , url=http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/lanina/enso_evolution-status-fcsts-web.pdf , access-date=30 June 2014 , publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pages=5, 19–20 , archive-date=5 March 2005 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050305231546/http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/lanina/enso_evolution-status-fcsts-web.pdf , url-status=live Glossary of Meteorology (2009)
Monsoon.
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322122025/http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?p=1&query=monsoon&submit=Search , date=22 March 2008 American Meteorological Society. Retrieved on 16 January 2009.
{{cite web , last=Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory – Hurricane Research Division , author-link=Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory , title=Frequently Asked Questions: When is hurricane season? , url=http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/G1.html , access-date=25 July 2006 , publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , archive-date=3 March 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174608/http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/G1.html , url-status=live {{cite web , last=National Climate Centre , title=BOM – Climate of Australia , url=http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/ausclim/ausclim.html , archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20090317054300/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/96122/20090317-1643/www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/ausclim/ausclim.html , archive-date=17 March 2009 , website=webarchive.nla.gov.au{{cbignore, bot=medic {{Cite book , last1=Edward Linacre , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uwQ7FulHCCsC&pg=PA376 , chapter=Precipitation in Australia , last2=Bart Geerts , title=Climates and Weather of Australia , publisher=Routledge , year=1997 , isbn=978-0-415-12519-2 , page=376 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2022-04-24 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424122343/https://books.google.com/books?id=uwQ7FulHCCsC&pg=PA376 , url-status=live {{Cite encyclopedia , title=Natural environment – Climate , encyclopedia=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand , url=http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/natural-environment/3 , access-date=13 November 2016 , last=Walrond , first=Carl , date=March 2009 , archive-date=20 January 2013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120165411/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/natural-environment/3 , url-status=live Mean monthly rainfall
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806140624/https://www.niwa.co.nz/education-and-training/schools/resources/climate/meanrain , date=6 August 2017 , NIWA.
{{Cite news , last=Chapman , first=Paul , date=15 August 2011 , title='Once in a lifetime' snow storm hits New Zealand , work=Telegraph.co.uk , location=Wellington , url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/8701481/Once-in-a-lifetime-snow-storm-hits-New-Zealand.html , url-status=live , url-access=subscription , access-date=14 November 2016 , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/8701481/Once-in-a-lifetime-snow-storm-hits-New-Zealand.html , archive-date=10 January 2022{{cbignore {{cite web , date=23 July 2012 , title=Island of Hawaii: climate zones , url=https://www.lovebigisland.com/hawaii-blog/climate-zones-big-island/ , access-date=2 January 2017 , publisher=lovebigisland.com , archive-date=3 January 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103094244/https://www.lovebigisland.com/hawaii-blog/climate-zones-big-island/ , url-status=live {{cite web , date=27 April 2000 , title=National Weather Service Dedicated Forecast Office in Typhoon Alley , url=http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2000/apr00/noaa00r235.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130107012415/http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2000/apr00/noaa00r235.html , archive-date=7 January 2013 , access-date=19 August 2012 , publisher=US NOAA NWS {{cite web , date=31 July 2013 , title=Official records for Australia in January , url=http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/climate/extremes/daily_extremes.cgi?period=%2Fcgi-bin%2Fclimate%2Fextremes%2Fdaily_extremes.cgi&climtab=tmax_high&area=aus&year=2013&mon=1&day=11 , access-date=12 March 2013 , website=Daily Extremes , publisher=Bureau of Meteorology , archive-date=23 September 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923215953/http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/climate/extremes/daily_extremes.cgi?period=%2Fcgi-bin%2Fclimate%2Fextremes%2Fdaily_extremes.cgi&climtab=tmax_high&area=aus&year=2013&mon=1&day=11 , url-status=live {{Cite news , date=12 July 2011 , title=NZ's temperature record hits new low – minus 25.6degC , work=The New Zealand Herald , url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10737901 , access-date=12 July 2011 , archive-date=11 July 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711224734/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10737901 , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Rainfall Climatology for Pohnpei Islands, Federated States of Micronesia , url=http://www.weriguam.org/docs/reports/100.pdf , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035749/http://www.weriguam.org/docs/reports/100.pdf , archive-date=4 March 2016 , access-date=21 July 2017 {{cite report , last1=Longman , first1=Ryan J. , last2=Giambelluca , first2=Thomas W. , last3=Nullet , first3=Michael A. , last4=Loope , first4=Lloyd L. , title=Climatology of Haleakalā , date=July 2015 , hdl=10125/36675 , pages=105–106 Regions and constituents as per :File:United Nations geographical subregions.png, UN categorisations/map except #endnote CCAU, notes 2–3, 6. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 3, 5–7, 9) may be in List of countries spanning more than one continent, 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". New Zealand is often considered part of Polynesia rather than
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
.
Excludes parts of Indonesia, island territories in
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
(UN region) frequently reckoned in this region.
{{cite web , date=12 July 2017 , title=UNDANG-UNDANG REPUBLIK INDONESIA NOMOR 21 TAHUN 2001 TENTANG OTONOMI KHUSUS BAGI PROVINSI PAPUA , url=http://www.kinerja.or.id/pdf/8bbcd469-bc2c-4d89-bf63-c2d81804ae27.pdf , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712195402/http://www.kinerja.or.id/pdf/8bbcd469-bc2c-4d89-bf63-c2d81804ae27.pdf , archive-date=12 July 2017 , access-date=16 March 2019 {{cite web , date=7 February 2007 , title=Papuan province changes name from West Irian Jaya to West Papua , url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=29965 , access-date=27 December 2008 , publisher=Radio New Zealand International , archive-date=17 December 2013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217013012/http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=29965 , url-status=live
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
is often considered part of
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
and
Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...
. It is sometimes included in the
Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...
of
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
.
On 7 October 2006, government officials moved their offices in the former capital of Koror to Ngerulmud in the state of Melekeok, located {{convert, 20, km, 0, abbr=on northeast of Koror on Babeldaob, Babelthuap Island.
Fagatogo is the seat of government of
American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...
.
Christianity in its Global Context, 1970–2020 Society, Religion, and Mission
Center for the Study of Global Christianity
{{cite web , last=US Dept of State , date=1 May 2012 , title=Background Notes Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Malaysia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Samoa , url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn , access-date=14 July 2012 , publisher=State.gov , archive-date=21 January 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121012610/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/ , url-status=live {{Cite book , last=Cowan , first=James G. , url=https://archive.org/details/messengersofgods00cowa , title=Messengers of the Gods , publisher=Bell Tower , year=1993 , isbn=978-0-517-88078-4 , location=New York {{cite web , date=21 June 2012 , title=Cultural diversity in Australia , url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/2071.0Main%20Features902012%E2%80%932013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425232111/http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/2071.0Main%20Features902012%E2%80%932013 , archive-date=25 April 2016 , access-date=27 June 2012 , website=2071.0 – Reflecting a Nation: Stories from the 2011 Census, 2012–2013 , publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics {{cite web , date=28 November 2011 , title=Mosque soon to open in Uliga , url=http://www.marshallislandsjournal.com/Archive%2010-28-11-page.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813171435/http://www.marshallislandsjournal.com/Archive%2010-28-11-page.html , archive-date=13 August 2013 , access-date=2 May 2014 , url-status=dead {{cite web , date=21 June 2012 , title=Main Features – Cultural Diversity in Australia , url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2071.0main+features902012-2013 , website=Australian Bureau of Statistics , access-date=30 July 2022 , archive-date=22 May 2019 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522180357/https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2071.0main+features902012-2013 , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Main Features – Net Overseas Migration , url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3412.0Main+Features52015-16?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3412.0&issue=2015-16&num=&view= , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010010130/http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3412.0Main+Features52015-16?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3412.0&issue=2015-16&num=&view= , archive-date=10 October 2017 , access-date=26 November 2018 , website=Australian Bureau of Statistics {{Cite news , date=2014 , title=Sydney's melting pot of language , work=The Sydney Morning Herald , url=https://www.smh.com.au/data-point/sydney-languages , access-date=13 September 2014 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140923055934/http://www.smh.com.au/data-point/sydney-languages , archive-date=23 September 2014 , url-status=dead {{cite web , date=15 July 2017 , title=Census 2016: Migrants make a cosmopolitan country , url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/census-2016-migrants-make-a-cosmopolitan-country/news-story/da01bec138fc8600ea7bb84d1844ea80 , access-date=16 July 2017 , website=The Australian , archive-date=28 July 2020 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728032107/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnews%2Finquirer%2Fcensus-2016-migrants-make-a-cosmopolitan-country%2Fnews-story%2Fda01bec138fc8600ea7bb84d1844ea80&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&nk=c0a83136ea65eea638b9f7a8869c8fde-1595906467 , url-status=live {{cite web , date=2014 , title=Population, dwellings, and ethnicity , url=http://profile.id.com.au/sydney/population , access-date=27 July 2014 , publisher=.id , archive-date=24 August 2014 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824072945/http://profile.id.com.au/sydney/population , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Map of greek Islands , url=http://www.oecd.org/gov/regional-policy/50242959.pdf , access-date=16 March 2019 , website=Oecd.org , archive-date=24 September 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924135215/http://www.oecd.org/gov/regional-policy/50242959.pdf , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Vicnet Directory Indian Community , url=http://www.vicnet.net.au/community/ethnic/indian/ , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928011559/http://www.vicnet.net.au/community/ethnic/indian/ , archive-date=28 September 2008 , access-date=2 October 2008 , publisher=Vicnet , url-status=dead {{cite web , title=Vicnet Directory Sri Lankan Community , url=http://www.vicnet.net.au/community/ethnic/srilankan/ , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016054206/http://www.vicnet.net.au/community/ethnic/srilankan/ , archive-date=16 October 2008 , access-date=2 October 2008 , publisher=Vicnet , url-status=dead {{cite web , title=Vietnamese Community Directory , url=http://www.yarranet.net.au/~acacia/vietcom.htm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724113628/http://www.yarranet.net.au/~acacia/vietcom.htm , archive-date=24 July 2008 , access-date=2 October 2008 , publisher=yarranet.net.au , url-status=dead {{cite web , title=Immigration chronology: selected events 1840–2008 , url=http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/parl-support/research-papers/00PLSocRP08011/immigration-chronology-selected-events-1840-2008 , access-date=17 May 2016 , archive-date=24 December 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224053101/http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/parl-support/research-papers/00PLSocRP08011/immigration-chronology-selected-events-1840-2008 , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Immigration regulation , url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/immigration-regulation/page-1 , access-date=17 May 2016 , page=1 , archive-date=4 June 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604170659/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/immigration-regulation/page-1 , url-status=live {{cite web , date=15 April 2014 , title=2013 Census QuickStats about culture and identity – data tables , url=http://www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/Statistics/Census/2013%20Census/profile-and-summary-reports/quickstats-culture-identity/tables.xls , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524102811/http://www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/Statistics/Census/2013%20Census/profile-and-summary-reports/quickstats-culture-identity/tables.xls , archive-date=24 May 2014 , access-date=29 January 2016 , publisher=Statistics New Zealand , url-status=dead {{Cite news , date=31 January 2013 , title=California's Hispanic population projected to outnumber white in 2014 , work=Reuters , url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-population-california-idUSBRE91006920130201 , access-date=30 July 2022 , archive-date=17 October 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017075415/http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/01/us-usa-population-california-idUSBRE91006920130201 , url-status=live {{Cite book , last=Williams , first=Charles , url={{google books, plainurl=y, id=V6YNAAAAQAAJ, page=42 , title=The missionary gazetteer: comprising a geographical and statistical account ... , publisher=W. Hyde & Co , others=B B Edwards , year=1832 , isbn=978-0-665-35042-9 , edition=America , series=CIHM/ICMH microfiche series, no. 35042 (also ATLA monograph preservation program; ATLA fiche 1988–3226) , location=Boston, MA , page=424 , id={{OCLC, 657191416, 718098082, 719990067, 680518873 , access-date=3 May 2012 , orig-date=1828 {{Cite journal , last=Hoffman , first=Frederic L. , date=September 1899 , title=The Portuguese Population in the United States , journal=Publications of the American Statistical Association , volume=6 , issue=47 , pages=327–336 , doi=10.2307/2276463 , jstor=2276463 , s2cid=128107627 , oclc=11137237 ''The Puerto Rican Diaspora'', by Carmen Teresa Whalen; p. 47; Publisher: Temple University Press (2005); {{ISBN, 978-1-59213-413-7 {{Cite book , last=Mares , first=Peter , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XiPAMuTaQFEC , title=Borderline: Australia's Treatment of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the Wake of the Tampa , publisher=UNSW Press , year=2002 , isbn=978-0868407890 , pages=132–133 , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2019-12-11 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211231325/https://books.google.com/books?id=XiPAMuTaQFEC , url-status=live {{Cite journal , last1=Duggan , first1=A.T. , last2=Evans , first2=B. , last3=Friedlaender , first3=F.O.R. , last4=Friedlaender , first4=J.S. , last5=Koki , first5=G. , last6=Merriwether , first6=D.A. , last7=Kayser , first7=M. , last8=Stoneking , first8=M. , year=2014 , title=Maternal History of Oceania from Complete mtDNA Genomes: Contrasting Ancient Diversity with Recent Homogenization Due to the Austronesian Expansion , journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics , volume=94 , issue=5 , pages=721–33 , doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.03.014 , pmc=4067553 , pmid=24726474 {{cite web , title=BBC: First contact with isolated tribes? , url=http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/2191 , access-date=24 July 2015 , publisher=Survival International , archive-date=30 July 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730073348/http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/2191 , url-status=live Field listing – GDP (official exchange rate)
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607212419/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/snaama/Index , date=2020-06-07 , CIA World Factbook
{{cite web , title=Sovereigns rating list , url=http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/sovereigns/ratings-list/en/eu/?subSectorCode=39 , access-date=26 May 2011 , publisher=Standard & Poor's , archive-date=28 September 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928234500/http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/sovereigns/ratings-list/en/eu/?subSectorCode=39 , url-status=live {{Cite news , last1=Rogers , first1=Simon , last2=Sedghi , first2=Ami , date=15 April 2011 , title=How Fitch, Moody's and S&P rate each country's credit rating , work=The Guardian , location=London , url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/apr/30/credit-ratings-country-fitch-moodys-standard , access-date=31 May 2011 , archive-date=1 August 2013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801105234/http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/apr/30/credit-ratings-country-fitch-moodys-standard , url-status=live {{cite web , title=2012 Report (PDF) , url=http://wfe.if5.com/ReportGen.aspx?year=2012&month=10¤cy=usd&type=pdf&idTable=0 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904073736/http://wfe.if5.com/ReportGen.aspx?year=2012&month=10¤cy=usd&type=pdf&idTable=0 , archive-date=4 September 2015 , access-date=20 May 2014 , website=Wfe.if5.com , url-status=dead {{cite web , title=Statement on Monetary Policy (November 2013) , url=http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2013/nov/html/index.html , access-date=20 May 2014 , website=Rba.gov.au , archive-date=28 March 2014 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328135626/http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2013/nov/html/index.html , url-status=live {{cite web , date=19 February 2014 , title=2014 Quality of Living Worldwide City Rankings – Mercer Survey , url=http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#city-rankings , access-date=24 October 2016 , website=Mercer.com , archive-date=22 June 2013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622141236/http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#city-rankings , url-status=live {{cite web , date=2014 , title=2014 Quality of Living Index , url=http://www.mercer.com.au/newsroom/mercer-2014-quality-of-living-index.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821050133/http://www.mercer.com.au/newsroom/mercer-2014-quality-of-living-index.html , archive-date=21 August 2014 , access-date=20 July 2014 , publisher=Mercer {{cite web , title=The World According to GaWC 2010 , url=http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2010t.html , access-date=22 April 2012 , website=Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group and Network , publisher=Loughborough University , archive-date=24 May 2012 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20120524193101/http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2010t.html , url-status=live {{cite web , date=October 2010 , title=Global Power City Index 2010 , url=http://www.mori-m-foundation.or.jp/english/research/project/6/pdf/GPCI2010_English.pdf , access-date=10 August 2011 , publisher=Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation , location=Tokyo, Japan , archive-date=9 October 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009091337/http://www.mori-m-foundation.or.jp/english/research/project/6/pdf/GPCI2010_English.pdf , url-status=live {{cite web , last1=Padovese , first1=Virginia , last2=Gianfagna , first2=Ilaria , title=Happy birthday Melbourne: 181 and still kicking! , url=http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/italian/en/article/2016/08/30/happy-birthday-melbourne-181-and-still-kicking , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911220215/http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/italian/en/article/2016/08/30/happy-birthday-melbourne-181-and-still-kicking , archive-date=11 September 2016 The Global Financial Centres Index 14 (September 2013)
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904001601/http://www.longfinance.net/images/GFCI14_30Sept2013.pdf , date=4 September 2015 . Y/Zen Group. p 15. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
2012 Global Cities Index and Emerging Cities Outlook
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230235649/http://www.atkearney.com.au/documents/10192/dfedfc4c-8a62-4162-90e5-2a3f14f0da3a , date=30 December 2013 . A.T. Kearney. p. 2. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
{{Cite news , last=Brinded , first=Lianna , date=23 February 2016 , title=The 23 cities with the best quality of life in the world , language=en , work=Business Insider , url=https://www.businessinsider.com/mercer-2016-quality-of-living-worldwide-city-rankings-2016-2 , access-date=10 February 2017 , archive-date=7 March 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307013422/http://uk.businessinsider.com/mercer-2016-quality-of-living-worldwide-city-rankings-2016-2 , url-status=live {{cite web , date=14 March 2017 , title=Vienna tops Mercer's 19th Quality of Living ranking , url=http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#city-rankings , access-date=28 June 2019 , website=Mercer.com , archive-date=22 June 2013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622141236/http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#city-rankings , url-status=live {{cite web , title=The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency , url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/fiji/ , access-date=27 March 2018 , website=Cia.gov , archive-date=27 August 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827055140/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/fiji/ , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Hawaii sandalwood trade , url=http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=274 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005214518/http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=274 , archive-date=5 October 2011 , access-date=5 November 2011 , publisher=Hawaiihistory.org , url-status=dead {{cite web , date=16 June 1999 , title=Whaling in Hawaii , url=http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=287 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005214600/http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=287 , archive-date=5 October 2011 , access-date=5 November 2011 , publisher=Hawaiihistory.org , url-status=dead {{cite web , title=Per capita GDF by year , url=https://data.hawaii.gov/Economic-Development/Per-capita-GDP-by-Year/qnar-gix3/data , access-date=25 August 2016 , publisher=State of Hawaii , archive-date=11 September 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911221546/https://data.hawaii.gov/Economic-Development/Per-capita-GDP-by-Year/qnar-gix3/data , url-status=live {{cite web , title=A History of Honey Bees in the Hawaiian Islands , url=http://www.hawaiibeekeepers.org/history.php , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100908102027/http://www.hawaiibeekeepers.org/history.php , archive-date=8 September 2010 , access-date=15 December 2011 , url-status=dead {{cite web , date=4 March 2015 , title=2015 quality of living survey , url=http://www.uk.mercer.com/newsroom/2015-quality-of-living-survey.html , website=Mercer , access-date=30 July 2022 , archive-date=9 December 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209025212/http://www.uk.mercer.com/newsroom/2015-quality-of-living-survey.html , url-status=live {{cite web , last=Kyte , first=Theresa , date=18 November 2015 , title=Honolulu ranked 2nd safest city in America , url=http://www.kitv.com/story/30544485/honolulu-ranked-2nd-safest-city-in-america , access-date=15 December 2015 , website=KITV , archive-date=19 November 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119145940/http://www.kitv.com/story/30544485/honolulu-ranked-2nd-safest-city-in-america , url-status=dead {{cite web , year=2001 , title=Tourism and Migration Statistics – Visitor Arrivals by Usual Country of Residence (1995–2001) , url=http://www.vanuatustatistics.gov.vu/About%20VNSO/Data/Social/Tour%26Mig.htm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429004619/http://www.vanuatustatistics.gov.vu/About%20VNSO/Data/Social/Tour%26Mig.htm , archive-date=29 April 2009 , access-date=26 July 2009 , publisher=Vanuatu Statistics Office , url-status=dead {{cite web , last=Australian Bureau of Statistics , date=14 December 2017 , title=Tourism Satellite Account 2014–15:Key Figures , url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/5249.0?OpenDocument , access-date=30 July 2022 , archive-date=15 June 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615135014/http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/5249.0?OpenDocument , url-status=live {{cite web , date=29 October 2018 , title=Visitor Arrivals Data , url=http://www.tourism.australia.com/statistics/arrivals.aspx , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905135526/http://www.tourism.australia.com/statistics/arrivals.aspx , archive-date=5 September 2015 , publisher=Tourism Australia {{cite web , date=14 December 2017 , title=5249.0 – Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite Account, 2010–11 , url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/5249.0?OpenDocument , publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics , access-date=30 July 2022 , archive-date=15 June 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615135014/http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/5249.0?OpenDocument , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Key Tourism Statistics , url=http://www.med.govt.nz/sectors-industries/tourism/pdf-docs-library/key-tourism-statistics/key-tourism-statistics.pdf , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813023935/http://www.med.govt.nz/sectors-industries/tourism/pdf-docs-library/key-tourism-statistics/key-tourism-statistics.pdf , archive-date=13 August 2014 , website=Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment "Real Journeys rapt with Kiwi Must-Do's"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424140251/https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0702/S00157.htm , date=2021-04-24 , ''Scoop'', 13 February 2007.
{{Cite journal , last=Hawaii State DBEDT , year=2003 , title=Overview of All Visitors , url=http://hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitor-stats/visitor-research/2003-annual-visitor.pdf , journal=Summary of 2004 Visitors to Hawaii , page=2 , access-date=23 February 2012 , archive-date=9 December 2010 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101209224525/http://hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitor-stats/visitor-research/2003-annual-visitor.pdf , url-status=live {{Cite news , last=O'Neill , first=Sandler , date=9 September 2011 , title=Bank of Hawaii Offers a Safe Port , work=Barrons Online , url=http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052702304133804576560534020892142.html?mod=BOL_twm_da , access-date=23 February 2012 , archive-date=17 November 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117210144/http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052702304133804576560534020892142.html?mod=BOL_twm_da , url-status=live {{cite web , date=11 August 2010 , title=How Australia's Parliament works , url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/features/2010/08/how-australias-parliament-works , access-date=16 June 2014 , publisher=Australian Geographic , archive-date=28 July 2020 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728032100/https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2010/08/how-australias-parliament-works/ , url-status=live {{Harvnb, Davison, Hirst, Macintyre, 1998, pages=287–8 {{cite web , title=Governor-General's Role , url=http://www.gg.gov.au/governorgeneral/category.php?id=2 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804130529/http://www.gg.gov.au/governorgeneral/category.php?id=2 , archive-date=4 August 2008 , access-date=23 April 2010 , publisher=Governor-General of Australia {{cite web , title=Glossary of Election Terms , url=http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/guide/glossary.htm#coalition , access-date=23 April 2010 , publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation , archive-date=6 March 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306034515/http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/guide/glossary.htm#coalition , url-status=live {{cite web , title=State of the Parties , url=http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/results/sop.htm , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100418163914/http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/results/sop.htm , archive-date=18 April 2010 , access-date=23 April 2010 , publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation {{Cite book , last1=Fenna , first1=Alan , title=Government Politics in Australia , last2=Robbins , first2=Jane , last3=Summers , first3=John , publisher=Pearson Higher Education AU , year=2013 , isbn=978-1-4860-0138-5 , location=London , page=139 ''Defence Annual Report 2005-06''
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118052958/http://www.defence.gov.au/budget/05-06/dar/index.htm , date=18 November 2006 . pp. 219–220.
{{cite web , title=New Zealand's Constitution , url=http://www.gg.govt.nz/role/constofnz.htm , access-date=13 January 2010 , publisher=The Governor-General of New Zealand , archive-date=6 April 2003 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030406104325/http://www.gg.govt.nz/role/constofnz.htm , url-status=live {{Cite news , date=15 February 2005 , title=Factsheet – New Zealand – Political Forces , newspaper=The Economist , url=http://economist.com/countries/NewZealand/profile.cfm?folder=Profile-Political%20Forces , access-date=4 August 2009 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514204533/http://economist.com/countries/NewZealand/profile.cfm?folder=Profile-Political%20Forces , archive-date=14 May 2006 {{cite web , date=February 1974 , title=New Zealand Legislation: Royal Titles Act 1974 , url=http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1974/0001/latest/DLM411814.html , access-date=8 January 2011 , publisher=New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Office , archive-date=20 October 2008 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020151758/http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1974/0001/latest/DLM411814.html , url-status=live {{cite web , title=The Role of the Governor-General , date=27 February 2017 , url=https://gg.govt.nz/role , access-date=6 July 2017 , publisher=The Governor-General of New Zealand , archive-date=29 June 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629234409/https://gg.govt.nz/role , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Parliament Brief: What is Parliament? , url=https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/how-parliament-works/fact-sheets/pbrief7/ , access-date=30 November 2016 , publisher=New Zealand Parliament , archive-date=29 October 2020 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029145006/https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/how-parliament-works/fact-sheets/pbrief7/ , url-status=live {{cite web , date=2008 , title=The electoral cycle , url=https://cabinetmanual.cabinetoffice.govt.nz/6.2 , access-date=30 April 2017 , website=Cabinet Manual , publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet , archive-date=27 January 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127135132/https://www.cabinetmanual.cabinetoffice.govt.nz/6.2 , url-status=live {{cite web , title=The Fragile States Index 2016 , url=http://fsi.fundforpeace.org/rankings-2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204213240/http://fsi.fundforpeace.org/rankings-2016 , archive-date=4 February 2017 , access-date=30 November 2016 , publisher=The Fund for Peace , url-status=dead {{cite web , title=Democracy Index 2015 , url=http://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=DemocracyIndex2015 , access-date=30 November 2016 , publisher=The Economist Intelligence Unit , archive-date=2 March 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302130621/http://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=DemocracyIndex2015 , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Corruption Perceptions Index 2015 , date=27 January 2016 , url=http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015 , access-date=30 November 2016 , publisher=Transparency International , archive-date=13 November 2019 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113052359/http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015 , url-status=dead {{cite web , title=Background Note: Samoa , url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1842.htm , access-date=26 November 2007 , publisher=U.S. State Department , archive-date=22 January 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122194546/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1842.htm , url-status=live {{Cite news , last=Braithwaite , first=David , date=28 June 2007 , title=Opera House wins top status , work=The Sydney Morning Herald , url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/opera-house-wins-top-status/2007/06/28/1182624058781.html , access-date=28 June 2007 , archive-date=1 July 2007 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701043939/http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/opera-house-wins-top-status/2007/06/28/1182624058781.html , url-status=live {{Harvnb, Jupp, , pages=796–802. {{Harvnb, Teo, White, 2003, pages=118–120. {{Harvnb, Davison, Hirst, Macintyre, 1998, pages=98–99 {{Harvnb, Teo, White, 2003, pages=125–127. {{Harvnb, Teo, White, 2003, pages=121–123. {{Harvnb, Jupp, , pages=74–77, 808–812. {{cite web , last=Chichester, Jo , year=2007 , title=Return of the Kelly Gang , url=http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=37899&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204220758/http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D37899%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html , archive-date=4 February 2010 , access-date=1 February 2009 , website=UNESCO Courier , publisher=UNESCO {{cite web , title=The first wave of Australian feature film production , url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:a0bny9r0rpkJ:www.afc.gov.au/downloads/policies/early%2520history_final1.pdf+australian+film+production+%2B+hollywood+%2B+1920s&hl=en&gl=au&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgSRefiOTOyLQEmeKt6CgCdo2vNSCscav9DLNNt0yc9iUfLnuc0S02qForlyo3T0wLCj_8Hnw2kRlN8jZxyZer_9QXlngel05Rr8NDnAsZWP-8UqmzB0kWW9T4yVDlWQYmhsm7-&sig=AHIEtbRziGrWdip9B8rYLyNLrH02b8IYuQ , access-date=23 April 2010 , archive-date=11 May 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511185347/http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache%3Aa0bny9r0rpkJ%3Awww.afc.gov.au%2Fdownloads%2Fpolicies%2Fearly%2520history_final1.pdf+australian+film+production+%2B+hollywood+%2B+1920s&hl=en&gl=au&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgSRefiOTOyLQEmeKt6CgCdo2vNSCscav9DLNNt0yc9iUfLnuc0S02qForlyo3T0wLCj_8Hnw2kRlN8jZxyZer_9QXlngel05Rr8NDnAsZWP-8UqmzB0kWW9T4yVDlWQYmhsm7-&sig=AHIEtbRziGrWdip9B8rYLyNLrH02b8IYuQ , url-status=live {{cite web, url=https://australian.museum/about/history/, title=History, website=Australian.museum, access-date=19 July 2022 National Gallery of Victoria – Victorian Heritage Register {{cite web , last=Kaur , first=Jaskiran , date=2013 , title=Where to party in Australia on New Year's Eve , url=http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/531947/20131227/party-new-year-s-eve-australia-sydney.htm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708231528/http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/531947/20131227/party-new-year-s-eve-australia-sydney.htm , archive-date=8 July 2014 , access-date=27 July 2014 , website=International Business Times {{Cite news , date=11 May 2016 , title=Avo smash and flat whites bringing the Aussie vibe to New York , language=en-AU , work=ABC News , url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-11/australian-cafes-boom-new-york/7404352 , access-date=3 January 2017 , archive-date=3 January 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103171749/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-11/australian-cafes-boom-new-york/7404352 , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Bush Tucker Plants, or Bush Food , url=http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/bushtucker/ , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511094258/http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/bushtucker/ , archive-date=11 May 2011 , access-date=26 April 2011 , publisher=Teachers.ash.org.au {{cite web , date=23 September 2008 , title=Australian food and drink , url=http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/foodanddrink/ , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326134155/http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/foodanddrink/ , archive-date=26 March 2010 , publisher=Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts {{cite web , title=Modern Australian recipes and Modern Australian cuisine , url=http://www.sbs.com.au/food/cuisineindex/RecipeByCuisineMain/383 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100503111747/http://www.sbs.com.au/food/cuisineindex/RecipeByCuisineMain/383 , archive-date=3 May 2010 , access-date=23 April 2010 , publisher=Special Broadcasting Service {{Cite book , last=Jonsen , first=Helen , title=Kangaroo's Comments and Wallaby's Words: The Aussie Word Book , publisher=Hippocrene Books , year=1999 , isbn=978-0-7818-0737-1 , page=23 Unterberger, pp. 465–473 Chai, Makana Risser. "Huna, Max Freedom Long, and the Idealization of William Brigham", ''The Hawaiian Journal of History'', Vol. 45 (2011) pp. 101–121 {{cite web , last=Kamakawiwo , first=Israel , date=6 December 2010 , title=Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: The Voice Of Hawaii , url=https://www.npr.org/2010/12/06/131812500/israel-kamakawiwo-ole-the-voice-of-hawaii , access-date=16 April 2017 , publisher=NPR , archive-date=16 April 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416062754/http://www.npr.org/2010/12/06/131812500/israel-kamakawiwo-ole-the-voice-of-hawaii , url-status=live {{Cite news , last=Downes , first=Siobhan , date=1 January 2017 , title=World famous in New Zealand: Hobbiton Movie Set , publisher=Stuff Travel , url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/nz/87903487/world-famous-in-new-zealand-hobbiton-movie-set , access-date=6 July 2017 , archive-date=22 September 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922194433/http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/nz/87903487/world-famous-in-new-zealand-hobbiton-movie-set , url-status=live {{Cite news , last=Tapaleao , first=Vaimoana , date=8 March 2008 , title=Thousands attend Pasifika , work=The New Zealand Herald , url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/multiculturalism/news/article.cfm?c_id=58&objectid=10496916 , access-date=3 February 2017 , archive-date=3 April 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403040349/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/multiculturalism/news/article.cfm?c_id=58&objectid=10496916 , url-status=live {{Cite encyclopedia , title=Government and nation – National holidays , encyclopedia=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand , url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/government-and-nation/9 , access-date=16 February 2010 , date=3 March 2009 , archive-date=26 December 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226002909/https://teara.govt.nz/en/nation-and-government/page-9 , url-status=live {{Cite encyclopedia , title=Creative life – Music , encyclopedia=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand , url=http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/creative-life/7 , access-date=21 January 2011 , last=Swarbrick , first=Nancy , date=June 2010 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514223830/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/creative-life/7 , archive-date=14 May 2011 {{Cite encyclopedia , title=Creative life – Performing arts , encyclopedia=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand , url=http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/creative-life/8 , access-date=21 January 2011 , last=Swarbrick , first=Nancy , date=June 2010 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515153908/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/creative-life/8 , archive-date=15 May 2011 {{Cite news , last1=Cieply , first1=Michael , last2=Rose , first2=Jeremy , date=October 2010 , title=New Zealand Bends and "Hobbit" Stays , work=The New York Times , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/business/media/28hobbit.html , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2017-07-01 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701025024/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/business/media/28hobbit.html , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Production Guide: Locations , url=http://www.filmnz.com/production-guide/locations.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101107112931/http://www.filmnz.com/production-guide/locations.html , archive-date=7 November 2010 , access-date=21 January 2011 , publisher=Film New Zealand , url-status=dead {{cite web , date=January 2016 , title=New Zealand Cuisine , url=http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/nz/cuisine-and-dining , access-date=4 January 2016 , publisher=New Zealand Tourism Guide , archive-date=15 January 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115172320/http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/nz/cuisine-and-dining , url-status=live {{Cite encyclopedia , title=Kai Pākehā – introduced foods , encyclopedia=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand , url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/kai-pakeha-introduced-foods , access-date=27 June 2017 , date=November 2008 , last1=Petrie , first1=Hazel , archive-date=27 May 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170527070948/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/kai-pakeha-introduced-foods , url-status=live {{Cite encyclopedia , title=Mātaitai – shellfish gathering , encyclopedia=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand , url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/mataitai-shellfish-gathering/page-6 , access-date=27 June 2017 , date=June 2006 , last1=Whaanga , first1=Mere , archive-date=11 June 2017 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611193911/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/mataitai-shellfish-gathering/page-6 , url-status=live {{Cite encyclopedia , title=Story: Shellfish , encyclopedia=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand , url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/shellfish , access-date=29 August 2016 , archive-date=8 September 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160908224002/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/shellfish , url-status=live {{Cite encyclopedia , title=Cooking – Cooking methods , encyclopedia=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand , url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/cooking/page-2 , access-date=11 December 2016 , date=September 2013 , language=en , last1=Burton , first1=David , archive-date=20 December 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220093052/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/cooking/page-2 , url-status=live {{Cite news , title=Dance: Siva , work=Samoa.co.uk , url=http://www.samoa.co.uk/dance.html , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2018-09-25 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925092515/http://www.samoa.co.uk/dance.html , url-status=live {{Cite news , title=Worn With Pride – Tatau (Tatoo) , work=Oceanside Museum of Art , url=http://www.oma-online.org/worn_with_pride_04.html , access-date=26 November 2007 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330024149/http://www.oma-online.org/worn_with_pride_04.html , archive-date=30 March 2009 , url-status=dead {{Cite book , last=Brunt , first=Peter , url=https://archive.org/details/artinoceanianewh0000unse/page/410 , title=Art in Oceania: A New History , date=2012 , publisher=Yale University Press , isbn=978-0-300-19028-1 , location=New Haven and London , page
410–497
}
Hutchinson Encyclopedia
Oceanic art
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515024646/http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0039821.html , date=15 May 2006 . Retrieved on 23 June 2006.
Met Timeline of Art History

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614002850/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/02/oc/ht02oc.htm , date=2021-06-14 . Retrieved on 22 June 2006.
Taçon, Paul S.C. (2001). "Australia". In Whitely, David S.. ''Handbook of Rock Art Research''. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 531–575. {{ISBN, 978-0-7425-0256-7 {{Cite news , last=Henly , first=Susan Gough , date=6 November 2005 , title=Powerful growth of Aboriginal art , work=The New York Times , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/arts/06iht-aborigine.html , access-date=30 July 2022 , archive-date=25 June 2022 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625060911/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/arts/06iht-aborigine.html?_r=1 , url-status=live Met Timeline of Art Histor
Ubirr ({{circa 40,000 BCE–present)
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019185309/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ubir/hd_ubir.htm , date=2021-10-19 . Retrieved on 22 June 2006.
Met Timeline of Art History

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328181919/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lapi/hd_lapi.htm , date=2022-03-28 . Retrieved on 22 June 2006.
Met Timeline of Art History

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614003752/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/07/oc/ht07oc.htm , date=2021-06-14 . Retrieved on 22 June 2006.
Met Timeline of Art History

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613230433/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/08/oc/ht08oc.htm , date=2021-06-13 . Retrieved on 22 June 2006.
{{cite web , title=Oceania Rugby Vacations , url=http://realtravel.com/tag-z3461145-314.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028080851/http://realtravel.com/tag-z3461145-314.html , archive-date=28 October 2010 , access-date=17 April 2009 , publisher=Real Travel Australia – p. 54, Tracey Boraas – 2002 Planet Sport – p. 85, Kath Woodward – 2012 Australia – p. 101, Sundran Rajendra – 2002 New Zealand – p. 76, Rebecca Hirsch – 2013 {{Cite news , date=15 October 2008 , title=PNG vow to upset World Cup odds , work=Rugby League , publisher=BBC , url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/7671217.stm , access-date=3 July 2009 , quote=But it would still be one of the biggest shocks in Rugby League World Cup Records, World Cup history if Papua New Guinea – ''the only country to have Rugby League as its national Sport'' – were to qualify for the last 4. , archive-date=15 May 2019 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515044325/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/7671217.stm , url-status=live {{cite web , date=16 April 2008 , title=Nauru AFL team to play in International Cup , url=http://solomonstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1023&change=100&changeown=101&Itemid=42 , access-date=17 April 2009 , website=Solomonstarnews.com , archive-date=16 November 2010 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116034134/http://solomonstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1023&change=100&changeown=101&Itemid=42 , url-status=live {{Cite encyclopedia , title=Australian rules football (sport) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia , encyclopedia=Britannica.com , url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/44079/Australian-rules-football , access-date=17 April 2009 , archive-date=26 July 2008 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726103553/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/44079/Australian-rules-football , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Papua New Guinea , url=http://www.miningfm.com.au/mining-towns/overseas/papua-new-guinea.html , website=Miningfm.com.au , access-date=2022-07-30 , archive-date=2013-08-02 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130802055323/http://www.miningfm.com.au/mining-towns/overseas/papua-new-guinea.html , url-status=dead {{cite web , date=23 October 2008 , title=MSN Groups Closure Notice , url=http://groups.msn.com/PNGKumuls/history.msnw?pgmarket=en-us , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417041646/http://groups.msn.com/PNGKumuls/history.msnw?pgmarket=en-us , archive-date=17 April 2008 , access-date=17 April 2009 , publisher=Groups.msn.com , url-status=dead {{cite web , date=28 March 2008 , title=Football in Australia – Australia's Culture Portal , url=http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/football/ , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515034759/http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/football/ , archive-date=15 May 2009 , access-date=17 April 2009 , publisher=Cultureandrecreation.gov.au {{cite web , date=13 June 1908 , title=Rugby League Football – 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand , url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/R/RugbyLeagueFootball/RugbyLeagueFootball/en , access-date=17 April 2009 , publisher=Teara.govt.nz , archive-date=23 May 2009 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523192431/http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/R/RugbyLeagueFootball/RugbyLeagueFootball/en , url-status=live {{Cite news , last=Wilson , first=Andy , date=5 November 2009 , title=southern hemisphere sides are a class apart , work=guardian.co.uk , location=London , url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/nov/05/england-rugby-league-australia-new-zealand , access-date=17 June 2010 , archive-date=27 December 2013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227085649/http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/nov/05/england-rugby-league-australia-new-zealand , url-status=live {{cite web , date=3 April 2009 , title=''FIFA world cup 2010 – qualifying rounds and places available by confederation'' , url=https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/tournament/index.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228220920/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/tournament/index.html , archive-date=28 February 2009 , access-date=17 April 2009 , publisher=Fifa.com According to the Act of Papua Autonomy (Undang-Undang Otonomi Khusus bagi Provinsi Papua) section 2 verse 2, the province itself has its own flag and arms, similar to other provinces. However, the flag and arms are not representations of sovereignty over the Republic of Indonesia. West Papua was split from Papua province in 2003 but still retain autonomous status {{Cite news , date=3 July 2014 , title=Australia and New Zealand to compete in Pacific Games , publisher=ABC News , url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-03/australia-and-new-zealand-to-compete-in-pacific-games/5568956 , access-date=9 July 2015 , archive-date=23 April 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423003643/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-03/australia-and-new-zealand-to-compete-in-pacific-games/5568956 , url-status=live {{cite web , title=2018 Census totals by topic national highlights , url=https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/2018-Census-totals-by-topic/Download-data/2018-census-totals-by-topic-national-highlights.xlsx , access-date=29 May 2020 , publisher=Statistics New Zealand , at=Table 26 , archive-date=13 April 2020 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413185957/https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/2018-Census-totals-by-topic/Download-data/2018-census-totals-by-topic-national-highlights.xlsx , url-status=live


Sources

* {{Cite book , last1=Davison , first1=Graeme , title=The Oxford Companion to Australian History , last2=Hirst , first2=John , last3=Macintyre , first3=Stuart , publisher=Oxford University Press , year=1998 , isbn=0-19-553597-9 , location=Melbourne , author-link2=John Hirst (historian) , author-link3=Stuart Macintyre * {{Cite book , last=Jupp , first=James , title=The Australian people: an encyclopedia of the nation, its people, and their origins , publisher=Cambridge University Press , year=2001 , isbn=978-0-521-80789-0 , ref=CITEREFJupp * {{Cite book , last1=Lewis , first1=Martin W. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2as0sWxFBAC , title=The Myth of Continents: a Critique of Metageography , last2=Wigen , first2=Kären E. , publisher=University of California Press , year=1997 , isbn=978-0-520-20743-1 , location=Berkeley , ref={{sfnref, Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents, 1997 , author-link2=Kären Wigen * {{Cite book , last1=Teo, first1=Hsu-Ming , title=Cultural history in Australia , last2=White , first2=Richard , publisher=University of New South Wales Press , year=2003 , isbn=978-0-86840-589-6


Further reading

* Lawson, Stephanie. ''Regional Politics in Oceania: From Colonialism and Cold War to the Pacific Century'' (Cambridge UP, 2024), encyclopedic coverage
online review of this book


External links

{{sister project links, voy=Oceania, d=y
"Australia and Oceania"
fro
National Geographic

Oceania
photographs, recordings, and digital objects drawn primarily from the Tuzin Archive for Melanesian Anthropology at the UC San Diego Library. {{Oceania topics {{Navboxes , title = Articles related to Oceania , list = {{Countries and territories of Oceania {{Regions of Oceania {{List of Oceanian capitals by region {{Culture of Oceania {{Regions of the world {{Indigenous peoples by continent {{Continents {{Authority control {{coord, 13, 21, 0, S, 176, 8, 22, W, dim:30000000, display=title Oceania, Asia-Pacific Pacific Ocean Southern Ocean Indian Ocean