Oceania is a name used in geography for the region made up of Australia, Polynesia, Melanesia, and several other island nations in the surrounding area. It is often listed as one of the continents of the world.
The term "Oceania" does not have one single agreed definition. The widest definition of Oceania includes the entire region between continental Asia and the Americas, including Australasia, as well as islands in the Pacific Rim such as the Japanese archipelago, Taiwan, and the Aleutian islands.
On the other hand, the Oceania ecozone includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. Sometimes, people use the term 'Oceania' to include only the Polynesian and Melanesian islands in the Pacific Ocean, as separate from Australasia. When Oceania is treated separately from Australia, the region of Oceania is referred to as "Australia and Oceania".[1]
In the United Nations' geographic regions, Oceania includes Australia and the nations of the Pacific from Papua New Guinea east, but not the Malay Archipelago or Indonesian New Guinea.[2]
A smaller usage of Oceania as a continent includes only Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and the islands between them. This part of the world is usually called Australasia instead. For these reasons, it is not correct to say that Australasia is part of Oceania, because what is meant by 'Oceania' is not clear. Australasia has an exact definition in biogeography and geology; Australasia includes New Zealand, Australia (including Tasmania), and Melanesia, New Guinea, and the islands just north and east of Australia. All these are south-east of the Bali–Lombok line, also known as the Wallace Line.
Countries in Oceania
Some listed here are part of a larger State.
Australia
Bougainville
Cook Islands[a]
Easter Island
Fiji
Federated States of Polynesia
Galapagos Islands[b]
Guam
Hawaii A State of the U.S.A.
Juan Fernandez Islands[b]
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Nauru
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Niue[a]
Norfolk Island
Northern Mariana Islands
Ogasawara
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Pitcairn Islands
Eastern Samoa
Western Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tokelau
Tonga
Tuvalu
United States Minor Outlying Islands
Vanuatu
Wallis and Futuna
Languages
- Bislama in Vanuatu
- Chamorro in Guam and Northern Mariana Islands
- Chinese in Kiribati
- English in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, etc.
- Fijian in Fiji
- French in Vanuatu and France's overseas territories
- Gilbertese in Kiribati
- Hawaiian in Hawaii
- Hindi in Fiji
- Hiri Motu in Papua New Guinea
- Indonesian in South Papua, West Papua, Aru Islands, etc
- Japanese in Bonin Islands
- Malay in Chrismas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands
- Maori in Cook Islands
- Marshallese in Marshall Islands
- Nauruan in Nauru
- Niuean in Niue
- Norfuk in Norfolk Island
- Palauan in Palau
- Pidgin in Hawaii
- Pitkern in Pitcairn Islands
- Rapanui in Easter Island
- Rarotongan in Cook Islands
- Samoan in Samoa and American Samoa
- Spanish in Guam, Micronesia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Easter Island, Galapagos Islands and the Juan Fernandez Islands
- Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea
- Tokelauan in Tokelau
- Tongan in Tonga
- Tuvaluan in Tuvalu
References
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