Oceania

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"South West Pacific" redirects here. For the World War II theatre, see South West Pacific theatre of World War II. For the 1943 documentary, see South West Pacific (film).
For other uses, see Oceania (disambiguation).
Oceania
An orthographic projection of geopolitical Oceania.
Geopolitical Oceania
Area 8,525,989 km2 (3,291,903 sq mi)
Population 36,659,000 (2010, 6th)
Pop. density 4.19/km2
Demonym Oceanian
Oceanic
Countries
Dependencies
Languages
Time zones UTC+8 (Australian Western Standard Time) to UTC-6 (Easter Island) (West to East)
Largest cities List of cities in Oceania
Australia Sydney
Australia Melbourne
Australia Brisbane
Australia Perth
New Zealand Auckland
Australia Adelaide
New Zealand Wellington
United States Honolulu
Australia Canberra
New Zealand Christchurch
Papua New Guinea Port Moresby

Oceania (UK /ˌoʊʃɪˈɑːniə, ˌoʊsɪ-/[1] or US /ˌoʊʃiːˈæniə/),[2] also known as Oceanica,[3] is a region centred on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean.[4] Opinions of what constitutes Oceania range from its three subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia[5] to, more broadly, the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago.[6] The term is often used more specifically to denote a continent comprising Australia and proximate islands[7][8][9][10] or biogeographically as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone (Wallacea and Australasia) or the Pacific ecozone (Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia apart either from New Zealand[11] or from mainland New Guinea).[12]

Etymology[edit]

The term was coined as Océanie ca. 1812 by geographer Conrad Malte-Brun.[6] The word Océanie is a French language word derived from the Greek word ὠκεανός (ōkeanós), ocean.

Definitions[edit]

See also: List of Oceanian countries by population and List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Oceania
A map of Oceania from the CIA World Factbook

As an ecozone, Oceania includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. New Zealand, along with New Guinea and nearby islands, part of Philippines islands, Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia, constitute the separate Australasian ecozone. In geopolitical terms, however, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are almost always considered part of Oceania, and Australia and Papua New Guinea are usually considered part of Oceania too. Sometimes Papua province in Indonesia may be included, as Puncak Jaya is often considered the highest peak in Oceania.

Physiography[edit]

Oceania was originally conceived as the lands of the Pacific Ocean, stretching from the Strait of Malacca to the coast of the Americas. It comprised four regions: Polynesia, Micronesia, Malaysia (now called the Malay Archipelago), and Melanesia (now called Australasia).[13] Included are parts of three geological continents, Eurasia, Australia, and Zealandia, as well the non-continental volcanic islands of the Philippines, Wallacea, and the open Pacific. It extends to Sumatra in the west, the Bonin Islands in the northwest, the Hawaiian Islands in the northeast, Rapa Nui and Sala y Gómez Island in the east, and Macquarie Island in the south, but excludes Taiwan, the Japanese archipelago (including the Ryukyu Islands), and Aleutian Islands of the margins of Asia.[14][15]

The states that occupy Oceania that are not included in geopolitical Oceania are Indonesia, Malaysia (through Malaysian Borneo), Brunei, the Philippines, and East Timor. The islands of the geographic extremes are politically integral parts of Japan (Bonin), the United States (Hawaii), and Chile (Easter Island). A smaller geographic definition also exists, which excludes the land on the Sunda Plate, but includes Indonesian New Guinea as part of the Australian continent.

Biogeography[edit]

Aoraki / Mount Cook, located on the South Island of New Zealand

Biogeographically, Oceania is used as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone (Wallacea and Australasia) or the Pacific ecozone (Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia apart either from New Zealand[11] or from mainland New Guinea[12]).

Ecogeography[edit]

Oceania is one of eight terrestrial ecozones, which constitute the major ecological regions of the planet. The Oceania ecozone includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. New Zealand, New Guinea, Melanesia apart from Fiji, and Australia constitute the separate Australasian ecozone. The Malay Archipelago is part of the Indomalaya ecozone. Related to these concepts are Near Oceania, that part of western Island Melanesia which has been inhabited for tens of millennia, and Remote Oceania which is more recently settled.[16]

Geopolitics[edit]

In the geopolitical conception used by the United Nations, International Olympic Committee, and many atlases, Oceania includes Australia and the nations of the Pacific from Papua New Guinea east, but not the Malay Archipelago or Indonesian New Guinea.[17][18][19]

Other definitions[edit]

  • The term is often used to denote a continent comprising Australia and proximate islands.[7][8][9][10]
  • New Zealand forms the south-western corner of the Polynesian Triangle. Its indigenous Māori constitute one of the major cultures of Polynesia. It is also, however, considered part of Australasia.[17]
  • The widest definition of Oceania includes the entire region between continental Asia and the Americas, thereby including islands in the Pacific Rim such as the Japanese archipelago, Taiwan, and the Aleutian islands.[20]
Satellite image of Oceania
Ethno-cultural definition of Oceania

History[edit]

Main articles: History of Oceania and History of the Pacific Islands

Demographics[edit]

Main article: Demographics of Oceania

Oceania

An orthographic projection of geographic Oceania.
Wider Geographic Oceania.
Little of the South Pacific is apparent at this scale, though Hawaii is just visible near the eastern horizon.

Area 10,975,600 km2 (4,237,700 sq mi)
Population 37.8 million (2010)
Time Zones UTC+7 (Western Indonesian Time) to UTC-6 (Easter Island)
Largest Cities Jakarta
Manila
Sydney
Bandung
Melbourne
Surabaya
Medan

Narrower Geographic Oceania.
Narrower Geographic Oceania.
Island Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (apart from New Zealand)

Area 183,000 km2 (71,000 sq mi)
Population 5.2 million (2008)
Time Zones UTC+9 (Palau) to UTC-6 (Easter Island)
Largest Cities Honolulu
Nouméa
Suva
Papeete
Honiara

The demographic table below shows the subregions and countries of geopolitical Oceania.[17] The countries and territories in this table are categorized 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, of course, depending on the source and purpose of each description.

Name of region, followed by countries
and their flags[21]		 Area
(km²)		 Population Population density
(per km²)		 Capital ISO 3166-1
Australasia[22]
 Ashmore and Cartier Islands (Australia) 199
 Australia 7,686,850 23,034,879 2.7 Canberra AU
 Christmas Island[23] (Australia) 135 1,493 3.5 Flying Fish Cove CX
 Cocos (Keeling) Islands[23] (Australia) 14 628 45.1 West Island CC
 Coral Sea Islands (Australia) 10 4
 New Zealand[24] 268,680 4,465,900 16.5 Wellington NZ
 Norfolk Island (Australia) 35 2,302 61.9 Kingston NF
Melanesia[25]
 Fiji 18,270 856,346 46.9 Suva FJ
 New Caledonia (France) 19,060 240,390 12.6 Nouméa NC
 Papua (Indonesia) 319,036 3,486,432 11 Jayapura PA
 West Papua (Indonesia) 140,375 760,855 5.4 Manokwari PB
 Papua New Guinea[26] 462,840 5,172,033 11.2 Port Moresby PG
 Solomon Islands 28,450 494,786 17.4 Honiara SB
 Vanuatu 12,200 240,000 19.7 Port Vila VU
Micronesia
 Federated States of Micronesia 702 135,869 193.5 Palikir FM
 Guam (United States) 549 160,796 292.9 Hagåtña GU
 Kiribati 811 96,335 118.8 South Tarawa KI
 Marshall Islands 181 73,630 406.8 Majuro MH
 Nauru 21 12,329 587.1 Yaren (de facto) NR
 Northern Mariana Islands (United States) 477 77,311 162.1 Saipan MP
 Palau 458 19,409 42.4 Melekeok[27] PW
Wake Island Wake Island (United States) 2 12 Wake Island UM
Polynesia
 American Samoa (United States) 199 68,688 345.2 Pago Pago, Fagatogo[28] AS
 Cook Islands (New Zealand) 240 20,811 86.7 Avarua CK
 Easter Island (Chile) 164 5,761 31 Hanga Roa CL
 French Polynesia (France) 4,167 257,847 61.9 Papeete PF
 Hawaii (United States) 16,636 1,360,301 81.8 Honolulu US
 Niue (New Zealand) 260 2,134 8.2 Alofi NU
 Pitcairn Islands (United Kingdom) 5 47 10 Adamstown PN
 Samoa 2,944 179,000 63.2 Apia WS
 Tokelau (New Zealand) 10 1,431 143.1 Nukunonu TK
 Tonga 748 106,137 141.9 Nukuʻalofa TO
 Tuvalu 26 11,146 428.7 Funafuti TV
 Wallis and Futuna (France) 274 15,585 56.9 Mata-Utu WF
Total 8,845,025 39,155,699 4.4
Total minus mainland Australia 1,158,175 17,127,699 14.8
This template:
Map of Nations and territories of Oceania including Australia and New Zealand
Geographic map of islands of Oceania

Archaeogenetics[edit]

Archaeology, linguistics, and existing genetic studies indicate that Oceania was settled by two major waves of migration. The first migration took place approximately 40 thousand years ago and these migrants, Papuans, colonized much of Near Oceania. Approximately 3.5 thousand years ago, a second expansion of Austronesian speakers arrived in Near Oceania and the descendants of these people spread to the far corners of the Pacific, colonizing Remote Oceania.[29]

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) studies quantify the magnitude of the Austronesian expansion and demonstrate the homogenizing 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, a population located in Remote Oceania, is an anomaly with extreme frequencies of autochthonous haplogroups of Near Oceanian origin.[29]

Religion[edit]

The predominant religion in Oceania is Christianity.[30] Traditional religions are often animist and prevalent among traditional tribes is the belief in spirits (masalai in Tok Pisin) representing natural forces.[31] In recent Australian and New Zealand censuses, large proportions of the population say they belong to "No religion" (which includes atheism, agnosticism, secular humanism, and rationalism). In Tonga, everyday life is heavily influenced by Polynesian traditions and especially by the Christian faith. The Ahmadiyya mosque in Marshall Islands is the only mosque in Micronesia.[32] Another one in Tuvalu belongs to the same sect. The Bahá'í House of Worship in Tiapapata, Samoa is one of seven designations administered in the Bahá'í Faith.

Sport[edit]

Pacific Games[edit]

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. It is held every four years and began in 1963. Australia and New Zealand do not compete at the Pacific Games.

Association football (soccer)[edit]

Main article: Soccer in Oceania

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of six association football confederations[33] under the auspices of FIFA, the international governing body of the sport. The OFC is the only confederation without an automatic qualification to the World Cup. Currently the winner of the OFC qualification tournament must play off against an Asian confederation side to qualify for the World Cup.[34][35]

Currently, Vanuatu is the only country in Oceania to call football (soccer) its national sport. However, is the most popular sport also in Kiribati, Solomon and Tuvalu, and has a significant (and growing) popularity in Australia.

Oceania has been represented at five World Cup finals tournaments — Australia in 1974, 2006, 2010, and 2014, and New Zealand in 1982 and 2010. In 2006, Australia joined the Asian Football Confederation and qualified for the 2010 World cup as an Asian entrant. New Zealand qualified through the Oceania Confederation, winning its playoff against Bahrain. 2010 was the first time two countries from Oceania had qualified at the same time, albeit through different confederations.

Australian rules football[edit]

Main article: Australian rules football in Oceania

Australian rules football is the national sport in Nauru[36] and is the most popular football code in Australia in terms of attendance.[37] It has a large following in Papua New Guinea, where it is the second most popular sport after Rugby League.[38]

Cricket[edit]

Main article: Cricket in Oceania
Fans welcome to the Australian team after winning 2007 Cricket World Cup

Cricket is a popular summer sport in Australia and New Zealand. Australia had ruled International cricket as the number one team for more than a decade, and have won four Cricket World Cups and have been runner-up for two times, making them the most successful cricket team. New Zealand is also considered a strong competitor in the sport, with the New Zealand cricket team, also called the Black Caps, enjoying success in many competitions. Both Australia and New Zealand are Full members of the ICC. Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea are some of the Associate/Affiliate members of the ICC from Oceania that are governed by ICC East Asia-Pacific. Backyard cricket and Beach cricket, which are simplified variants of cricket played at home or on a sand beach, are also popular recreational sports in Australia.

Cricket is culturally a significant sport for summer in Oceania. The Boxing Day Test is very popular in Australia, conducted every year on 26 December at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne.

Rugby League[edit]

Main article: Rugby league in Oceania

Rugby league is the national sport of Papua New Guinea[39] (the second most populous country in Oceania after Australia) and is very popular in Australia[40] and attracts significant attention across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.[41]

Australia and New Zealand are two of the most successful sides in the world.[42] Australia has won the Rugby League World Cup a record ten times (most recently defeating New Zealand 34-2 in 2013) while New Zealand won their first World Cup in 2008. Australia hosted the second tournament in 1957. Australia and New Zealand jointly hosted it in 1968 and 1977. New Zealand hosted the final for the first time in 1985–1988 tournament and Australia hosted the tournament again in 2008.

Rugby Union[edit]

Main article: Rugby union in Oceania
Fiji playing the Cook Islands at seven-a-side rugby

Rugby union is one of the region's most prominent sports,[43] and is the national sport of New Zealand,[44] Samoa,[44] Fiji and Tonga.[44] Fiji's sevens team is one of the most successful in the world, as is New Zealand's.

New Zealand and Australia have won the Rugby World Cup a record two times each (tied with South Africa who have also won it two times). New Zealand won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 which was hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Australia hosted it in 2003 and New Zealand hosted it in 2011.

See also[edit]

Portal icon Geography portal
Portal icon Oceania portal
Main article: Outline of Oceania

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Pronunciation: The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) ISBN 0-19-861263-X — p.1282 "Oceania /ˌəʊsɪˈɑːnɪə, -ʃɪ-/".
  2. ^ "Oceania". Dictionary.com. Random House, Inc. 2012. Retrieved 2014-03-08. 
  3. ^ ""Oceanica" definition". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 2 April 2013. 
  4. ^ For a history of the term, see Douglas & Ballard (2008) Foreign bodies: Oceania and the science of race 1750–1940
  5. ^ "Oceania". 2005. The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press.
  6. ^ a b "Oceania". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. 
  7. ^ a b Son, George Philip (2003). Philip's E.A.E.P Atlas. p. 79. ISBN 9789966251251. Retrieved 2014-03-08. 
  8. ^ a b Scholastic Atlas of the World. 2003.  "Oceania is the smallest of all the continents"
  9. ^ a b Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings, United Nations Statistics Division. Revised August 28, 2007. Accessed on line October 11, 2007.
  10. ^ a b Lewis, Martin W.; Kären E. Wigen (1997). The Myth of Continents: a Critique of Metageography. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 32. ISBN 0-520-20742-4. ISBN 0-520-20743-2. "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." 
  11. ^ a b Udvardy. 1975. A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world
  12. ^ a b Steadman. 2006. Extinction & biogeography of tropical Pacific birds
  13. ^ D'Urville, Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont; Isabel Ollivier; Antoine de Biran; Geoffrey Clark. "On the Islands of the Great Ocean". The Journal of Pacific History (Taylor & Francis, Ltd.) 38 (2). JSTOR 25169637. 
  14. ^ MacKay (1864, 1885) Elements of Modern Geography, p 283
  15. ^ Douglas & Ballard (2008) Foreign bodies: Oceania and the science of race 1750–1940
  16. ^ Ben Finney, The Other One-Third of the Globe, Journal of World History, Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall, 1994.
  17. ^ a b c "United Nations Statistics Division – Countries of Oceania". Millenniumindicators.un.org. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  18. ^ Atlas of Canada Web Master (2004-08-17). "The Atlas of Canada – The World – Continents". Atlas.nrcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  19. ^ Current IOC members.
  20. ^ "Oceania". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2012-12-26. 
  21. ^ Regions and constituents as per UN categorisations/map except notes 2–3, 6. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 3, 5–7, 9) may be in one or both of Oceania and Asia or North America.
  22. ^ The use and scope of this term varies. The UN designation for this subregion is "Australia and New Zealand."
  23. ^ a b Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia.
  24. ^ New Zealand is often considered part of Polynesia rather than Australasia.
  25. ^ Excludes parts of Indonesia, island territories in Southeast Asia (UN region) frequently reckoned in this region.
  26. ^ Papua New Guinea is often considered part of Australasia and Melanesia. It is sometimes included in the Malay Archipelago of Southeast Asia.
  27. ^ On 7 October 2006, government officials moved their offices in the former capital of Koror to Melekeok, located 20 km (12 mi) northeast of Koror on Babelthuap Island.
  28. ^ Fagatogo is the seat of government of American Samoa.
  29. ^ a b Duggan, A. T.; Evans, B.; Friedlaender, F. O. R.; Friedlaender, J. S.; Koki, G.; Merriwether, D.  A.; Kayser, M.; Stoneking, M. (2014). "Maternal History of Oceania from Complete mtDNA Genomes: Contrasting Ancient Diversity with Recent Homogenization Due to the Austronesian Expansion". The American Journal of Human Genetics. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.03.014.  edit
  30. ^ US Dept of State (2012-05-01). "Background Notes Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Malaysia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Samoa". State.gov. Retrieved 2012-07-14. 
  31. ^ Cowan, James G. (1993). Messengers of the Gods. New York, NY: Bell Tower. ISBN 0-517-88078-4. 
  32. ^ "Mosque soon to open in Uliga". November 28, 2011. Retrieved May 2, 2014. 
  33. ^ "FIFA confederations". Fifa.com. Archived from the original on 2009-04-20. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  34. ^ "''FIFA world cup 2010 – Oceania preliminary competition''" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-12-26. 
  35. ^ "FIFA world cup 2010 – qualifying rounds and places available by confederation". Fifa.com. 2009-04-03. Archived from the original on 2009-02-28. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  36. ^ "Nauru AFL team to play in International Cup". solomonstarnews.com. 2008-04-16. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  37. ^ "Australian rules football (sport) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  38. ^ http://www.miningfm.com.au/mining-towns/overseas/papua-new-guinea.html
  39. ^ "MSN Groups Closure Notice". Groups.msn.com. 2008-10-23. Retrieved 2009-04-17. [dead link]
  40. ^ "Football in Australia – Australia's Culture Portal". Cultureandrecreation.gov.au. 2008-03-28. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  41. ^ "Rugby League Football – 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand". Teara.govt.nz. 1908-06-13. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  42. ^ Wilson, Andy (2009-11-05). "southern hemisphere sides are a class apart". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-06-17. 
  43. ^ "Oceania Rugby Vacations". Real Travel. Retrieved 2009-04-17. [dead link]
  44. ^ a b c "How many national sports are there". WikiAnswers. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 

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