An orthographic projection of Oceania
Oceania ( OH -s(h)ee-AH -nee-ə, -AY - , OH -shee-A(H)N -ee-ə ) is a geographical region comprising Australasia , Melanesia , Micronesia , and Polynesia . Spanning the Eastern and Western Hemispheres , at the centre of the water hemisphere , Oceania is estimated to have a land area of about 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi) and a population of around 44.4 million as of 2022. When compared to the continents (which it is often compared to, not including Australia), Oceania is the smallest in land area and the second-least populated after Antarctica .
Oceania has a diverse mix of economies from the highly developed and globally competitive financial markets of Australia , French Polynesia , Hawaii , New Caledonia , and New Zealand , which rank high in quality of life and Human Development Index , to the much less developed economies of Kiribati , Papua New Guinea , Tuvalu , Vanuatu , and Western New Guinea , while also including medium-sized economies of Pacific islands such as Fiji , Palau , and Tonga . The largest and most populous country in Oceania is Australia, and the largest city is Sydney. Puncak Jaya in Highland Papua , Indonesia , is the highest peak in Oceania at 4,884 m (16,024 ft).
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 World War with the Japanese occupying many German territories. During the Second World War , Allied powers the United States , Philippines (a U.S. Commonwealth at the time) and Australia fought against Axis power Japan across various locations in Oceania. (Full article... )
Vanuatu ( VAH -noo-AH -too or van-WAH -too ; Bislama and French pronunciation [vanuatu] ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (French: République de Vanuatu ; Bislama : Ripablik blong Vanuatu ), is an island country in Melanesia , located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago , which is of volcanic origin, is 1,750 km (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 540 km (340 mi) northeast of New Caledonia , east of New Guinea , southeast of Solomon Islands , and west of Fiji .
Vanuatu was first inhabited by
Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator
Fernandes de Queirós , who arrived on the largest island,
Espíritu Santo , in 1606. Queirós claimed the archipelago for Spain, as part of the colonial
Spanish East Indies and named it
La Austrialia del Espíritu Santo . (
Full article... )
List of geographic articles
Oceania University of Medicine (
OUM ) is an Independent Samoa-based
medical school established in 2002 and operated through a
public-private partnership between the Government of Samoa and e-Medical Education, LLC, a Florida-based medical education management company. Its hybrid curriculum of distance-learning preclinicals and face-to-face clinical rotations enrolls 333 students, as of March 2024, and 215 graduates are currently in residency/internship training or practicing medicine in numerous global locations, primarily Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Samoa, and the US. (
Full article... )
List of selected articles
The following are images from various Oceania-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Map showing the migration and expansion of the
Austronesians which began at about 3000 BC from
Taiwan . The Polynesian branch is shown in green. (from
Polynesia )
Image 2 Aerial view of
Solomon Islands (from
Melanesia )
Image 3 A pan flute from
Solomon Islands , 19th century (from
Melanesia )
Image 4 King
Kamehameha I receiving the Russian naval expedition of
Otto von Kotzebue . Drawing by
Louis Choris in 1816. (from
Polynesia )
Image 5 Grinding stones discovered from
archaeology in Samoa (from
Polynesia )
Image 6 Subregions (
Melanesia ,
Micronesia ,
Polynesia and
Australasia ), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of
Oceania (from
Micronesia )
Image 7 A depiction of a royal
heiau (Hawaiian temple) at
Kealakekua Bay , c. 1816 (from
Polynesia )
Image 9 A
Melanesian child from
Vanuatu (from
Melanesia )
Image 10 Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from
Melanesia )
Image 11 German trading station at
Jaluit Atoll with a Marshallese
korkor outrigger canoe in the foreground (from
Micronesia )
Image 12 Chamorro people in 1915 (from
Micronesia )
Image 13 Mokoliʻi Isle near
Oahu ,
Hawaii (from
Polynesia )
Image 14 Māori
war canoe drawn after
James Cook 's voyage to New Zealand. (from
Polynesia )
Image 16 Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from
Micronesia )
Image 17 Canoe carving on
Nanumea atoll, Tuvalu (from
Polynesia )
Image 18 Polynesia is one of three major cultural areas of the
Pacific Ocean islands , along with
Melanesia and
Micronesia . (from
Polynesia )
Image 19 Moai at Ahu Tongariki on
Rapa Nui (from
Polynesia )
Image 20 Subregions (
Melanesia ,
Micronesia , Polynesia, and
Australasia ), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of
Oceania (from
Polynesia )
Image 22 Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the
Polynesian Triangle . (from
Polynesia )
Image 23 Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from
Polynesia )
Image 24 Cinder plain of
Mount Yasur in
Vanuatu (from
Melanesia )
Image 25 Cook's Bay on
Moorea ,
French Polynesia (from
Polynesia )
Image 26 The Polynesian spread of colonization in the Pacific (from
Polynesia )
Image 27 Kili Island is one of the smallest islands in the
Marshall Islands . (from
Micronesia )
Image 28 Chronological dispersal of
Austronesian peoples across the
Indo-Pacific (from
Melanesia )
Image 29 German New Guinea before and after the German-Spanish treaty of 1899 (from
Micronesia )
Image 30 An illustration of the Cross Spikes Club of the US Navy on
Bikini Atoll , one of several Marshall Islands used for
atomic bomb tests . (from
Micronesia )
Image 31 Australia's concept of Australasia, which includes Australia, New Zealand and, in this case,
Melanesia (from
Australasia )
Image 32 Painting of
Tahitian Women on the Beach by
Paul Gauguin —
Musée d'Orsay (from
Polynesia )
Image 33 Map of Melanesia, showing its location within Oceania (from
Melanesia )
Image 36 Mount Marpi in
Saipan . (from
Micronesia )
Image 37 Languages of Micronesia. (from
Micronesia )
Image 39 Melanesia is one of three major cultural areas of the
Pacific Ocean islands , along with
Micronesia and
Polynesia . (from
Melanesia )
Image 40 Image of the
Castle Bravo nuclear test, detonated on 1 March 1954, at
Bikini Atoll (from
Micronesia )
Image 41 Carving from the ridgepole of a
Māori house, ca 1840 (from
Polynesia )
Image 42 The arrival of
Abel Tasman in
Tongatapu , 1643; drawing by
Isaack Gilsemans (from
Polynesia )
Image 43 On February 14, 1779, Capt.
James Cook was killed on the island of Hawaii (from
Polynesia )
Image 44 Beach scenery at
Laura ,
Majuro , Marshall Islands (from
Micronesia )
Image 45 Sailors of Melanesia in the
Pacific Ocean , 1846 (from
Melanesia )
Image 46 Polynesian (Hawaiian) navigators sailing multi-hulled
canoe , c. 1781 (from
Polynesia )
Image 47 Chronological dispersal of
Austronesian peoples across the
Indo-Pacific (from
Micronesia )
Image 49 Micronesia is one of three major cultural areas of the
Pacific Ocean islands , along with
Melanesia and
Polynesia . (from
Micronesia )
Image 50 Polynesians with
outrigger canoes at
Waikiki Beach ,
Oahu Island , early 20th century (from
Polynesia )
Image 51 A common fishing canoe
va'a with outrigger in
Savaiʻi island,
Samoa , 2009 (from
Polynesia )
Australasia Melanesia Micronesia Polynesia
Adamstown , Pitcairn Islands 6
Alofi , Niue 7
Apia , Samoa
Avarua , Cook Islands 7
Fakaofo , Tokelau 8
Funafuti , Tuvalu
Mata Utu , Wallis and Futuna (de facto)2
Nukuʻalofa , Tonga
Pago Pago , American Samoa 4
Papeete , French Polynesia 2
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