Portal:Oceania

The Oceania Portal

Oceania (UK: /ˌoʊsiˈɑːniə, ˌoʊʃi-, -ˈeɪn-/, US: /ˌoʊʃiˈæniə/ (listen), /-ˈɑːn-/) is a geographical region that is described as a continent in some parts of the world. It includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of 8,525,989 square kilometres (3,291,903 sq mi) and a population of around 44.4 million as of 2022. Oceania is described as a geographical region in most of the English-speaking world, but outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is described as one of the continents. In this model of the world, Australia is only seen as an island nation contained inside of the continent of Oceania, and not a continent by itself. When compared to the other continents, 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 Second World War, mainly between Allied powers the United States, Philippines (a U.S. Commonwealth at the time) and Australia, and Axis power Japan. The rock art of Aboriginal Australians is the longest continuously practiced artistic tradition in the world. Most Oceanian countries are multi-party representative parliamentary democracies, with tourism being a large source of income for the Pacific Islands nations. (Full article...)

Selected geographic article -

Niʻihau (Hawaiian: [ˈniʔiˈhɐw]), anglicized as Niihau (/ˈniː(i)haʊ/ NEE-(ee-)how), is the westernmost main and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii. It is 17.5 miles (28.2 km) southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel. Its area is 69.5 square miles (180 km²). Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland habitats for the Hawaiian coot, the Hawaiian stilt, and the Hawaiian duck. The island is designated as critical habitat for Brighamia insignis, an endemic and endangered species of Hawaiian lobelioid. The United States Census Bureau defines Niʻihau and the neighboring island and State Seabird Sanctuary of Lehua as Census Tract 410 of Kauai County, Hawaii. Its 2000 census population was 160, most of whom are native Hawaiians; Its 2010 census population was 170. At the 2020 census, the population had fallen to 84.

Elizabeth Sinclair purchased Niʻihau in 1864 for US$10,000 (equivalent to about $170,000 in 2021) from the Kingdom of Hawaii. The island's private ownership passed on to her descendants, the Robinsons. During World War II, the island was the site of the Niʻihau incident, in which, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese navy fighter pilot crashed on the island and received help from the island's residents of Japanese descent. (Full article...)

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The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world, with a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9 lb). It can grow to up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in width from the tip of one leg to the tip of another. It is found on islands across the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific Ocean as far east as the Gambier Islands, Pitcairn Islands and Caroline Island, similar to the distribution of the coconut palm; it has been extirpated from most areas with a significant human population, including mainland Australia and Madagascar. Coconut crabs also live off the coast of Africa near Zanzibar.

The coconut crab is the only species of the genus Birgus, and is related to the other terrestrial hermit crabs of the genus Coenobita. It shows a number of adaptations to life on land. Juvenile coconut crabs use empty gastropod shells for protection like other hermit crabs, but the adults develop a tough exoskeleton on their abdomens and stop carrying a shell. Coconut crabs have organs known as branchiostegal lungs, which they use for breathing instead of their vestigial gills. After the juvenile stage, they will drown if immersed in water for too long. They have an acute sense of smell which they use to find potential food sources, and which has developed convergently with that of insects. (Full article...)

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Did you know -

... that Elvis Presley's concert Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite took place at midnight in Hawaii to match the prime time of its target audience in Asia and Oceania?

General images -

The following are images from various Oceania-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Mount Marpi in Saipan. (from Micronesia)
Image 2A pan flute from Solomon Islands, 19th century (from Melanesia)
Image 3The geographical extent of Melanesia (from Melanesia)
Image 4Australia's concept of Australasia, which includes Australia, New Zealand and, in this case, Melanesia (from Australasia)
Image 5On February 14, 1779, Capt. James Cook was killed on the island of Hawaii (from Polynesia)
Image 6New Caledonia (from Melanesia)
Image 7Mokoliʻi Isle near Oahu, Hawaii (from Polynesia)
Image 8Languages of Micronesia. (from Micronesia)
Image 9Sailors of Melanesia in the Pacific Ocean, 1846 (from Melanesia)
Image 10Micronesia is one of three major cultural areas in the Pacific Ocean, along with Melanesia and Polynesia (from Micronesia)
Image 11King Kamehameha I receiving the Russian naval expedition of Otto von Kotzebue. Drawing by Louis Choris in 1816. (from Polynesia)
Image 12A Melanesian child from Vanuatu (from Melanesia)
Image 13Polynesians with outrigger canoes at Waikiki Beach, Oahu Island, early 20th century (from Polynesia)
Image 14Map showing the migration and expansion of the Austronesians which began at about 3,000 BC from Taiwan. The Polynesian branch is shown in green. (from Polynesia)
Image 15An 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 16A proportional representation of Micronesia exports, 2019 (from Micronesia)
Image 17Aerial view of Solomon Islands. (from Melanesia)
Image 18Manila Galleon in the Marianas and Carolinas, c. 1590 Boxer Codex (from Micronesia)
Image 19Map from 1961 of the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, formerly Japan's South Seas Mandate. (from Micronesia)
Image 20Regions of Oceania (from Australasia)
Image 21The three major cultural areas in the Pacific Ocean: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (from Melanesia)
Image 22Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the Polynesian Triangle. (from Polynesia)
Image 23A depiction of a royal heiau (Hawaiian temple) at Kealakekua Bay, c. 1816 (from Polynesia)
Image 24Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific (from Melanesia)
Image 25Map of Micronesia (shown in dark magenta) (from Micronesia)
Image 26Köppen-Geiger climate classification map of Melanesia (from Melanesia)
Image 27Moai at Ahu Tongariki on Rapa Nui (from Polynesia)
Image 28Grinding stones discovered from archaeology in Samoa (from Polynesia)
Image 29The three major cultural areas in the Pacific Ocean: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (from Polynesia)
Image 30Image of the Castle Bravo nuclear test, detonated on 1 March 1954, at Bikini Atoll (from Micronesia)
Image 31Carving from the ridgepole of a Māori house, ca 1840 (from Polynesia)
Image 32A common fishing canoe va'a with outrigger in Savaiʻi island, Samoa, 2009 (from Polynesia)
Image 33Painting of Tahitian Women on the Beach by Paul Gauguin—Musée d'Orsay (from Polynesia)
Image 34Polynesian (Hawaiian) navigators sailing multi-hulled canoe, c. 1781 (from Polynesia)
Image 35Māori war canoe drawn after James Cook's voyage to New Zealand. (from Polynesia)
Image 36Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa from 1998 to 2021, who initiated the Polynesian Leaders Group in late 2011. (from Polynesia)
Image 37Map showing the sovereignty of islands of Melanesia (from Melanesia)
Image 38Cinder plain of Mount Yasur in Vanuatu (from Melanesia)
Image 39Mount Tavurvur in Papua New Guinea (from Melanesia)
Image 40Kili Island is one of the smallest islands in the Marshall Islands. (from Micronesia)
Image 41Spinner dolphins (from Micronesia)
Image 42Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific (from Micronesia)
Image 43Beach scenery at Laura, Majuro, Marshall Islands (from Micronesia)
Image 44The arrival of Abel Tasman in Tongatapu, 1643; drawing by Isaack Gilsemans (from Polynesia)
Image 45Canoe carving on Nanumea atoll, Tuvalu (from Polynesia)
Image 46Cook's Bay on Moorea, French Polynesia (from Polynesia)
Image 47German New Guinea before and after the German-Spanish treaty of 1899 (from Micronesia)
Image 48The Polynesian spread of colonization in the Pacific (from Polynesia)
Image 49Chamorro people in 1915 (from Micronesia)
Image 50Romanum Island, Chuuk, Micronesia (from Micronesia)

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Verify : List of islands of Australia, List of lakes of Australia, List of mountains in Australia, List of World Heritage Sites in Oceania

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