Daily Archives: May 15, 2020

Where Is Oceania?

The region of Oceania consists of many islands in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Oceania is further divided into the three subregions of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. The term Oceania is often used to denote a continent which comprises of Australia and the nearby islands or as a synonym for Australasian ecozone or the Pacific ecozone. As an ecological zone, it includes Micronesia, Polynesia (excluding New Zealand), and Fiji. New Zealand along with other islands constitutes the separate Australasian ecozone. The term Oceania was coined by Conrad Malte-Brun in 1812 with the inhabitants of the region known as the Oceanians.

Oceania initially consisted of land in the Pacific Ocean which stretched from the Strait of Malacca to the coast of the America. The area is made up of four regions including Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Malaysia. Parts of the three geological subregions are today part of the term Oceania. Oceania extends to Sumatra, Bonin Island, Hawaiian Island, Rupa Nui Island, and Macquarie Island. The islands at the geographical ends of the area include Bonin, a territory of Japan, Hawaii, a territory of the US, and Easter Island which belongs to Chile. Also, a relatively smaller geographic area includes Indonesian Papua Guinea on the Australian continent but excludes the land on the Sunda Plate. Biogeographically, the region is another name for either the Australasian ecozone or the Pacific ecozone. The region of Oceania is one of the 8 terrestrial ecological zones which form the major ecoregions of the earth. The ecozone covers Micronesia, Fiji, and Polynesia (except New Zealand). Geopolitically, the term Oceania is used by the UN, the International Olympic Committee, and several atlases to include Australia and other Pacific nations such as Papua New Guinea. A wide definition of the region includes the region between Asia and the Americas.

Oceania is divided into the three sub-regions of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. Melanesia extends from New Guinea Island to the Arafura Sea and Fiji. Melanesia region includes four countries: Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Island, and Vanuatu. It also includes New Caledonia which is a collective of France and the Western New Guinea regions of Indonesia. The islands of Melanesia often have both European and Indigenous names, which results in confusion.

Micronesia consists of several small islands located on the western part of the Pacific Ocean who are shared culturally by Polynesia and Melanesia. Micronesia is politically divided among independent states including three US territories. The islands of Micronesia are estimated to number 2,100, covering a total area of about 1,000 square miles. The largest island, Guam, covers about 225 square miles. Micronesia has four major island groups: Caroline, Gilbert, Mariana, and Marshall.

Polynesia constitutes over 1,000 islands distributed over the central and Southern parts of the Pacific Ocean. The majority of the islands are composed of volcanic islands built by hotspots. Polynesia consists of a largely sank continent of Zealandia which covers a total area of approximately 118,000 square miles with the largest island, New Zealand, Covering approximately 103,000 square miles. Polynesia is defined by the Polynesian Triangle which is drawn by connecting of three islands of Easter Island, Hawaiian Island, and New Zealand.

The history of Oceania is built on that of Australia and other Pacific Islands. The history is also built on the history of the three sub-regions of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. The region was explored for the first time by the Europeans in the 16th century. Portuguese explorers reached Moluccas, Timor, Tanimbar Island and some parts of the Carolina Island and New Papua Guinea between 1512 and 1525. Between 1527 and 1595, several large Spanish expeditions explored the Pacific Ocean resulting in the discovery of the Marshall Island and Palau on the northern Pacific. The Spanish explorers discovered the Pitcairn and Vanuatu archipelagos in the 17th century. A colony of Guam was then discovered by the Spanish in 1668 and used as a harbor and stop-over for the west-bound vessels. Abel Tasman was the first to reach Tasmania and New Zealand and mapped a substantial portion of Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, and Fiji. James Cook became the second European explorer to visit New Zealand 125 years after Tasman and in 1778 he became the first European first to visit the island of Hawaii.

Oceania was colonized by Europeans and the Americans. Between 1788 and 1872, the British established several colonies including Australia, New Zealand, and Fuji with much of Oceania becoming a British territory. In the 19th century, Kiribati and Tuvalu Islands also came under the British sphere. Tahiti and Tahuata were declared French protectorates in 1842. The French also took over the Tuamotu Archipelago belonging to the Pomare Dynasty in the 1980s. The Netherlands claimed mainly the western half of Oceania. The Dutch government established its first posts in 1898 and 1902 to the South of the border with British New Guinea. Germany established its colony and a trading station on Jaluit and Ebon islands to promote the copra trade. The US expanded into the Pacific in 1857 by taking over Baker and Howland Islands. Hawaii became part of the US in 1898. The Japanese took control of the Marshall Island at the beginning of the World War I. Japan also colonized several Oceanic colonies.

The idea of what constitutes Oceania varies from time to time. The region is defined in several geopolitical and geographic ways. The geopolitical concept used by bodies such as the United Nations, Olympic Committee, and other atlases includes Australia and other Pacific Nations such as Papua New Guinea in their definition of Oceania. The Oceania region has a population 34.7 million people including the population of Australia and 13.4 million people excluding the mainland Australia. Papua New Guinea is the most populated island followed by New Zealand and Hawaii with a population of 5.9 million, 4.2 million, and 1.4 million respectively. Pitcairn Island is the least populated island with only 48 people. Christianity is the major religion within Oceania although there are some other religions including Hindu, Islam, Buddhism, and Indigenous beliefs.

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What Is Oceania? - WorldAtlas.com

Oceania is a region made up of thousands of islands throughout the Central and South Pacific Ocean. It includes Australia, the smallest continent in terms of total land area. Most of Australia and Oceania is under the Pacific, a vast body of water that is larger than all the Earths continental landmasses and islands combined. The name Oceania justly establishes the Pacific Ocean as the defining characteristic of the continent.

Oceaniais dominated by the nation of Australia. The other two major landmasses of Oceania are the microcontinent of Zealandia, which includes the country of New Zealand, and the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, made up of the nation of Papua New Guinea. Oceaniaalso includes three island regions: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (including the U.S. state of Hawaii).

Oceanias physical geography, environment and resources, and human geography can be considered separately.

Oceaniacan be divided into three island groups: continental islands, high islands, and low islands. The islands in each group are formed in different ways and are made up of different materials. Continental islands have a variety of physical features, while high and low islands are fairly uniform in their physical geography.

Continental Islands

Continental islands were once attached to continents before sea level changes and tectonic activity isolated them. Tectonic activity refers to the movement and collision of different sections, or plates, of the Earths crust.

Australia, Zealandia, and New Guinea are continental islands. These three regions share some physical features. All three have mountain ranges or highlandsthe Great Dividing Range in Australia; the North Island Volcanic Plateau and Southern Alps in New Zealand; and the New Guinea Highlands in Papua New Guinea. These highlands are fold mountains, created as tectonic plates pressed together and pushed land upward. New Zealand and Papua New Guinea also have volcanic features as a result of tectonic activity.

Although they share some landscape features, each of these regions has distinct physical features that resulted from different environmental processes. Australias landscape is dominated by the Outback, a region of deserts and semi-arid land. The Outback is a result of the continents large inland plains, its location along the dry Tropic of Capricorn, and its proximity to cool, dry, southerly winds. New Zealands glaciers are a result of the islands high elevations and proximity to cool, moisture-bearing winds. Papua New Guineas highland rain forests are a result of the islands high elevations, proximity to tropical, moisture-bearing winds, and location right below the warm Equator.

High Islands

High islands, also called volcanic islands, are created as volcanic eruptions build up land over time. These eruptions begin under water, when hot magma is cooled and hardened by the ocean. Over time, this activity creates islands with a steep central peakhence the name high island. Ridges and valleys radiate outward from the peak toward the coastline.

The island region of Melanesia contains many high islands because it is a major part of the Ring of Fire, a string of volcanoes around the boundary of the Pacific Ocean. This part of the Ring of Fire is on the boundary of the Pacific plate and the Australian plate. This is a convergent plate boundary, where the two plates move toward each other. Important volcanic mountains in Melanesia include Mount Tomanivi, Fiji; Mount Lamington, Papua New Guinea; and Mount Yasur, Vanuatu.

Low Islands

Low islands are also called coral islands. They are made of the skeletons and living bodies of small marine animals called corals. Sometimes, coral islands barely reach above sea levelhence the name low island. Low islands often take the shape of an irregular ring of very small islands, called an atoll, surrounding a lagoon. An atoll forms when a coral reef builds up around a volcanic island, then the volcanic island erodes away, leaving a lagoon. Atolls are defined as one island even though they are made up of multiple communities of coral.

The island regions of Micronesia and Polynesia are dominated by low islands. The Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, for example, is composed of 97 islands and islets that surround one of the largest lagoons in the world, with an area of 2,173 square kilometers (839 square miles). The nation of Kiribati is composed of 32 atolls and one solitary island dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometers (1.35 million square miles) of the Pacific Ocean.

Island Flora and Fauna

The evolution of flora and fauna across the islands of Australia and Oceania is unique. Many plants and animals reached the islands from southern Asia during the last glacial period, when sea levels were low enough to allow for travel. After sea levels rose, species adapted to the environment of each island or community of islands, producing multiple species that evolved from a common ancestor. Due to its isolation from the rest of the world, Australia and Oceania has an incredibly high number of endemic species, or species that are found nowhere else on Earth.

Plants traveled between islands by riding wind or ocean currents. Birds carried the seeds of fruits and plants and spread them between islands with their droppings. Ferns, mosses, and some flowering plants rely on spores or seeds that can remain airborne for long distances. Coconut palms and mangroves, common throughout Australia and Oceania, produce seeds that can float on salty water for weeks at a time. Important flowering plants native to Australia and Oceania include the jacaranda, hibiscus, pohutukawa, and kowhai. Other indigenous trees include the breadfruit, eucalyptus, and banyan.

Birds are very common in Australia and Oceania because they are one of the few animals mobile enough to move from island to island. There are more than 110 endemic bird species in Australia and Oceania, including many seabirds. Many flightless birds, such as emus, kiwis, cassowaries, wekas, and takahes, are native to Australia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand. The Pacific Islands have more than 25 species of birds of paradise, which exhibit colorful plumage.

Lizards and bats make up the majority of Australia and Oceanias native land animals. Lizard species include the goanna, skink, and bearded dragon. Australia and Oceania has more than a hundred different species of fruit bats.

The few native land animals in Australia and Oceania are unusual. Australia and Oceania is the only place in the world that is home to monotremesmammals that lay eggs. All monotremes are native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. There are only five living species: the duckbill platypus and four species of echidna.

Many of the most familiar animals native to Australia and Oceania are marsupials, including the koala, kangaroo, and wallaby. Marsupials are mammals that carry their newborn young in a pouch. Almost 70 percent of the marsupials on Earth are native to Oceania. (The rest are native to the Americas.)

In Australia and Oceania, marsupials did not face threats or competition from large predators such as lions, tigers, or bears. The red kangaroo, the worlds largest marsupial, can grow up to 2 meters (6 feet) tall, and weigh as much as 100 kilograms (220 pounds). In the Americas, marsupials such as possums are much smaller.

Marine Flora and Fauna

The marine environment is an important and influential physical region in Australia and Oceania. The region is composed of three marine realms: Temperate Australasia, Central Indo-Pacific, and Eastern Indo-Pacific. Marine realms are large ocean regions where animal and plant life are similar because of shared environmental and evolutionary factors.

The Temperate Australasia realm includes the seas surrounding the southern half of Australia and the islands of New Zealand. This realm is one of the worlds richest areas for seabirds. Its cold, nutrient-rich waters support a diversity of plants and fish that seabirds feed on. These seabirds include different species of albatross, petrel, and shearwater, as well as the Australasian gannet and rockhopper penguin.

The Central Indo-Pacific realm includes the seas surrounding the northern half of Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. This marine realm has the greatest diversity of tropical coral in the world and includes the worlds two largest coral formations: Australias Great Barrier Reef and the New Caledonia Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site off the coast of northeast Australia, is 344,400 square kilometers (133,000 square miles).

The Great Barrier Reef and the New Caledonia Barrier Reef are underwater hotspots for biodiversity. The Great Barrier Reef is home to 30 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises; six species of sea turtles; 215 species of birds; and more than 1,500 species of fish. The New Caledonia Barrier Reef is home to 600 species of sponges, 5,500 species of mollusks, 5,000 species of crustaceans, and at least 1,000 species of fish.

The Eastern Indo-Pacific realm surrounds the tropical islands of the central Pacific Ocean, extending from the Marshall Islands through central and southeastern Polynesia. Like the Central Indo-Pacific realm, this realm is also known for its tropical coral formations. A variety of whale, tortoise, and fish species also inhabit this realm.

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Australia and Oceania: Physical Geography | National ...