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 including Australasia , Melanesia , Micronesia , and Polynesia . Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Australia is regarded as an island or a continental landmass contained inside of the larger continent of Oceania. 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... )
Enga is one of the
provinces in
Papua New Guinea (PNG). Enga is geographically situated in the northern region of Papua New Guinea and was separated from the adjacent
Western Highlands at the time of national independence in 1975. The majority ethnic group are
Engans . Approximately 500,000 people live within the province, which has one spoken language in all five of its districts. A small minority of Engans' land on the eastern side of the region remained in the Western Highlands, their territory being accessible by road from
Mount Hagen but not directly from elsewhere in Enga territory. (
Full article... )
List of geographic articles
Moai facing inland at Ahu Tongariki , restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s
Moai or moʻai ( MOH -eye ; Spanish : moái ; Rapa Nui : moʻai , lit. 'statue') are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku , the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads, which account for three-eighths of the size of the whole statue. They also have no legs. The moai are chiefly the living faces (aringa ora ) of deified ancestors (aringa ora ata tepuna ).
The statues still gazed inland across their clan lands
when Europeans first visited the island in 1722 , but all of them had fallen by the latter part of the 19th century. The moai were toppled in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, possibly as a result of European contact or
internecine tribal wars . (
Full article... )
List of selected articles
The following are images from various Oceania-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 A depiction of a royal
heiau (Hawaiian temple) at
Kealakekua Bay , c. 1816 (from
Polynesia )
Image 2 Cinder plain of
Mount Yasur in
Vanuatu (from
Melanesia )
Image 4 Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from
Micronesia )
Image 5 On February 14, 1779, Capt.
James Cook was killed on the island of Hawaii (from
Polynesia )
Image 6 Beach scenery at
Laura ,
Majuro , Marshall Islands (from
Micronesia )
Image 7 Polynesians with
outrigger canoes at
Waikiki Beach ,
Oahu Island , early 20th century (from
Polynesia )
Image 9 Polynesian (Hawaiian) navigators sailing multi-hulled
canoe , c. 1781 (from
Polynesia )
Image 10 A pan flute from
Solomon Islands , 19th century (from
Melanesia )
Image 11 Melanesia is one of three major cultural areas of the
Pacific Ocean islands , along with
Micronesia and
Polynesia . (from
Melanesia )
Image 12 Micronesia is one of three major cultural areas of the
Pacific Ocean islands , along with
Melanesia and
Polynesia . (from
Micronesia )
Image 13 Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from
Melanesia )
Image 14 Chronological dispersal of
Austronesian peoples across the
Indo-Pacific (from
Micronesia )
Image 15 Chamorro people in 1915 (from
Micronesia )
Image 16 Subregions (
Melanesia ,
Micronesia ,
Polynesia and
Australasia ), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of
Oceania (from
Micronesia )
Image 17 King
Kamehameha I receiving the Russian naval expedition of
Otto von Kotzebue . Drawing by
Louis Choris in 1816. (from
Polynesia )
Image 20 A
Melanesian child from
Vanuatu (from
Melanesia )
Image 21 Sailors of Melanesia in the
Pacific Ocean , 1846 (from
Melanesia )
Image 22 Māori
war canoe drawn after
James Cook 's voyage to New Zealand. (from
Polynesia )
Image 23 Mokoliʻi Isle near
Oahu ,
Hawaii (from
Polynesia )
Image 24 A common fishing canoe
va'a with outrigger in
Savaiʻi island,
Samoa , 2009 (from
Polynesia )
Image 25 Image of the
Castle Bravo nuclear test, detonated on 1 March 1954, at
Bikini Atoll (from
Micronesia )
Image 26 Subregions (
Melanesia ,
Micronesia , Polynesia, and
Australasia ), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of
Oceania (from
Polynesia )
Image 28 Australia's concept of Australasia, which includes Australia, New Zealand and, in this case,
Melanesia (from
Australasia )
Image 30 Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the
Polynesian Triangle . (from
Polynesia )
Image 31 Grinding stones discovered from
archaeology in Samoa (from
Polynesia )
Image 33 Cook's Bay on
Moorea ,
French Polynesia (from
Polynesia )
Image 34 The Polynesian spread of colonization in the Pacific (from
Polynesia )
Image 35 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 36 Carving from the ridgepole of a
Māori house, ca 1840 (from
Polynesia )
Image 37 Mount Marpi in
Saipan . (from
Micronesia )
Image 38 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 39 Canoe carving on
Nanumea atoll, Tuvalu (from
Polynesia )
Image 40 Moai at Ahu Tongariki on
Rapa Nui (from
Polynesia )
Image 41 Polynesia is one of three major cultural areas of the
Pacific Ocean islands , along with
Melanesia and
Micronesia . (from
Polynesia )
Image 42 Languages of Micronesia. (from
Micronesia )
Image 43 German New Guinea before and after the German-Spanish treaty of 1899 (from
Micronesia )
Image 44 Aerial view of
Solomon Islands (from
Melanesia )
Image 45 Kili Island is one of the smallest islands in the
Marshall Islands . (from
Micronesia )
Image 46 Map of Melanesia, showing its location within Oceania (from
Melanesia )
Image 47 Chronological dispersal of
Austronesian peoples across the
Indo-Pacific (from
Melanesia )
Image 48 Painting of
Tahitian Women on the Beach by
Paul Gauguin —
Musée d'Orsay (from
Polynesia )
Image 50 Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from
Polynesia )
Image 51 German trading station at
Jaluit Atoll with a Marshallese
korkor outrigger canoe in the foreground (from
Micronesia )
Image 52 The arrival of
Abel Tasman in
Tongatapu , 1643; drawing by
Isaack Gilsemans (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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