Oceania is a continent with an area of 8,536,716 km2 with about 35,670,000 inhabitants.
Oceania or Australia are sometimes used side by side as the umbrella name for the entire continent, and this part of the world is also referred to as Australia and Oceania.
According to COUNTRYAAH, Oceania is statistically divided into four regions.
These four regions are Australia and New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.
The area includes many thousands of islands, most of which lie between the tropics. Most of the islands are very small and many are uninhabited.
Countries and regions Oceania
Oceania has 14 independent countries. These are Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.
From a political point of view, Indonesia and East Timor can be classified in various divisions as both Asia and Oceania. The UN classifies these countries as Southeast Asia.
Oceania has 25 non-independent territories.
These include: American Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kermadec Islands, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Norfolk, Pitcairn Islands, Tokelau Islands, Wallis, and Futuna.
Australia and New Zealand
Australia and New Zealand is one of the four regions in which the United Nations has classified the continent of Oceania on statistical grounds.
The region consists of the two countries Australia and New Zealand and the area of Norfolk Island (Norfolk Island Territory).
Norfolk is an island in the Pacific Ocean that lies between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. It is one of Australia’s external territories.
Other divisions of this region also count New Zealand as Polynesia.
The other three regions of the continent of Oceania are Micronesia, Polynesia and Melanesia according to the United Nations classification.
Melanesia
Melanesia is one of the four regions in which the United Nations has classified the continent of Oceania on statistical grounds.
It is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, north to northeast of Australia.
Melanesia means black islands (Greek: melas = black, and nesos = islands). The area is named after the skin color of the indigenous people. They are called the Melanesians.
The island region, in the English spelling Melanesia, consists of the areas of Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
New Caledonia is an overseas territory of France.
Some of the seas in the area are Bismarck Sea, Solomon Sea, Coral Sea, Tasman Sea.
volcanoes
The islands of Melanesia form the peaks of an undersea young, volcanic mountain range.
The highest point is in the central mountain country of New Guinea. The Gunung Jaya has a height of 5,030 meters.
Forest
Most of the islands are covered with tropical rainforest. In the south of the area there are monsoon forests and savannas. The coasts consist largely of mangroves.
Climate
Melanesia is dominated by a tropical climate characterized by maritime influences. The region has an average temperature of 25 to 18 °C.
The other three regions into which the UN has divided the Oceania area are Australia and New Zealand, Micronesia and Polynesia.
Micronesia
Micronesia is one of the four major island groups in the Pacific Ocean that make up Oceania. The area is the northwestern part of Oceania.
The region is surrounded to the west by the Philippines, to the southwest by Indonesia, to the south by Papua New Guinea and Melanesia, and to the southeast and east by Polynesia.
The word Micronesia comes from the ancient Greek words μικρος (mikros = small) and νησος (nesos = island). This name refers to the small size of the islands.
Politically, Micronesia is divided into eight territories: Micronesia (the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands, Palau, the Northern Mariana Islands, Nauru, Kiribati, Guam, and Wake Island.
In the English name these are: Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau and Wake Island.
The Caroline Islands are administratively divided between Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia.
The Gilbert Islands are governed by Kiribati.
Atolls
Micronesia has countless atolls and is literally dotted with small coral islands and islands of volcanic origin.
The largest atoll in the world is Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Climate
The area of Micronesia has a tropical rainy climate with an average annual temperature of 27 to 29 °C.
The average annual precipitation is 2400 mm. Precipitation descends from west to east. Every year a large number of cyclones rage in the area.
Regions Oceania
The three other regions in Oceania are, according to the United Nations classification on statistical grounds, Australia and New Zealand, Polynesia and Melanesia.
Polynesia
Polynesia is one of the four regions in which the United Nations has statistically classified the continent of Oceania.
The area has a total land area of approximately 300,000 km2 and is the southernmost part of Oceania.
The name Polynesia (v. Greek polus = many and nesos = island) refers to the large number of islands in the area.
The region of Polynesia, spelled Polynesia in English, consists of American Samoa, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Niue, the Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and the Wallis and Futuna Islands.
In the region are the Hawaii Islands (American Territory), the Central Polynesian Sporades and the Phoenix Islands (both belonging to Kiribati), the Kermadec Islands and Tokelau (New Zealand Territory).
The Austral Islands or Tubuai Islands, Baker Island, Gambier Islands, Society Islands, Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu Islands, are parts of French Polynesia,
The Line Islands also include Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll and Jarvis, and the Phoenix Islands or Rawaki are part of Kiribati,
The Midway Islands, Samoa Islands (with Samoa and American Samoa), Tahiti.
Easter Island is a territory that belongs to the South American country of Chile.
Other regions in Oceania include Australia and New Zealand, Micronesia and Melanesia.
