Portal:Oceania

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Oceania Portal

An orthographic projection of Oceania

Oceania (UK: /ˌoʊsiˈɑːniə, ˌoʊʃi-, -ˈeɪn-/ OH-s(h)ee-AH-nee-ə, -⁠AY-, US: /ˌoʊʃiˈæniə, -ˈɑːn-/ ^ⓘ 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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected geographic article - show another

Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge

Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Blue Mountains in the west, and about 80 km (50 mi) from the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and the Hawkesbury River in the north and north-west, to the Royal National Park and Macarthur in the south and south-west. Greater Sydney consists of 658 suburbs, spread across 33 local government areas. Residents of the city are colloquially known as "Sydneysiders". The estimated population in June 2023 was 5,450,496, which is about 66% of the state's population. The city's nicknames include the "Emerald City" and the "Harbour City".

Aboriginal Australians have inhabited the Greater Sydney region for at least 30,000 years, and their engravings and cultural sites are common. The traditional custodians of the land on which modern Sydney stands are the clans of the Darug, Dharawal and Eora peoples. During his first Pacific voyage in 1770, James Cook charted the eastern coast of Australia, making landfall at Botany Bay. In 1788, the First Fleet of convicts, led by Arthur Phillip, founded Sydney as a British penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. After World War II, Sydney experienced mass migration and by 2021 over 40 per cent of the population was born overseas. Foreign countries of birth with the greatest representation are mainland China, India, the United Kingdom, Vietnam and the Philippines. (Full article...)

List of geographic articles

edit

Related portals

Selected article - show another

Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oceania (Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia) or any other island located in the Pacific Ocean.

Melanesians include the Fijians (Fiji), Kanaks (New Caledonia), Ni-Vanuatu (Vanuatu), Papua New Guineans (Papua New Guinea), Solomon Islanders (Solomon Islands), West Papuans (Indonesia's West Papua) and Moluccans (Indonesia’s Maluku Islands). (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Did you know - load new batch

... that Michaela Foster, a New Zealand footballer playing in the 2023 World Cup, is known for her mana?

General images - load new batch

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

Image 1Aerial view of Solomon Islands (from Melanesia)
Image 2Image of the Castle Bravo nuclear test, detonated on 1 March 1954, at Bikini Atoll (from Micronesia)
Image 3Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Melanesia)
Image 4Moai at Ahu Tongariki on Rapa Nui (from Polynesia)
Image 5Painting of Tahitian Women on the Beach by Paul Gauguin—Musée d'Orsay (from Polynesia)
Image 6The Polynesian spread of colonization in the Pacific (from Polynesia)
Image 7Subregions (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and Australasia), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of Oceania (from Micronesia)
Image 8Languages of Micronesia. (from Micronesia)
Image 9Chamorro people in 1915 (from Micronesia)
Image 10Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Polynesia)
Image 11Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific (from Micronesia)
Image 12Mount Tavurvur in Papua New Guinea (from Melanesia)
Image 13Spinner dolphins (from Micronesia)
Image 14Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the Polynesian Triangle. (from Polynesia)
Image 15Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Micronesia)
Image 16German New Guinea before and after the German-Spanish treaty of 1899 (from Micronesia)
Image 17A pan flute from Solomon Islands, 19th century (from Melanesia)
Image 18Manila Galleon in the Marianas and Carolinas, c. 1590 Boxer Codex (from Micronesia)
Image 19Köppen-Geiger climate classification map of Melanesia (from Melanesia)
Image 20A common fishing canoe va'a with outrigger in Savaiʻi island, Samoa, 2009 (from Polynesia)
Image 21King Kamehameha I receiving the Russian naval expedition of Otto von Kotzebue. Drawing by Louis Choris in 1816. (from Polynesia)
Image 22A depiction of a royal heiau (Hawaiian temple) at Kealakekua Bay, c. 1816 (from Polynesia)
Image 23On February 14, 1779, Capt. James Cook was killed on the island of Hawaii (from Polynesia)
Image 24Canoe carving on Nanumea atoll, Tuvalu (from Polynesia)
Image 25A Melanesian child from Vanuatu (from Melanesia)
Image 26Polynesian (Hawaiian) navigators sailing multi-hulled canoe, c. 1781 (from Polynesia)
Image 27Cinder plain of Mount Yasur in Vanuatu (from Melanesia)
Image 28German trading station at Jaluit Atoll with a Marshallese korkor outrigger canoe in the foreground (from Micronesia)
Image 29Mount Marpi in Saipan. (from Micronesia)
Image 30Polynesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Melanesia and Micronesia. (from Polynesia)
Image 31Sailors of Melanesia in the Pacific Ocean, 1846 (from Melanesia)
Image 32Cook's Bay on Moorea, French Polynesia (from Polynesia)
Image 33Mokoliʻi Isle near Oahu, Hawaii (from Polynesia)
Image 34Subregions (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Australasia), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of Oceania (from Polynesia)
Image 35The arrival of Abel Tasman in Tongatapu, 1643; drawing by Isaack Gilsemans (from Polynesia)
Image 36Kili Island is one of the smallest islands in the Marshall Islands. (from Micronesia)
Image 37Polynesians with outrigger canoes at Waikiki Beach, Oahu Island, early 20th century (from Polynesia)
Image 38Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific (from Melanesia)
Image 39New Caledonia (from Melanesia)
Image 40Carving from the ridgepole of a Māori house, ca 1840 (from Polynesia)
Image 41Tarawa Atoll (from Micronesia)
Image 42Map of Melanesia, showing its location within Oceania (from Melanesia)
Image 43An 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 44Map 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 45Australia's concept of Australasia, which includes Australia, New Zealand and, in this case, Melanesia (from Australasia)
Image 46Melanesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Micronesia and Polynesia. (from Melanesia)
Image 47Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa from 1998 to 2021, who initiated the Polynesian Leaders Group in late 2011. (from Polynesia)
Image 48Beach scenery at Laura, Majuro, Marshall Islands (from Micronesia)
Image 49Map from 1961 of the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, formerly Japan's South Seas Mandate. (from Micronesia)
Image 50Māori war canoe drawn after James Cook's voyage to New Zealand. (from Polynesia)
Image 51Grinding stones discovered from archaeology in Samoa (from Polynesia)
Image 52Micronesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Melanesia and Polynesia. (from Micronesia)