Oceania

is one of the most diverse and fascinating areas on the planet.
A large percentage of geography experts now consider the long-established continent of Australia to be more accurately defined as Australia/Oceania.

Collectively it then combines all of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, as well as the thousands of coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific Ocean, including  Melanesia and Polynesia. Oceania also includes Micronesia, a widely scattered group of islands that run along the northern and southern edges of the Equator. Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia are not countries they are groups of regions.

The main usage of the term Oceania is to describe a macro-geographical region that lies between Asia and the Americas, with the Australian continent as the major landmass and consisting of some 10,000 islands in the Pacific. The name Oceania is used because it is the ocean and adjacent seas ( Indian, Pacific, Tasman, Timor, Coral, Philipine) rather than a continent that link the lands together

Melanesia includes the independent countries of Fiji and Vanuatu, as well as the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.

Micronesia islands are all part of the same volcanic zone, and include the Marshall Islands, the nations of Micronesia (FSM), Palau, Kiribati and Nauru. In addition, it includes Guam, Saipan, the Northern Mariana Islands, as well as Wake Island.

Polynesia contains numerous island groups, including all of French Polynesia and the Austral, Gambier, Marquesas, Society and Tuamoto islands. In addition, the Cook Islands, Easter Island, Niue, the Pitcairn Islands, Tuvalu, and Wallis and Futuna.

Controversies in Intrepretation

Hawaii is generally included in Oceania, even though it is now politically a part of the United States. Although the Hawaiian Islands are some distance from most of the islands of Oceania, they are still physically as well as culturally much closer to the rest of Oceania than to North America (for example the Hawaiian language is a member of the Oceanic language family) - and they are no further from the rest of Oceania than from United States territories in the North Pacific.

Countries and Territories of Oceania

Australia - Australia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Norfolk Island

Melanesia - Fiji · New Caledonia · Papua New Guinea · Solomon Islands · Vanuatu

Micronesia - Federated States of Micronesia · Guam · Kiribati · Marshall Islands · Nauru · Northern Mariana Islands · Palau

Polynesia - American Samoa · Cook Islands · French Polynesia · New Zealand · Niue · Pitcairn · Samoa · Tokelau · Tonga · Tuvalu · Wallis and Futuna