22 Facts About Oceania

1.

Oceania is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

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2.

When compared with the other continents, the region of Oceania is the smallest in land area and the second smallest in population after Antarctica.

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3.

Oceania was first explored by Europeans from the 16th century onward.

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4.

The broadest definition of Oceania encompasses the many islands between mainland Asia and the Americas; The island nation of Australia is the only piece of land in the area which is large enough to be considered a continent.

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5.

The term Oceania is used because, unlike the other continental groupings, it is the ocean that links the parts of the region together.

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6.

In some countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, China, Ecuador, France, Japan, Mexico, Spain or Venezuela, Oceania is regarded as a continent in the sense that it is "one of the parts of the world", and the concept of Australia as a continent is not used.

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7.

Alfred Russel Wallace believed in 1879 that Oceania extended to the Aleutian Islands, which are among the northernmost islands of the Pacific.

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8.

Oceania's stated that Oceania was divided up into three groups; Australasia, Malaysia and Polynesia .

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9.

Publication Missionary Review of the World claimed in 1895 that Oceania was divided up into five groups; Australasia, Malaysia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.

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10.

Brown categorized Japan and Taiwan as being in the same region of the world as the islands of Oceania, and excluded them from The Countries of the World: Volume 5, which focused on Asia.

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11.

Thomas Sebeok's two volume 1971 book Linguistics in Oceania defines Easter Island, the Galapagos Islands, the Juan Fernandez Islands, Costa Rica's Cocos Island and Colombia's Malpelo Island as making up a Spanish language segment of Oceania.

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12.

Ian Todd's 1974 book Island Realm: A Pacific Panorama defines oceanic islands administered by Latin American countries as making up a Spanish language segment of Oceania, while defining the oceanic Bonin Islands as making up a Japanese language segment of Oceania.

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13.

Oceania was first explored by Europeans from the 16th century onwards.

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14.

Oceania was the first known European explorer to reach these islands.

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15.

Oceania's expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline of Australia.

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16.

One of the first land offensives in Oceania was the Occupation of German Samoa in August 1914 by New Zealand forces.

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17.

Oceania is one of eight terrestrial biogeographic realms, which constitute the major ecological regions of the planet.

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18.

Pacific Plate, which makes up most of Oceania, is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean.

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19.

Highest recorded temperature in Oceania occurred in Oodnadatta, South Australia, where the temperature reached 50.

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20.

Oceania is elected by Parliament of Fiji after nomination by the Prime Minister or the Leader of the Opposition, for a three-year term.

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21.

Art of Oceania properly encompasses the artistic traditions of the people indigenous to Australia and the Pacific Islands.

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22.

Sculpture in Oceania first appears on New Guinea as a series of stone figures found throughout the island, but mostly in mountainous highlands.

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