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Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically , physiogeographically , philologically , and ecologically , where the term ...
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. [N 5] It has a total area of 7,688,287 km 2 (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania.
The boundaries of Oceania are defined in a number of ways. Most definitions include parts of Australasia such as Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea, and parts of Maritime Southeast Asia. [5] [6] [7] Ethnologically, the islands of Oceania are divided into the subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. [8]
Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands.The island is volcanic, with an area of 67.39 km 2 (26.02 sq mi), and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 10,898 of a total population of 15,040.
Pages in category "Australasia" The following 32 pages are in this category, out of 32 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. ...
From an ecological perspective the Australasian realm is a distinct region, parts of which have a common geologic and evolutionary history. The entire area has experienced a long period of biological isolation from other regions, and thus harbors a great many unique plants and animals.
Oceania with its sovereign and dependent islands within the subregions Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and Australasia. The United Nations geoscheme subdivides the region into Australia and New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.
In his 1879 book Australasia, British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace commented that, "Oceania is the word often used by continental geographers to describe the great world of islands we are now entering upon" and that "Australia forms its central and most important feature."