The population and countries of Oceania briefly. Geography of Oceania: characteristics of the region, climate, animals, plants, population and countries
Island groups and archipelagos of the western and central parts Pacific Ocean united in a geographical area under the general name of Oceania. Historically, the division of all the islands into four ethnographic and geographical regions: Polynesia (Tonga, Samoa, Cook, Hawaiian, Easter Island, etc.), Melanesia (New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, etc. ), Micronesia (Marshall, Mariana Islands, etc.), New Zealand. Most of the islands of Oceania are concentrated in the equatorial belt between 10 ° S. sh. and 20° N. sh.
A great contribution to the study of the nature and population of Oceania was made by the Russian scientist N. N. Miklukho-Maclay. He studied the life of the peoples of the island of New Guinea, left descriptions of the nature of coastal areas. Scientific research N. N. Miklukho-Maclay were associated with his conviction of the need to protect the backward and oppressed peoples. At the very end of the XIX century. N. K. Sudzilovsky, our countryman, a native of the Mogilev province, lived and worked in the Hawaiian Islands.
Geological structure and relief of Oceania
Remember how the mainland, volcanic and coral islands were formed. The largest mainland islands in Oceania are New Guinea and New Zealand. Volcanism is a characteristic process of this region. The Hawaiian Islands are home to the Kilauea Volcano, one of the most active active volcanoes on Earth. Volcanic islands form giant island arcs. They have an elongated configuration. Oceania is replete with coral islands - reefs and atolls, which form entire archipelagos (Gilbert Islands, Tuamotu).
Climate of Oceania
The islands of Oceania are located mainly in the equatorial, subequatorial and tropical latitudes. Only the northern part of the Hawaiian archipelago enters the subtropics, and the southern part of New Zealand is located in the temperate zone. There are two climatic regions in Oceania: trade winds and monsoons. The climate of Oceania is characterized by small temperature fluctuations: from +30 °С during the day to +21 °С at night. Winds from the ocean moderate the heat. It is never too cold or too hot here, so the climate of Oceania is considered the most comfortable on the globe. The main direction of sea currents is from east to west. They contribute to the settlement of organisms.
Oceania is dominated by maritime air masses. In areas where monsoon circulation prevails, precipitation is 3000-4000 mm per year. In the Hawaiian Islands, on the windward slopes, more than 12,090 mm of precipitation falls annually. This is one of the wettest places on earth. The distribution of precipitation is associated with the presence of mountains. There are patches on the island of Hawaii where less than 200mm of rain falls annually.
Among the very dangerous and destructive natural phenomena tropical hurricanes are observed on the islands of Oceania. They destroy plantations, destroy dwellings, and sometimes the resulting waves wash away all life. The local population is wary of settling on the Cook Islands and Tuamotu, where hurricanes are often observed. The subtropical and temperate climate is typical for New Zealand, where in winter there are frosts down to -13 ° C, and snow lies in the mountains.
Flora and fauna of Oceania
The isolation of the island land was most strongly reflected in its flora and fauna. The diversity of the world of plants and animals depends on the age of the islands, their size and distance from the mainland. It is the poorest of all on the coral islands, where the deficit is fresh water and poor soils. Only a few dozen species of plants grow on them. On the islands of Oceania, mainly in Melanesia, the oldest plants, such as tree ferns, reaching 8-15 m in height, have been preserved. The flora of New Zealand is rich and original (pines, palms).
vegetable and animal world Oceania is distinguished by two features. Rare species that are not found on the mainland have been preserved here. At the same time, on many islands, entire groups of organisms common to the mainland are almost completely absent. Many types of flowering plants that are found on land are absent here, but spore plants are widespread. Ancient plants that grew on the mainland in the geological past (podocarpus, agathis (kauri), etc.) have been preserved on the islands.
The fauna of the islands is poor. There are no mammals on many islands, with the exception of rats, mice, goats and cats brought here. There are many seabirds: petrels, albatrosses, gulls that nest here and breed chicks. On the island of New Guinea, there is a weed chicken, a representative of the Australian fauna.
In New Zealand, the oldest flightless kiwi bird, very cautious, living in dense grasses, the Maori shepherd, has been preserved. The kiwi bird is featured on the coat of arms of New Zealand. In New Guinea and New Zealand, rare species of parrots are found - the kakapo, or owl, and the kea parrot with a strong, sharp and curved beak. The first turret lizard has been preserved on one of the islands of New Zealand.
Only 5-7 species of seabirds nest on some islands. At the same time, the number of bird species in New Guinea is more than 100, and the insect fauna of the Hawaiian Islands is rich (more than 3,700 species).
Minerals of Oceania
Mineral resources on the islands of Oceania are distributed extremely unevenly. The economy is carried out where there are valuable minerals. So, in New Caledonia there are up to 25% of the world's nickel reserves, on Christmas Island there are reserves of phosphates. Among the states of Oceania, Papua New Guinea stands out, where there are gold, copper, silver, oil and gas reserves have been explored.
Economic activity of Oceania
The population of Oceania is about 10 million people. There are several hypotheses about the ways of settling Oceania. Most scholars believe that Oceania was inhabited by people from South-East Asia many millennia ago. According to Thor Heyerdahl's hypothesis, people from America settled in Oceania.
The inhabitants of Oceania were skilled sailors and shipbuilders. They sailed thousands of kilometers from their native islands. Modern inhabitants of Oceania are engaged in agriculture, growing coconut palms, bananas, cocoa, coffee. The traditional trade is fishing. The nature and life of the people of Oceania are largely subject to natural catastrophic disasters (tropical hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanism).
On many islands of volcanic and continental origin, non-ferrous metal ores are mined, coal, develop deposits of phosphorites. Every year the states of Oceania become objects international tourism. The nature of the islands is changing under the influence of human activities. On the site of the destroyed natural vegetation, plantations have been set up where sugar cane, pineapples, bananas, tea, coffee, rubber and other crops are cultivated.
Political map of Oceania
Modern political map Oceania was formed as a result of the long struggle of the colonial powers for the division of the oceanic archipelagos among themselves. Until the beginning of the 60s. 20th century in Oceania there was one independent state - New Zealand. By the end of the twentieth century. more than 10 independent states were formed in Oceania. A number of islands and archipelagos remain in political and economic dependence on the developed countries of the world. Most of the archipelago of the Hawaiian Islands has been the 50th state of the United States since 1959.
The formation of the nature of Oceania is influenced by the Pacific Ocean, its remoteness from other continents, and its location in tropical latitudes. The basis of the economy of most countries in Oceania is agriculture. Mining is being done on many of the islands.
If you look closely at the map of the Pacific Ocean, you can see some feature of the location of the islands in the southern part of the ocean: the closer to the southwest, to Australia, the thicker the islands cover the ocean and the larger they are; the farther from Australia to the east and northeast, the smaller the islands and the wider they are scattered over the expanses of the ocean. Looking closer, we will notice other features in the location of the islands: most of them, and, in particular, large ones, are elongated in a certain direction, and chains of small islands stretch in the same direction, continuing each other. These lines form, as it were, wide concentric arcs, covering the Australian mainland from the east and approximately parallel to the mountain range that stretches along the eastern coast of this mainland. Three such concentric arcs can be outlined: the first, internal, is composed by the largest island - New Guinea (Irian), and New Caledonia and New Zealand serve as its continuation; the second arc is formed by the Bismarck archipelago, the Solomon Islands, the islands of Santa Cruz, Banks and New Hebrides; the third arc, external and less regular, is the Caroline, Marshall, Gilbert, Ellis, Fiji, Tonga and Kermadec Islands.
This arrangement of the islands is not accidental and is explained by the geological history of Oceania. These three concentric arcs of islands are probably the remains of mountain ranges an ancient continent that once occupied a much larger area than present-day Australia. The eastern, outer arc, perhaps, was the edge of this mainland. Most of the above islands are formed by rocks of continental origin.
Further to the east and northeast, the picture changes. We enter here into a real ocean expanse. Small islands, exclusively of volcanic or coral origin, do not show any connection with any mainland.
Volcanic islands - mostly high, mountainous. These are the Mariana Islands and Hawaii in the northern part of Oceania and Samoa G Tahiti, Marquesas and Tubuai in the southern part. They are rich in picturesque and diverse landscapes. The Hawaiian Islands have active volcanoes - Mauna Loa and Kilauea. The summit of the extinct volcano Mauna Kea (4212 m) is the highest point in all of eastern Oceania. The crater of the extinct volcano Mauna Halealakala (on the island of Maui) is considered the largest in the world: its circumference is 45 km.
Coral islands are low-lying, they barely rise above the surface of the water. These are the islands (part of those mentioned above) Marshall, Gilbert, Ellis, Phoenix, Tokelau, Tuamotu (Paumotu) and Cook. The Tonga and Caroline groups consist of islands of both categories. Among the coral islands there are ring-shaped atolls, with an inner shallow lagoon. These low-lying islands, devoid of trees, are not very picturesque, and sometimes present a dull look. The coral polyps that build these islands cannot live at great depths; therefore, it is suggested that the coral islands were also built on a volcanic pedestal, which gradually sank into the depths. Be that as it may, there are no traces of any ancient continent in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The islands of Oceania are grouped into archipelagos. Within each archipelago, the distances between the islands are not great and are usually measured in tens of kilometers. The distances between the archipelagos are much greater - on the order of hundreds and thousands of kilometers 1. Therefore, the conditions of human life on the islands of the same archipelago are for the most part homogeneous, the connection between them is rather close. The connection between the archipelagos is much weaker, and the conditions of life on them are different.
However, communication even between individual archipelagos and isolated islands is partly facilitated by constant sea currents. These currents, associated with the rotation of the earth, have a latitudinal direction - along the equator from east to west, north and south of it - in the opposite direction. Currents bring from island to island pieces and whole trunks of trees, fruits and seeds; there were cases when boats with their crew were carried by sea currents (or storms) to remote islands.
Climate
Almost all the islands of Oceania are located between the tropics, therefore, in a hot equatorial climate. Annual temperature fluctuations are very small - usually do not exceed 5 °. But there is no particularly great, depressing heat there, as the ocean moderates the temperature. Medium annual temperature ranges from + 23.5 ° (New Caledonia, Hawaiian Islands) to + 28 ° (Marshall Islands), the average temperature of the coldest month does not drop below + 20 °. Only New Zealand, located outside the tropical zone (34 - 47 ° S. latitude), has different climatic conditions. Here the climate is moderately warm, even cool, and the difference between winter and summer temperatures is already quite noticeable: in Christchurch on the South Island, the average January temperature (southern summer) is +16.2 °, the average July temperature (winter) is +5.5 ° , the difference is 10.7°. The high mountains of New Zealand are covered with eternal snow and glaciers.
Irrigation of the islands of Oceania is quite sufficient, even plentiful, although not everywhere the same. Particularly generous tropical rains fall over the western archipelagos - over 200 cm per year; the farther east, the fewer. The seasons are different - rainy and drier. There are no large rivers, except for a few rivers in New Guinea (Fly, Sepik) and New Zealand. Hot springs are wonderful on this last island.
On most of the islands, the climate is quite healthy and favorable for humans. Only in the western islands are the natural conditions worse. Here, especially in New Guinea, malaria and yellow fever are rampant. On other islands, endemic diseases include leprosy and elephantiasis.
Vegetation
Most of the islands of Oceania are covered with evergreen tropical vegetation, very rich and luxuriant in the western islands, especially in New Guinea, but the farther east, the more monotonous and sparse. Perhaps this is due to the fact that only a very small part of the vegetation of Oceania has survived from the time when, as it is assumed, there was a large continuous continent. Seeds and fruits of plants are carried by sea, wind and birds, and the vast majority of plant species are brought to the islands from outside. But it is much less likely that they would thus fall on the small islands of eastern Oceania, which are separated from one another by great distances.
In this sense, the distribution of palms is especially indicative: in Indonesia there are up to 200 species, in the Solomon Islands 18, and in Hawaii - only three species. The most important and widespread are: the coconut palm, found throughout Oceania, except for the southern part of New Zealand, and especially characteristic of the coral islands; rattan (palm-liana), which gives a flexible and durable material for crafts, growing in the western part of Oceania; the sago palm, which is particularly abundant in New Guinea, has the same area of distribution, as does the areca palm. Pandanus and breadfruit (Artocarpus) are found almost everywhere. It is difficult to list various types of evergreens: araucaria, rhododendrons, crotons, acacias, ficuses, bamboo and many others. In the coastal and marshy areas, in the strip flooded by the tide, coastal mangroves are characteristic. They play a big role cultivated plants brought by the man himself: banana (Musa), papaya (melon tree, carica papaya), root vegetables - yams (Dioscorea sativa), taro (Colocasia antiquorum) and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). One of the characteristic features of the flora of Oceania is its endemicity and "insularism": each group of islands has its own species that are not found anywhere else, and the number of such species reaches 30% of the total number of all local plants. Some of them are very archaic, they are like living fossils. flora preserved in original natural museums.
The typical landscape of the large western islands is virgin rainforest covering the mountain slopes and coastline, generated by the hot and humid climate. Giant trees rise to 40-60 m in height. Solid foliage, intertwining branches, climbing rattans and other creepers create eternal shade below. Trunks and branches are covered with epiphytes. It is damp and dark in this forest, and it is almost impossible to go through the forest without an axe. Many trees release dozens of aerial roots and, resting on the ground, hang in the air like giant spiders.
A completely different type of vegetation cover on the low-lying coral islands of eastern Oceania. Monotonous thickets of coconut palms and pandanus are modest groves. Among the coral islands there are completely devoid of trees and overgrown with only shrubs.
In New Zealand, the vegetation is somewhat special. Its general character is subtropical, but the farther south, the fewer tropical species: palm trees disappear, there are no bamboos. But there is a huge kauri pine, tree ferns; of herbs, New Zealand flax is characteristic ( Phormium tenax), giving good fibre.
Animal world
The animal world is distributed in Oceania similarly to the plant world: the farther west - the richer, the farther east - the poorer. The most diverse fauna of New Guinea, partly similar to the Australian. Here, in addition to the wild pig, there are egg-laying prochidna and marsupials: tree kangaroos, couscous (Phalangista), marsupial anteater, marsupial squirrel; from placentals - a bat dog and a huge carnivorous bat. Of the birds, parrots (cockatoos), birds of paradise (more than 50 species are known), and the New Guinean cassowary ostrich are especially characteristic. Numerous snakes, including poisonous ones. Many different insects, among them there are very large butterflies; the all-devouring ants and termites are a particular disaster.
On the Bismarck archipelago, the animal world is already poorer, and further to the east - even more. On small coral islands, mammals, apart from the dog and domestic pig imported by man, are represented only by rats and bats. Birds, of course, overcome water spaces and are found everywhere, but the farther east they are, the fewer. Even insects are scarce on coral islands, and therefore there are few flowering plants pollinated by insects.
The fauna of New Zealand is so peculiar that it stands out in a special zoogeographical area. The most characteristic of it are various flightless birds, for example, a wingless kiwi, an owl parrot, etc., and in the past, a giant moa, which reached a height of 4 meters; there are no snakes, crocodiles, turtles at all in New Zealand; of mammals there are only the same rats and bats.
Marine life is richer and more evenly distributed. In addition to various fish species, it should be noted the presence of marine mammals - dugongs, dolphins, sperm whales, in more southern waters - toothless whales; there are turtles and numerous molluscs, which play a major role in the economy of the population. The large marine worm palolo, which is eaten, is characteristic. In contrast to the terrestrial fauna, the marine life is richer just near the coral islands, in the shallows and in the lagoons.
Population of Oceania
Man inhabits the whole of Oceania, up to the extreme limits, to the most remote and small islands, and its division into regions with the exception of very few. The modern population of Oceania consists of two main elements: indigenous and alien. About the alien population - people from Europe, Asia and America who settled in Oceania over the past century and a half, it is said later. As for the indigenous population, the prescription of its habitation on the islands is measured in millennia. Through centuries of labor and cultural activity, man has influenced natural environment Oceania and changed it in many ways. Flora and fauna on many islands are partly man-made.
That is why the island world of Oceania is usually divided into regions not so much according to physical and geographical features, but according to the types of population and its culture. Oceania is usually divided into three main cultural and geographical areas: Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia (see map page 20).
Melanesia, covering the southwestern part of Oceania, is inhabited by dark-skinned Negroid peoples of the Papuan-Melanesian group, hence its name (Greek “myolas” - black, “nonosos” - island). It includes the islands: New Guinea with adjacent small islands, Admiralty, Bismarck, Solomon, Santa Cruz, Torres, Banks and New Hebrides, New Caledonia. The Fiji archipelago, inhabited by the Melanesians, constitutes a geographical and cultural transition to Polynesia. The population of Melanesia, anthropologically quite homogeneous, sharply splits in language into two groups: the Melanesians proper and the Papuans. The Papuans inhabit the extreme northwestern part of Melanesia, primarily the largest island, New Guinea, except for the coastline of its eastern half, and are also interspersed in small groups here and there on other islands: Papuan tribes and languages are known in New Britain, on the Solomon Islands . The rest of the space is occupied by the Melanesians proper. The difference between the languages of the Papuans and the Melanesians is very great. The Melanesian languages are closely related to the languages of the Polynesians and Micronesians, and are included with them in the large Malayo-Polynesian family of languages; the Papuan languages are completely independent and do not reveal kinship with any other languages of the world; Moreover, the Papuan languages differ greatly from each other. The third element of the population of Melanesia can be considered pygmy (small) tribes living somewhere in the depths of large islands, both among the Papuans and among the Melanesians; their relation to both has not yet been sufficiently elucidated.
The total number of the indigenous population of Melanesia in 1952 was about 2.5 million. Before the advent of Europeans, about 2.2 million people lived there, according to approximate estimates.
Polynesia occupies the much larger expanse of the Pacific Ocean, southeast, east, and northeast of Melanesia. The word itself means "many islands" (Greek "field" - many), and in fact there are a lot of these islands and they are very diverse. Southern Polynesia is made up of the large double island of New Zealand; western - the archipelagos of Tonga, Samoa and several small islands; central and eastern - Cook Islands, Tubuai, Tahiti, Tuamotu, Marquesas and several isolated islands, including the small Easter Island (Rapanui), which is the most distant to the east; northern Polynesia is made up of the Hawaiian (formerly called the Sandwich) Islands. Despite the enormous remoteness of the islands of Polynesia from one another (between Hawaii and New Zealand 7.5 thousand km, from Tonga to Easter Island 5.8 thousand km) and despite the variety of natural conditions, the population of Polynesia is relatively homogeneous in physical type , language and culture. In particular, the Polynesians are brought together by the language, which is almost the same on different islands. It is precisely this unity of the population that makes it necessary to attribute archipelagos so remote and different in natural conditions to one geographical area.
The indigenous population of Polynesia is now about 450 thousand. Before the advent of Europeans, about 1.1 million people lived here.
Micronesia (which means "small islands", from the Greek. "Mikros" - small) occupies the northwestern part of Oceania, closest to the coast of Asia. It consists of the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands (Ralik - Ratak), the Caroline Islands, with adjacent the islands of Palau (Pelau), and the Marianas (“Robbers”, according to the old name). The first two archipelagos belong to eastern, the rest to western Micronesia. The indigenous population of Micronesia is of mixed origin, with Polynesians, Melanesians and Indonesians probably among its ancestors. Indonesian elements are more visible in western Micronesia, and Polynesian in eastern Micronesia. However, despite these local differences, the culture of the Micronesians is fundamentally homogeneous, as are their languages.
Oceania is a part of the world that is a separate geopolitical region that consists of many islands and atolls located in the western and central Pacific Ocean.
Geographical position
The islands of Oceania are located between the temperate latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere and the subtropical latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Often in geography, Oceania is considered together with Australia.
There is even a geographical name - Australia and Oceania. The total area of Oceania is 1.24 million km 2. The population is 10.6 million people.
Oceania is divided into three geographical regions - Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. Oceania is washed by numerous seas - the Coral, Solomon, New Guinea, Tasman Seas, the Koro and Fiji Seas, which belong to the Pacific Ocean, as well as the Arafura Sea (Indian Ocean).
Climate of Oceania
Most of Oceania has a tropical climate. Most of the islands in Oceania are characterized by heavy rainfall. On the islands that are closer to the tropical zone, the average annual temperature is 23 ° C, on the islands near the equator - 27 ° C.
The climate of Oceania is also influenced by currents such as La Niña and El Niño. Most of the islands of Oceania are exposed to the negative effects of active volcanoes, tsunamis and typhoons.
This region is characterized by a sharp change in weather conditions - droughts are replaced by heavy rains.
Population of Oceania
The majority of the population of the islands of Oceania is represented by indigenous people, which include Micronesians, Polynesians, Papuans. Polynesians are mixed racial types - they show features of Caucasians and Mongoloids.
The largest peoples of the Polynesians are Hawaiians, Maori, Tongans, Tahitians. Each nationality has its own language, which is represented by an almost complete absence of consonants.
The racial type of the Melanesians is the Australoids. The linguistic fragmentation of the Melanesian tribes is very large - a frequent occurrence is that residents of neighboring villages cannot understand each other. The Papuans inhabit parts of Indonesia and New Guinea.
All Papuan languages are very similar to each other. They are based on English Therefore, often, even residents of remote regions speak English perfectly.
Economy
The vast majority of the states of Oceania have a very weak economy. The reasons for this are such factors as the remoteness of the islands from the developed superpowers, the limited natural resources, shortage of personnel.
Many countries are in complete economic dependence on Australia and the United States. The basis of the economy is agriculture. Among the most common crops are coconut palms, breadfruit, bananas. Some states have a fishing fleet.
Oceania is part of the world; a geographic, often geopolitical region of the world consisting predominantly of hundreds of small islands and atolls in the central and western Pacific Ocean.
Geographical position
Oceania is the world's largest cluster of islands located in the western and central parts of the Pacific Ocean, between the subtropical latitudes of the northern and temperate southern hemispheres. When all the land is divided into parts of the world, Oceania is usually combined with Australia into a single part of the world Australia and Oceania, although sometimes it is separated into an independent part of the world.
The total area of the islands is 1.26 million km² (together with Australia 8.52 million km²), the population is about 10.7 million people. (together with Australia 32.6 million people). Geographically, Oceania is subdivided into Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia; sometimes New Zealand is singled out.
The islands of Oceania are washed by numerous seas of the Pacific (Coral Sea, Tasman Sea, Fiji Sea, Koro Sea, Solomon Sea, New Guinea Sea, Philippine Sea) and Indian Oceans (Arafur Sea).
Countries and dependent territories
| Name of the region, countries |
Population |
Population density (person/km²) |
|||
| Australia | |||||
| Australia |
Canberra |
AUD (Australian Dollar) |
|||
| Ashmore and Cartier (Australia) |
uninhabited |
||||
| Cocos Islands (Australia) |
West Island |
AUD (Australian Dollar) |
|||
| Coral Sea Islands (Australia) |
uninhabited |
||||
| Norfolk (Australia) |
kingston |
AUD (Australian Dollar) |
|||
| Christmas Island (Australia) |
Flying Fish Cove |
AUD (Australian Dollar) |
|||
| Heard Island and McDonald Islands (Australia) |
uninhabited |
||||
| Melanesia | |||||
| Vanuatu |
Port Vila |
||||
| Irian Jaya (Indonesia) |
Jayapura, Manokwari |
||||
| New Caledonia (France) | |||||
| Papua New Guinea |
Port Moresby |
||||
| Solomon islands |
SBD (Solomon Islands Dollar) |
||||
| Fiji |
FJD (Fiji Dollar) |
||||
| micronesia | |||||
| Guam (USA) |
USD (US Dollar) |
||||
| Kiribati |
South Tarawa |
AUD (Australian Dollar) |
|||
| Marshall Islands |
USD (US Dollar) |
||||
| Nauru |
AUD (Australian Dollar) |
||||
| Palau |
Melekeok |
USD (US Dollar) |
|||
| Northern Mariana Islands (USA) |
USD (US Dollar) |
||||
| Wake (USA) | |||||
| Federated States of Micronesia |
USD (US Dollar) |
||||
| Polynesia | |||||
| American Samoa (USA) |
Pago Pago, Fagatogo |
USD (US Dollar) |
|||
| Baker (USA) |
uninhabited |
||||
| Hawaii (USA) |
Honolulu |
USD (US Dollar) |
|||
| Jarvis (USA) |
uninhabited |
||||
| Johnston (USA) | |||||
| Kingman (USA) |
uninhabited |
||||
| Kiribati |
South Tarawa |
AUD (Australian Dollar) |
|||
| Midway (USA) | |||||
| Niue (New Zealand) |
NZD (New Zealand Dollar) |
||||
| New Zealand |
Wellington |
NZD (New Zealand Dollar) |
|||
| Cook Islands (New Zealand) |
NZD (New Zealand Dollar) |
||||
|
Easter Island (Chile) |
Hanga Roa |
CLP (Chilean Pesso) |
|||
| Palmyra (USA) | |||||
| Pitcairn (UK) |
adamstown |
NZD (New Zealand Dollar) |
|||
| Samoa |
WST (Samoan tala) |
||||
| Tokelau (New Zealand) |
NZD (New Zealand Dollar) |
||||
| Tonga |
Nuku'alofa |
TOP (Tongan pa'anga) |
|||
| Tuvalu |
funafuti |
AUD (Australian Dollar) |
|||
| Wallis and Futuna (France) |
XPF (French Pacific Franc) |
||||
| French Polynesia (France) |
XPF (French Pacific Franc) |
||||
| Howland (USA) |
uninhabited |
Geology
From the point of view of geology, Oceania is not a continent: only Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, New Guinea and Tasmania are of continental origin, having formed on the site of the hypothetical continent Gondwana. In the past, these islands were a single land, but as a result of the rise in the level of the World Ocean, a significant part of the surface was under water. The relief of these islands is mountainous and strongly dissected. For example, the highest mountains of Oceania, including Mount Jaya (5029 m), are located on the island of New Guinea.
Most of the islands of Oceania are of volcanic origin: some of them are the tops of large underwater volcanoes, some of which still show high volcanic activity (for example, the Hawaiian Islands).
Other islands are of coral origin, being atolls that were formed as a result of the formation of coral structures around submerged volcanoes (for example, the Gilbert Islands, Tuamotu). Distinctive feature such islands are large lagoons, which are surrounded by numerous islets, or motu, the average height of which does not exceed three meters. In Oceania, there is an atoll with the largest lagoon in the world - Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands archipelago. Despite the fact that its land area is only 16.32 km² (or 6.3 sq. miles), the area of the lagoon is 2174 km² (or 839.3 sq. miles). The largest atoll in terms of land area is Christmas Island (or Kiritimati) in the Line archipelago (or Central Polynesian Sporades) - 322 km². However, among the atolls there is also a special type - an elevated (or elevated) atoll, which is a limestone plateau up to 50-60 m above sea level. This type of island has no lagoon or traces of its past existence. Examples of such atolls are Nauru, Niue, Banaba.
The relief and geological structure of the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in the Oceania region has a complex structure. From the Alaska Peninsula (which is part of North America) to New Zealand, there are a large number of basins of marginal seas, deep ocean trenches (Tonga, Kermadec, Bougainville), which form a geosynclinal belt characterized by active volcanism, seismicity and contrasting relief. 
There are no minerals on most of the islands of Oceania, only the largest of them are being developed: nickel (New Caledonia), oil and gas (New Guinea, New Zealand), copper (Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea), gold (New Guinea , Fiji), phosphates (on most of the islands, the deposits are almost or have already been developed, for example, in Nauru, on the islands of Banaba, Makatea). In the past, many of the region's islands were heavily mined for guano, the decomposed dung of seabirds, which was used as a nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer. On the ocean floor of the exclusive economic zone of a number of countries there are large accumulations of iron-manganese nodules, as well as cobalt, but at the moment no development is being carried out due to economic inexpediency.
Climate of Oceania
Oceania is located within several climatic zones: equatorial, subequatorial, tropical, subtropical, temperate. Most of the islands have a tropical climate. The subequatorial climate dominates on islands near Australia and Asia, as well as east of the 180th meridian in the equator zone, equatorial - west of the 180th meridian, subtropical - north and south of the tropics, temperate - in most of the South Island in New Zealand.
The climate of the islands of Oceania is determined mainly by the trade winds, so most of them experience heavy rainfall. The average annual rainfall varies from 1500 to 4000 mm, although on some islands (due to topographical features and on the lee side in particular) the climate can be drier or wetter. One of the wettest places on the planet is located in Oceania: on the eastern slope of Mount Waialeale on the island of Kauai, up to 11,430 mm of precipitation falls annually (the absolute maximum was reached in 1982: then 16,916 mm fell). Near the tropics, the average temperature is around 23°C, near the equator - 27°C, with little difference between the hottest and coldest months. 
The climate of the islands of Oceania is also greatly influenced by such anomalies as the El Niño and La Niña currents. During El Niño, the intertropical convergence zone moves northward towards the equator; during La Niña, it moves southward away from the equator. In the latter case, a severe drought is observed on the islands, in the first case, heavy rains.
Most of the islands of Oceania are subject to the destructive effects of natural disasters: volcanic eruptions (Hawaiian Islands, New Hebrides), earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones accompanied by typhoons and heavy rains, droughts. Many of them lead to significant material and human losses. For example, the tsunami in Papua New Guinea in July 1999 killed 2,200 people.
The South Island in New Zealand and the island of New Guinea have glaciers high in the mountains, but due to the process of global warming, their area is gradually shrinking.
Soils and hydrology
Due to the different climatic conditions, the soils of Oceania are very diverse. The soils of the atolls are highly alkaline, of coral origin, and very poor. They are usually porous, which is why they retain moisture very poorly, and also contain very few organic and mineral substances, with the exception of calcium, sodium and magnesium. The soils of volcanic islands, as a rule, are of volcanic origin and are highly fertile. On large mountainous islands, red-yellow, mountain lateritic, mountain-meadow, yellow-brown soils, yellow soils, and red soils are found. 
There are large rivers only on the South and North Islands of New Zealand, as well as on the island of New Guinea, on which the largest rivers of Oceania, the Sepik (1126 km) and Fly (1050 km), are located. The largest river in New Zealand is the Waikato (425 km). The rivers are predominantly fed by rain, although in New Zealand and New Guinea, rivers are also fed by water from melting glaciers and snow. On the atolls, there are no rivers at all due to the high porosity of the soils. Instead of this rainwater, seeping through the soil, forms a lens of slightly brackish water, which can be reached by digging a well. On larger islands (usually of volcanic origin) there are small streams of water that flow towards the ocean.
The largest number of lakes, including thermal ones, is located in New Zealand, where there are also geysers. On other islands of Oceania, lakes are a rarity.
Flora and fauna
Oceania is included in the Paleotropical region of vegetation, while three sub-regions are distinguished: Melanesian-Micronesian, Hawaiian and New Zealand. Among the most widespread plants of Oceania, the coconut palm and breadfruit stand out, which play important role in the lives of local residents: fruits are used for food, wood is a source of heat, building material, from the oily endosperm of coconut palm nuts, copra is produced, which is the main export of countries in this region. A large number of epiphytes (ferns, orchids) also grow on the islands. Largest number endemics (both representatives of flora and fauna) was registered in New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands, while from west to east there is a decrease in the number of species, genera and families of plants.
The fauna of Oceania also belongs to the Polynesian faunistic region with the subregion of the Hawaiian Islands. The fauna of New Zealand stands out in an independent region, New Guinea - in the Papuan subregion of the Australian region. New Zealand and New Guinea are the most diverse. On the small islands of Oceania, primarily atolls, mammals are almost never found: many of them are inhabited only by the small rat. But the local avifauna is very rich. Most of the atolls have bird markets where seabirds nest. Of the representatives of the fauna of New Zealand, the most famous are the kiwi birds, which have become the national symbol of the country. Other endemics of the country are kea (lat. Nestor notabilis, or nestor), kakapo (lat. Strigops habroptilus, or owl parrot), takahe (lat. Notoronis hochstelteri, or wingless sultan). All the islands of Oceania are inhabited by a large number of lizards, snakes and insects.
During the European colonization of the islands, alien species of plants and animals were introduced to many of them, which negatively affected the local flora and fauna.
The region has a large number of protected areas, many of which occupy large areas. For example, the Phoenix Islands in the Republic of Kiribati have been the world's largest marine reserve since January 28, 2008 (the area is 410,500 km²).
Population
The indigenous inhabitants of Oceania are Polynesians, Micronesians, Melanesians and Papuans.
Polynesians living in the countries of Polynesia are of a mixed racial type: in their appearance, features of the Caucasoid and Mongoloid races are visible, and to a lesser extent - Australoid. The largest peoples of Polynesia are Hawaiians, Samoans, Tahitians, Tongans, Maori, Marquesans, Rapanui and others. Native languages belong to the Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian family of languages: Hawaiian, Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, Maori, Marquesan, Rapanui and others. Specific traits Polynesian languages - a small number of sounds, especially consonants, an abundance of vowels.
Micronesians live in the countries of Micronesia. The largest peoples are Carolinians, Kiribati, Marshallese, Nauru, Chamorro and others. Native languages belong to the Micronesian group of the Austronesian family of languages: Kiribati, Caroline, Kusaie, Marshallese, Nauruan and others. The Palauan and Chamorro languages belong to the Western Malayo-Polynesian languages, while Jap forms a separate branch within the Oceanic languages, which includes the Micronesian languages.
Melanesians live in the countries of Melanesia. The racial type is Australoid, with a small Mongoloid element, close to the Papuans of New Guinea. Melanesians speak Melanesian languages, but their languages, unlike Micronesian and Polynesian, do not form a separate genetic group, and the linguistic fragmentation is very large, so that people from neighboring villages may not understand each other.
The Papuans inhabit the island of New Guinea and parts of Indonesia. In anthropological type, they are close to the Melanesians, but differ from them in language. Not all Papuan languages are related to each other. The national language of the Papuans in Papua New Guinea is Tok Pisin Creole in English based. According to various sources of peoples and languages, the Papuans number from 300 to 800. At the same time, there are difficulties in establishing the difference between a separate language and a dialect.
Many languages of Oceania are on the verge of extinction. In everyday life, they are increasingly being replaced by English and French.
The position of the indigenous population in the countries of Oceania is different. If, for example, in the Hawaiian Islands their share is very low, then in New Zealand the Maori make up to 15% of the country's population. The proportion of Polynesians in the Northern Mariana Islands, located in Micronesia, is about 21.3%. In Papua New Guinea, the majority of the population is made up of numerous Papuan peoples, although there is also a high proportion of people from other islands in the region.
In New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands, the majority of the population is European, the share of which is also high in New Caledonia (34%) and French Polynesia (12%). In the Fiji Islands, 38.2% of the population is represented by Indo-Fijians, descendants of Indian contract workers brought to the islands by the British in the 19th century.
AT recent times in the countries of Oceania, the proportion of immigrants from Asia (mainly Chinese and Filipinos) is increasing. For example, in the Northern Mariana Islands, the share of Filipinos is 26.2%, and the Chinese - 22.1%.
The population of Oceania is mainly Christian, adhering to either the Protestant or Catholic branches.
History of Oceania
Pre-colonial period
The island of New Guinea and the nearby islands of Melanesia were supposedly settled by people from Southeast Asia who sailed by canoe about 30-50 thousand years ago. About 2-4 thousand years ago, most of Micronesia and Polynesia were settled. The process of colonization ended around 1200 AD. By the beginning of the 16th century, the peoples of Oceania were going through a period of decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of an early class society. Crafts, agriculture, and navigation were actively developing.
colonial period
The ships of the English traveler James Cook and the canoes of the natives in Matawai Bay on the island of Tahiti (French Polynesia), artist William Hodges, 1776
In the period from the 16th to the 18th centuries, the period of exploration of Oceania by Europeans continued, which gradually began to populate the islands. However, the process of European colonization was very slow, since the region did not arouse much interest among foreigners due to the lack of natural resources, and negatively affected the local population: many diseases were introduced that had never been in Oceania, and this led to epidemics, in which resulted in the death of a significant part of the natives. At the same time, there was a Christianization of the inhabitants, who worshiped numerous deities and spirits.
In the XVIII-XIX centuries, the islands of Oceania were divided between the colonial powers, primarily the British Empire, Spain and France (later they were joined by the USA and the German Empire). Of particular interest to Europeans was the possibility of creating plantations on the islands (coconut palm for the production of copra, sugar cane), as well as the slave trade (the so-called "blackbird hunting", which involved recruiting islanders to work on plantations).
In 1907, New Zealand became a dominion, but it did not formally become a fully independent state until 1947. After World War I, the first political organizations("May" in Western Samoa, "Fiji Youth" in Fiji), who fought for the independence of the colonies. During the Second World War, Oceania was one of the theaters of war, where many battles took place (mainly between Japanese and American troops).
After the war, there were some improvements in the economy in the region, but in most colonies it was one-sided (the predominance of the plantation economy and the almost complete absence of industry). Since the 1960s, the process of decolonization began: in 1962, Western Samoa gained independence, in 1963 - West Irian, in 1968 - Nauru. Subsequently, most of the colonies became independent.
Post-colonial period
After gaining independence, most of the countries of Oceania retained serious economic, political and social problems which they are trying to solve thanks to the help of the world community (including the UN) and through regional cooperation. Despite the process of decolonization in the 20th century, some islands of the region still remain dependent to some extent: New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna from France, the Pitcairn Islands from Great Britain, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau from New Zealand, a number islands (all outer small islands except Navassa Island) from the USA.
Economy
Most countries in Oceania have a very weak economy, which is due to several reasons: limited natural resources, remoteness from world markets for products, and a shortage of highly qualified specialists. Many states depend on financial assistance from other countries.
The basis of the economy of most countries in Oceania is agriculture (the production of copra and palm oil) and fishing. Among the most important agricultural crops stand out the coconut palm, bananas, breadfruit. Possessing huge exclusive economic zones and not having a large fishing fleet, the governments of the countries of Oceania issue licenses for the right to catch fish to vessels of other states (mainly Japan, Taiwan, the USA), which significantly replenishes the state budget. The mining industry is most developed in Papua New Guinea, Nauru, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. 
A significant part of the population is employed in the public sector. Recently, measures have been taken to develop the tourism sector of the economy.
culture
The art of Oceania has developed a distinctive style that gives uniqueness to the local culture.
In the visual arts of the Polynesians, the main place belongs to woodcarving and sculpture. Maori carving has reached high level, they decorated boats, details of houses, carved statues of gods and ancestors, such a statue stands in every village. The main motif of the ornament is a spiral. Moai stone statues were created on Easter Island and the Marquesas Islands. Of the crafts, the most important was the construction of boats, as they allowed fishing and traveling long distances (in this regard, astronomy developed among the Polynesians). Among Polynesians wide use got a tattoo. Tapa, which was made from the bark of mulberry trees, served as clothing. In Polynesia, myths, legends, fairy tales, singing and dancing were developed. Writing, probably, was only on Easter Island (rongo-rongo), on other islands folklore was transmitted orally.
Singing and dancing are popular art forms among Micronesians. Each tribe has its own myths. In the life of the islanders, the main place was occupied by ships - boats. There were boats of different types: dibenil - sailing, valab - a large rowing boat. Megaliths are found on the Yap Islands. Of particular interest is Nan Madol, known as the "Micronesian Venice". This is a whole city on the water, in a lagoon on the island of Ponape. Stone structures are built on artificial islands.
Among the Melanesians, wood carving reached a special flowering. Unlike the Polynesians, the Melanesians were not so tied to the sea, they were more land dwellers. The main musical instrument is the drum, or tam-tom. Folklore, songs, dances, myths are widespread among the Papuans. The songs and dances are very simple. The singing is called mun, the melody varies very little. The cult of ancestors and skulls is of great importance. Papuans make korvara - images of ancestors. Well developed wood carving.
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Oceania is the name of the largest cluster of large and small islands on our planet in the western and central Pacific Ocean. The islands of Oceania occupy about 1.3 million square kilometers of the Earth's surface and there are almost 7 thousand of them, large and small.
Regions of the islands of Oceania
Traditionally, the islands of Oceania are divided by geographers, historians and ethnographers into three groups: Melanesia with the largest island of New Guinea, Micronesia, Polynesia with the second largest island of Oceania, New Zealand.
The region of the islands of Oceania Melanesia ("black island")
Melanesia is located in the west of Oceania and, in addition to New Guinea, it includes the Bismarck and Louisiade archipelagos, as well as the D "Anrtcastro Islands, the Santa Cruz Islands, the Solomon Islands, the New Herbid Islands, the New Caledonia Island, the Fiji Islands, Loyalty and several others .
The main part of the territory of Melanesia falls on the island of New Guinea. He owns 829 of the 969 thousand square kilometers occupied by this area of the islands of Oceania.
Region of the islands of Oceania Polynesia ("multi-island")
Polynesia stretched from the southwest to the east of Oceania. The largest islands of Polynesia are New Zealand, Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, Wallis, Tokelau, Horn, Cook, Tuvalu, Tubuai, Societies, the Marquesas Islands and Easter Island.
265 thousand square kilometers of the total area of Polynesia falls on New Zealand, 17 thousand on the Hawaiian Islands and 9 thousand on all the rest.
Ocean Islands Region of Micronesia ("small islands")
Micronesia is located in the northwest of Oceania. The total area of its islands is only 2.6 thousand square kilometers, but these tiny islands are scattered over an ocean area of \u200b\u200babout 14 million square kilometers.
The main island groups of Micronesia are the Marshall, Caroline and Mariana Islands, as well as the Gilbert Islands.
Islands of Oceania by type of origin
The islands of Oceania differ in their origin and on this basis they are usually divided into four types: volcanic, coral or atoll (biogenic), continental, and also geosynclinal.
Volcanic islands of Oceania
The volcanic islands of Oceania are the peaks of dormant or active underwater volcanoes. Among them there are islands ranging from ten square kilometers to several thousand and they are the main type of islands in Oceania.
The most famous of the volcanic islands are the Hawaiian Islands, Easter Island, Tahiti and Samoa.
Coral islands of Oceania (biogenic)
Entire colonies of small marine animals - corals - usually settle in the oceanic shallow water. For centuries, when corals die, their skeletons cover the bottom of the ocean, are pressed and form a rock. Over time, coral reefs and entire islands appear above the surface of the water, and if coral deposits occurred along the contour of the mouth of an underwater volcano, then atolls appear - coral islands with a lagoon in the center.
There are hundreds of coral islands (atolls) in Oceania, both single and forming entire archipelagos. These are the Caroline, Mariana, Marshall Islands, as well as the Gilbert and Tuamotu Islands. The largest atoll in Oceania is Kwajalein. The area of its territory is 2.3 thousand square kilometers (including the area of the lagoon) and it belongs to the Marshall Islands archipelago.
Mainland islands of Oceania
The mainland islands of Oceania were once part of the mainland and became islands as a result of the movement of the earth's crust. So New Guinea is separated from mainland Australia only by a strait, the bottom of which until recently was land, and New Zealand is part of a huge mainland that once existed, which included both Australia and Antarctica.
The mainland islands of Oceania account for 90% of its territory. They have lowlands, and mountain systems, and extended mountain plateaus.
