Portal:Oceania

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The Oceania Portal

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Oceania (UK: /ˌoʊsiˈɑːniə, ˌoʊʃi-, -ˈeɪn-/, US: /ˌoʊʃiˈæniə/ (listen), /-ˈɑːn-/) is a geographical region that is described as a continent in some parts of the world. It includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of 8,525,989 square kilometres (3,291,903 sq mi) and a population of around 44.4 million as of 2022. Oceania is described as a geographical region in most of the English-speaking world, but outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is described as one of the continents. In this model of the world, Australia is only seen as an island nation contained inside of the continent of Oceania, and not a continent by itself. When compared to the other continents, 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 Second World War, mainly between Allied powers the United States, Philippines (a U.S. Commonwealth at the time) and Australia, and Axis power Japan. The rock art of Aboriginal Australians is the longest continuously practiced artistic tradition in the world. Most Oceanian countries are multi-party representative parliamentary democracies, with tourism being a large source of income for the Pacific Islands nations. (Full article...)

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Aitutaki, also traditionally known as Araʻura and Utataki, is the second most-populated island in the Cook Islands, after Rarotonga. It is an "almost atoll", with fifteen islets in a lagoon adjacent to the main island. Total land area is 18.05 km² (6.97 sq mi), and the lagoon has an area of between 50 and 74 km² (19 and 29 sq mi). A major tourist destination, Aitutaki is the second most visited island of the Cook Islands.

Aitutaki had a population of 1,712 in 2016. The main village is Arutanga (Arutunga) on the west side. (Full article...)

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Moai at Rano Raraku, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Oceanic art or Oceanian art comprises the creative works made by the native people of the Pacific Islands and Australia, including areas as far apart as Hawaii and Easter Island. Specifically it comprises the works of the two groups of people who settled the area, though during two different periods. They would in time however, come to interact and together reach even more remote islands. The area is often broken down into four separate regions: Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Australia. Australia, along with interior Melanesia (Papua), are populated by descendants of the first waves of human migrations into the region by Australo-Melanesians. Micronesia, Island Melanesia, and Polynesia, on the other hand, are descendants of later Austronesian voyagers who intermixed with native Australo-Melanesians; mostly via the Neolithic Lapita culture. All of the regions in later times would be greatly affected by western influence and colonization. In more recent times, the people of Oceania have found a greater appreciation of their region's artistic heritage.

The artistic creations of these people varies greatly throughout the cultures and regions. The subject matter typically carries themes of fertility or the supernatural. Art such as masks were used in religious ceremonies or social rituals. Petroglyphs, Tattooing, painting, wood carving, stone carving and textile work are other common art forms. Contemporary Pacific art is alive and well, encompassing traditional styles, symbols, and materials, but now imagined in a diversity of contemporary forms, revealing the complexity of geographic, cultural and individual interaction and history. (Full article...)

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... that Elvis Presley's concert Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite took place at midnight in Hawaii to match the prime time of its target audience in Asia and Oceania?

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

Image 1Melansesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Micronesia and Polynesia (from Melanesia)
Image 2Cook's Bay on Moorea, French Polynesia (from Polynesia)
Image 3Spinner dolphins (from Micronesia)
Image 4A pan flute from Solomon Islands, 19th century (from Melanesia)
Image 5A common fishing canoe va'a with outrigger in Savaiʻi island, Samoa, 2009 (from Polynesia)
Image 6Moai at Ahu Tongariki on Rapa Nui (from Polynesia)
Image 7A depiction of a royal heiau (Hawaiian temple) at Kealakekua Bay, c. 1816 (from Polynesia)
Image 8Beach scenery at Laura, Majuro, Marshall Islands (from Micronesia)
Image 9Canoe carving on Nanumea atoll, Tuvalu (from Polynesia)
Image 10Grinding stones discovered from archaeology in Samoa (from Polynesia)
Image 11The arrival of Abel Tasman in Tongatapu, 1643; drawing by Isaack Gilsemans (from Polynesia)
Image 12Map from 1961 of the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, formerly Japan's South Seas Mandate. (from Micronesia)
Image 13The Polynesian spread of colonization in the Pacific (from Polynesia)
Image 14New Caledonia (from Melanesia)
Image 15Cinder plain of Mount Yasur in Vanuatu (from Melanesia)
Image 16Manila Galleon in the Marianas and Carolinas, c. 1590 Boxer Codex (from Micronesia)
Image 17Regions of Oceania (from Australasia)
Image 18Köppen-Geiger climate classification map of Melanesia (from Melanesia)
Image 19Mount Marpi in Saipan. (from Micronesia)
Image 20Mokoliʻi Isle near Oahu, Hawaii (from Polynesia)
Image 21Map showing the migration and expansion of the Austronesians which began at about 3,000 BC from Taiwan. The Polynesian branch is shown in green. (from Polynesia)
Image 22Chamorro people in 1915 (from Micronesia)
Image 23German New Guinea before and after the German-Spanish treaty of 1899 (from Micronesia)
Image 24Subregions (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and Australasia), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of Oceania (from Melanesia)
Image 25Polynesians with outrigger canoes at Waikiki Beach, Oahu Island, early 20th century (from Polynesia)
Image 26Subregions (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and Australasia), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of Oceania (from Micronesia)
Image 27Micronesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Melanesia and Polynesia (from Micronesia)
Image 28Australia's concept of Australasia, which includes Australia, New Zealand and, in this case, Melanesia (from Australasia)
Image 29Sailors of Melanesia in the Pacific Ocean, 1846 (from Melanesia)
Image 30Polynesian (Hawaiian) navigators sailing multi-hulled canoe, c. 1781 (from Polynesia)
Image 31On February 14, 1779, Capt. James Cook was killed on the island of Hawaii (from Polynesia)
Image 32Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific (from Micronesia)
Image 33Languages of Micronesia. (from Micronesia)
Image 34Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Micronesia)
Image 35Image of the Castle Bravo nuclear test, detonated on 1 March 1954, at Bikini Atoll (from Micronesia)
Image 36Māori war canoe drawn after James Cook's voyage to New Zealand. (from Polynesia)
Image 37Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Melanesia)
Image 38Subregions (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and Australasia), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of Oceania (from Polynesia)
Image 39Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa from 1998 to 2021, who initiated the Polynesian Leaders Group in late 2011. (from Polynesia)
Image 40Aerial view of Solomon Islands. (from Melanesia)
Image 41A Melanesian child from Vanuatu (from Melanesia)
Image 42Mount Tavurvur in Papua New Guinea (from Melanesia)
Image 43Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Polynesia)
Image 44Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the Polynesian Triangle. (from Polynesia)
Image 45Kili Island is one of the smallest islands in the Marshall Islands. (from Micronesia)
Image 46A proportional representation of Micronesia exports, 2019 (from Micronesia)
Image 47Painting of Tahitian Women on the Beach by Paul Gauguin—Musée d'Orsay (from Polynesia)
Image 48King Kamehameha I receiving the Russian naval expedition of Otto von Kotzebue. Drawing by Louis Choris in 1816. (from Polynesia)
Image 49Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific (from Melanesia)
Image 50Melanesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Micronesia and Polynesia (from Polynesia)
Image 51Carving from the ridgepole of a Māori house, ca 1840 (from Polynesia)
Image 52An 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)