Portal:Oceania

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The Oceania Portal

An orthographic projection of Oceania

Oceania (UK: /ˌoʊsiˈɑːniə, ˌoʊʃi-, -ˈeɪn-/ OH-s(h)ee-AH-nee-ə, -⁠AY-, US: /ˌoʊʃiˈæniə, -ˈɑːn-/ ^ⓘ OH-shee-A(H)N-ee-ə) is a geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Australia is regarded as an island or a continental landmass within that continent. Spanning the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, at the centre of the water hemisphere, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of about 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi) and a population of around 44.4 million as of 2022. Oceania is the smallest continent 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. The largest and most populous country in Oceania is Australia, and the largest city is Sydney. Puncak Jaya in Indonesia is the highest peak in Oceania at 4,884 m (16,024 ft).

The rock art of Aboriginal Australians is the longest continuously practiced artistic tradition in the world. Most Oceanian countries are parliamentary democracies, with tourism being a large source of income for the Pacific island nations. (Full article...)

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East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-western half, and the minor islands of Atauro and Jaco. The western half of the island of Timor is administered by Indonesia. Australia is the country's southern neighbour, separated by the Timor Sea. The country's size is 14,950 square kilometres (5,770 sq mi). Dili, on the north coast of Timor, is its capital and largest city.

Timor was settled by Papuan and Austronesian peoples, which are reflected in the country's diverse mix of cultures and languages reflecting links to Southeast Asia and Melanesia. East Timor came under Portuguese influence in the sixteenth century, remaining a Portuguese colony until 1975. Internal conflict preceded a unilateral declaration of independence and an Indonesian invasion and annexation. Resistance continued throughout Indonesian rule and in 1999, a United Nations–sponsored act of self-determination led to Indonesia relinquishing control of the territory. On 20 May 2002, as Timor-Leste, it became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century. That same year, relations with Indonesia were established and normalized, with Indonesia also supporting East Timor's accession into ASEAN. (Full article...)

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Fiji ethnic map (2017 census) red is for Indo-Fijian

Indo-Fijians (Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी के हिंदुस्तानी), also known as Indian Fijians (also colloquially known as "Findians" or "Findus"), are Fijian citizens of South Asian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent. Although Indo-Fijians constituted a majority of Fiji's population from 1956 through the late 1980s, discrimination and the resulting brain drain resulted in them numbering 313,798 (37.6%) (2007 census) out of a total of 827,900 people living in Fiji as of 2007^[update].

Although they hailed from various regions in the subcontinent, the vast majority of Indo-Fijians trace their origins to the Awadh and Bhojpur regions of the Hindi Belt in northern India. Indians in Fiji speak Fiji Hindi also known as ‘Fiji Baat’ which is based on the Awadhi dialect with major influence from Bhojpuri. It is a koiné language with its own grammatical features, distinct to the Modern Standard Hindi spoken in India. The major home districts of Fiji's North Indian labourers were Basti, Gonda, Lucknow, Kanpur, Faizabad, Ballia, Ghazipur, Gorakhpur, Sultanpur, Siwan, Shahabad, Saran, and Azamgarh, in the present-day Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh and the present-day Bhojpur region of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. Others (in a smaller quantity) originated in the Telugu regions. A small contingent of indentured labourers came from Afghanistan and Nepal. A small amount of free immigrants also came from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Punjab. Many of the Muslim Indo-Fijians also came from Sindh and various other parts of South Asia. Fiji's British colonial rulers brought South Asian people to the Colony of Fiji as indentured labourers between 1879 and 1916 to work on Fiji's sugar-cane plantations. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Aerial view of Solomon Islands (from Melanesia)
Image 2Languages of Micronesia. (from Micronesia)
Image 3Manila Galleon in the Marianas and Carolinas, c. 1590 Boxer Codex (from Micronesia)
Image 4Painting of Tahitian Women on the Beach by Paul Gauguin—Musée d'Orsay (from Polynesia)
Image 5Beach scenery at Laura, Majuro, Marshall Islands (from Micronesia)
Image 6Micronesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Melanesia and Polynesia. (from Micronesia)
Image 7Kili Island is one of the smallest islands in the Marshall Islands. (from Micronesia)
Image 8Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Polynesia)
Image 9Map showing the migration and expansion of the Austronesians which began at about 3000 BC from Taiwan. The Polynesian branch is shown in green. (from Polynesia)
Image 10Mount Marpi in Saipan. (from Micronesia)
Image 11German New Guinea before and after the German-Spanish treaty of 1899 (from Micronesia)
Image 12A pan flute from Solomon Islands, 19th century (from Melanesia)
Image 13Cinder plain of Mount Yasur in Vanuatu (from Melanesia)
Image 14Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific (from Melanesia)
Image 15On February 14, 1779, Capt. James Cook was killed on the island of Hawaii (from Polynesia)
Image 16Canoe carving on Nanumea atoll, Tuvalu (from Polynesia)
Image 17Grinding stones discovered from archaeology in Samoa (from Polynesia)
Image 18Sailors of Melanesia in the Pacific Ocean, 1846 (from Melanesia)
Image 19Subregions (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Australasia), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of Oceania (from Polynesia)
Image 20Image of the Castle Bravo nuclear test, detonated on 1 March 1954, at Bikini Atoll (from Micronesia)
Image 21Polynesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Melanesia and Micronesia. (from Polynesia)
Image 22Carving from the ridgepole of a Māori house, ca 1840 (from Polynesia)
Image 23German trading station at Jaluit Atoll with a Marshallese korkor outrigger canoe in the foreground (from Micronesia)
Image 24Australia's concept of Australasia, which includes Australia, New Zealand and, in this case, Melanesia (from Australasia)
Image 25Māori war canoe drawn after James Cook's voyage to New Zealand. (from Polynesia)
Image 26Subregions (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and Australasia), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of Oceania (from Micronesia)
Image 27Spinner dolphins (from Micronesia)
Image 28Mokoliʻi Isle near Oahu, Hawaii (from Polynesia)
Image 29An 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)
Image 30New Caledonia (from Melanesia)
Image 31Polynesian (Hawaiian) navigators sailing multi-hulled canoe, c. 1781 (from Polynesia)
Image 32A Melanesian child from Vanuatu (from Melanesia)
Image 33The Polynesian spread of colonization in the Pacific (from Polynesia)
Image 34The arrival of Abel Tasman in Tongatapu, 1643; drawing by Isaack Gilsemans (from Polynesia)
Image 35Map of Melanesia, showing its location within Oceania (from Melanesia)
Image 36Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Micronesia)
Image 37Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa from 1998 to 2021, who initiated the Polynesian Leaders Group in late 2011. (from Polynesia)
Image 38Melanesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Micronesia and Polynesia. (from Melanesia)
Image 39Moai at Ahu Tongariki on Rapa Nui (from Polynesia)
Image 40Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific (from Micronesia)
Image 41Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the Polynesian Triangle. (from Polynesia)
Image 42Map from 1961 of the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, formerly Japan's South Seas Mandate. (from Micronesia)
Image 43A depiction of a royal heiau (Hawaiian temple) at Kealakekua Bay, c. 1816 (from Polynesia)
Image 44Polynesians with outrigger canoes at Waikiki Beach, Oahu Island, early 20th century (from Polynesia)
Image 45Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Melanesia)
Image 46Tarawa Atoll (from Micronesia)
Image 47King Kamehameha I receiving the Russian naval expedition of Otto von Kotzebue. Drawing by Louis Choris in 1816. (from Polynesia)
Image 48A common fishing canoe va'a with outrigger in Savaiʻi island, Samoa, 2009 (from Polynesia)
Image 49Cook's Bay on Moorea, French Polynesia (from Polynesia)
Image 50Köppen-Geiger climate classification map of Melanesia (from Melanesia)
Image 51Chamorro people in 1915 (from Micronesia)