THE Oceaniais a continent located in Southeast Asia, bordered by the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is the smallest among the continents, the most isolated and, therefore, the last to be discovered and conquered by the Europeans, being therefore called the “brand new world”.
Most of its land, about 94%, is territory of Australia, being the only portion of land of continental dimensions in that place. The other 6% is divided into thousands and thousands of islands. In total, there are 14 countries and 38 million inhabitants, spread over an area of 8,480,000 km².
Australia, in addition to being the largest country in territorial dimensions, is also the most economically and socially developed, having the third highest Human Development Index on the planet. Sydney is the largest, most populous and most developed city on the continent. For these reasons, many people call it the Australasia.
Sydney, the capital of Australia, host of the 2000 Olympic Games
The portion of islands that make up Oceania is regionalized in
Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. In literal translation, these names mean, respectively, “islands inhabited by blacks”, “small islands” and “many islands”. Look at the map below to check this division:
Oceania Regional Division
The continent is considered to have a recent geological formation, so that much of its relief is from volcanic origin and suffered to a lesser extent the actions of external agents of soil transformation and rocks. As it lies on the boundary between two tectonic plates, many regions have earthquake records.
As it is a group of islands, most animals in Oceania are endemic, that is, they only exist in this part of the world, and are therefore constantly threatened with extinction. Among them, we can highlight the Kangaroo and the Tasmanian Devil.
Most of the islands and places that are part of this continent are of great beauty, with truly exuberant landscapes. Not by chance, the main economic activity in most of these countries is tourism. Other important activities are fishing and agriculture.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
