Oceania Oceania

Oceania Oceania •The Pacific Islands or Oceania contains more than The Pacific Islands or Oceania contains more than 25,000 islands and islets of 25 nations and territories 25,000 islands and islets of 25 nations and territories across the Pacific Islandsacross the Pacific Islands•Although the Pacific Islands are scattered across Although the Pacific Islands are scattered across millions of square kilometers, their total land area is just millions of square kilometers, their total land area is just 1,261,456 sq km (487,051 sq mi)1,261,456 sq km (487,051 sq mi)

• - slightly larger than South Africa, slightly smaller than Peru, and four-fifths the size of Alaska.

Oceania Continued Oceania Continued

• The islands of New Guinea, New Zealand, and Hawaii cover 93 percent of the land area– The remaining thousands of islands cover34,494 sq

mi– Less than the American state of Indiana.

• New Guinea, and the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya is the second largest island in the world– 1st is Greenland

• New Zealand’s South Island and North Island, Oceania’s next largest islands, are the world’s 12th and 14th largest islands, respectively.

Melanesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia Polynesia

• The Pacific Islands are usually divided into three sub regions:

• 1.Melanesia (the prefix mela, meaning dark or black, refers to the dark complexion of many Melanesian people)

• 2.Micronesia (the prefix micro, meaning small, refers to the small size of Micronesia’s islands and atolls)

• 3.Polynesia (the prefix poly, meaning many, refers to the many islands of Polynesia).

MelanesiaMelanesia

• Melanesia stretches in a 5600-km (3500-mi) arc off the northern and eastern coast of Australia.

• From northwest to southeast, Melanesia includes:• 1. New Guinea, lying just north of Australia; • 2.The Bismarck Archipelago, belonging to Papua New

Guinea • 3.Smaller archipelagos of Papua New Guinea • 4.The Solomon Islands • 5. The many islands of the nation Vanuatu • 6.The Fiji Islands (an island nation commonly known as

Fiji).

Micronesia Micronesia • Micronesia has five main island groups. • 1.The Caroline Islands lie north of the equator from New

Guinea and belong mostly to the Federated States of Micronesia, a self-governing country in free association with the United States.

• 2.The Mariana Islands, which make up the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a self-governing U.S. commonwealth

• 3. Guam, an unincorporated U.S. territory. • 4.The Marshall Islands, an island group and republic in

free association with the United States.• 5. The nation of Kiribati, which straddles the equator. The

tiny nation of Nauru, a single island west of Kiribati, is also counted as part of Micronesia.

PolynesiaPolynesia

• Polynesia is larger than both Melanesia and Micronesia combined.

• The southwestern tip of the Polynesian triangle is the nation of New Zealand, lying southeast of Australia and far south of the tropic of Capricorn.

• The southeastern tip is Easter Island, part of Chile lying just south of the tropic of Capricorn three-fourths of the distance from Australia to South America.

• The triangle’s northwestern tip is Hawaii, straddling the tropic of Cancer halfway between North America and Asia.

• These three tips, however, are outliers: Most of Polynesia is clustered just east of Melanesia south of the equator.

• Farther east lie the five archipelagos of the French territory French Polynesia

What about Australia? What about Australia?

• Oceania is sometimes defined to include Australia, but because of Australia’s continental size and its distinct geography, climate, and cultures it is more often considered a separate region of the world.

• Similarly, the Philippine, Indonesian, and Japanese archipelagos, which border Melanesia and Micronesia, bear a greater resemblance to the rest of Asia than the Pacific Islands do.

• We will study these areas as part of this unit but keep in mind they are considered separate geographically

The Natural Environment of The Natural Environment of Oceania Oceania

• The islands of the Pacific are often classified according to their altitudes as high or low islands.

• High islands are further classified as either – 1.continental– 2. oceanic.

• The continental high islands were once part of the eastern edge of the Australian and Asian continents and are composed of metamorphic rocks

• Continental islands include New Guinea and most islands of Melanesia, which together account for more than three-fourths of Oceania’s land area.

Oceanic High landsOceanic High lands• The oceanic high islands, sometimes called volcanic

islands, are divided from the continental high islands• The oceanic islands are composed of volcanic

materials. (similar to sea floor spreading)• The islands, then, are merely the tops of undersea

mountains. • Typically, the mountains (and islands) extend in

curving chains. • These high oceanic islands are common in Polynesia

and Micronesia. • The island of Hawaii, contains the peaks Mauna Loa

and Mauna Kea, which are considered the world’s largest mountains

Low IslandsLow Islands

• Like the high islands, low islands are also further classified into two subgroups:

• 1.eroded volcanic islands • 2. Atolls. • The eroded volcanic islands are much like the

oceanic, or volcanic, high islands, only they have been eroded to such a point that they are barely above sea level.

• Examples of these islands include the smaller, lower islands of Hawaii.

Atolls Atolls

• Atolls are a series of islands that form a rough ring enclosing a central body of water called a lagoon.

• The various islets of the ring are called motus and are separated by sea channels that lead into the lagoon.

• An atoll is continually built upward from an underlying coral reef, itself formed from the skeleton of a tiny, lime-secreting animal called a polyp.

• Typically, some parts of an atoll are above sea level while other parts remain below.

ClimateClimate• Most of Oceania has a humid subtropical• These areas have a similar climates• Temperatures typically average close to 27° C (80° F)

most of the year. • In the area from about 30° north of the equator to

about 30° south of the equator, the westward-moving trade winds prevail.

• These steady winds carried the sailing vessels of European traders

• Where the northern and southern trade winds meet near the equator they cancel each other out, creating the doldrums, a region of little or no wind more formally called the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).

Soils and Vegetation Soils and Vegetation • The vegetation of the Pacific Islands varies by island

type. The continental islands have vegetation typical of tropical climates: – 1.Mangrove forests rim the island. – 2.The interior is typically rain forest or monsoon forest.

• Higher elevations have temperate forests, including pine trees.

• Some areas of continental islands have fertile soil• Soils on coral atolls are thin, sandy, and much less

fertile. • Vegetation consists of shrubs, small trees, grasses, and

the very common coconut palm. • However, on low islands that receive heavier rainfall,

some forests exist.

The People of the Pacific IslandsThe People of the Pacific Islands

• Many different ethnic groups make up the people of the Pacific Islands– Reflects various migrants to the area over several

thousand years. • These peoples can be traced to Southeast Asia;

Europeans and Americans; Chinese; and Indians, found mostly in Fiji.

• More recent immigrants include Vietnamese to New Caledonia and Vanuatu, and Filipinos to Micronesia

PopulationPopulation

• The entire Pop of Oceania is 35.7 Million, but Australia is over 22 million

• Oceania – Australia is 13.6 Million people

• Papua New Guinea is the most populated of the Island Nations (5.1 million)– Coral sea Island (4) and Wake Islands (12)

are both small and have a tiny population