Although they likely migrated to Australia through Southeast Asia they are not demonstrably related to any known Asian or Polynesian population. They are believed to be among the earliest human migrations out of Africa. Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands who migrated from Africa to Asia around 70,000 years ago and arrived in Australia around 50,000 years ago. History ДЄ 19th-century engraving of an Aboriginal Australian encampment Some geographers group the Australian continental plate with other islands in the Pacific into one 'quasi-continent' called Oceania. In some countries, such as Brazil, Oceania is regarded as a continent in the sense of 'one of the parts of the world', and the concept of Australia as a continent does not exist.

In the UN's geopolitical conception used by the International Olympic Committee, and by many atlases, Oceania includes Australia and the nations of the Pacific from Papua New Guinea east, but not Indonesian New Guinea.The term Oceania is used because, unlike the other continental groupings, it is the ocean that links the parts of the region together. OcГ©anie derives from the Latin word oceanus, and this from the Greek word бЅ ОєОµО±ОЅПЊП‚ ( ЕЌkeanГіs), 'ocean'.

, then in 1814 another French, Adrien-Hubert BruГ©, coined from this expression the shorter 'OcГ©anie' putting it on a map, В« OcГ©anie, ou cinquiГЁme partie du monde, comprenant lвЂ™archipel dвЂ™Asie, lвЂ™Australasie et la PolynГ©sie (ou le continent de la Nouvelle Hollande et les Г®les du Grand OcГ©an)В В». The geographer Conrad Malte-Brun coined the French expression Terres ocГ©aniques (Oceanic lands) c. (The United Nations has its own geopolitical definition of Oceania, but this consists of discrete political entities, and so excludes the Bonin Islands, Hawaii, Clipperton Island, and the Juan FernГЎndez Islands, along with Easter Island.) Дefinitions of Oceania vary however, the islands at the geographic extremes of Oceania are generally considered to be the Bonin Islands, a politically integral part of Japan Hawaii, a state of the United States Clipperton Island, a possession of France the Juan FernГЎndez Islands, belonging to Chile and Macquarie Island, belonging to Australia. Most Oceanian countries are multi-party representative parliamentary democracies, with tourism being a large source of income for the Pacific Islands nations. Puncak Jaya in Papua is the highest peak in Oceania at 4,884 metres. The rock art of Aboriginal Australians is the longest continuously practised artistic tradition in the world. In more contemporary times there has been increasing discussion on national flags and a desire by some Oceanians to display their distinguishable and The arrival of European settlers in subsequent centuries resulted in a significant alteration in the social and political landscape of Oceania. The Pacific front saw major action during the Second World War, mainly between Allied powers the United States and Australia, and Axis power Japan. On his first voyage in the 18th century, James Cook, who later arrived at the highly developed Hawaiian Islands, went to Tahiti and followed the east coast of Australia for the first time. Portuguese navigators, between 15, reached the Tanimbar Islands, some of the Caroline Islands and west Papua New Guinea. Oceania was first explored by Europeans from the 16th century onward. The first settlers of Australia, New Guinea, and the large islands just to the east arrived more than 60,000 years ago. The largest and most populous country in Oceania is Australia, and the largest city is Sydney. Oceania has a diverse mix of economies from the highly developed and globally competitive financial markets of Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Hawaii, which rank high in quality of life and human development index, to the much less developed economies such as Papua New Guinea, Indonesian New Guinea, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Tuvalu, while also including medium-sized economies of Pacific islands such as Palau, Fiji and Tonga. When compared with the continents, the region of Oceania is the smallest in land area and the second smallest in population after Antarctica. Spanning the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, Oceania has a land area of 8,525,989 square kilometres (3,291,903В sqВ mi) and a population of over 41 million. Oceania ( UK: / ЛЊ oКЉ s i Л€ Й‘Лђ n i Й™, ЛЊ oКЉ Кѓ i-, - Л€ eЙЄ n-/, US: / ЛЊ oКЉ Кѓ i Л€ Г¦ n i Й™/ ( listen), /- Л€ Й‘Лђ n-/) is a geographic region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.

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