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 Mainland Australia is regarded as its continental landmass. 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 serving as a large source of income for the Pacific island nations. (Full article...)

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Guam (/ˈɡwɑːm/ ^ⓘ GWAHM; Chamorro: Guåhan [ˈɡʷɑhɑn]) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, and the most populous village is Dededo. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States, reckoned from the geographic center of the U.S. In Oceania, Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia. As of 2022, its population was 168,801. Chamorros are its largest ethnic group, but a minority on the multiethnic island. The territory spans 210 square miles (540 km²; 130,000 acres) and has a population density of 775 per square mile (299/km²).

Indigenous Guamanians are the Chamorro, who are related to the Austronesian peoples of the Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Polynesia. But unlike most of its neighbors, the Chamorro language is not classified as a Micronesian or Polynesian language. Rather, like Palauan, it possibly constitutes an independent branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language family. The Chamorro people settled Guam and the Mariana islands approximately 3,500 years ago. Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, while in the service of Spain, was the first European to visit and claim the island on March 6, 1521. Guam was fully colonized by Spain in 1668. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Guam was an important stopover for Spanish Manila galleons. During the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam on June 21, 1898. Under the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Guam to the U.S. effective April 11, 1899. (Full article...)

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Hōkūleʻa arrival in Honolulu from Tahiti in 1976

Hōkūleʻa is a performance-accurate waʻa kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. Launched on 8 March 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, it is best known for its 1976 Hawaiʻi to Tahiti voyage completed with exclusively traditional navigation techniques. The primary goal of the voyage was to explore the anthropological theory of the Asiatic origin of native Oceanic people (Polynesians and Hawaiians in particular) as the result of purposeful trips through the Pacific, as opposed to passive drifting on currents or sailing from the Americas. DNA analysis supports this theory. A secondary project goal was to have the canoe and voyage "serve as vehicles for the cultural revitalization of Hawaiians and other Polynesians."

Between the 1976 voyage and 2009, Hōkūle‘a completed nine^[update] additional voyages to Micronesia, Polynesia, Japan, Canada and the mainland United States, all using ancient wayfinding techniques of celestial navigation. On 19 January 2007, Hōkūle‘a left Hawaiʻi with the voyaging canoe Alingano Maisu on a voyage through Micronesia (map) and ports in southern Japan.^[a] The voyage was expected to take five months. On 9 June 2007, Hōkūle‘a completed the "One Ocean, One People" voyage to Yokohama, Japan. On 5 April 2009, Hōkūle‘a returned to Honolulu following a roundtrip training sail to Palmyra Atoll, undertaken to develop skills of potential crewmembers for Hōkūle‘a's eventual circumnavigation of the Earth. (Full article...)

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... that Michaela Foster, a New Zealand footballer playing in the 2023 World Cup, is known for her mana?

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

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