Portal:Oceania

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The Oceania Portal

An orthographic projection of Oceania, in the intermediate conception that includes Australia and New Guinea but excludes the Malay Archipelago

Oceania (UK: /ˌoʊ.si.ˈɑː.ni.ə, ˌoʊ.ʃi.-, -ˈeɪ.n-/ OH-s(h)ee-AH-nee-ə, -⁠AY-, US: /ˌoʊ.ʃi.ˈæ.ni.ə, -ˈɑː.n-/ ^ⓘ OH-shee-A(H)N-ee-ə) is a geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Oceania is also described as a continent, with mainland Australia 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 46.3 million as of 2024, when including Australia but excluding the Malay Archipelago. When compared against other continental land areas, Oceania is the smallest and the second-least populated after Antarctica. It is home to Earth’s third-largest remaining area of tropical rainforest, which covers much of the island of New Guinea.

The first settlers of Australia, New Guinea, and the large islands just to the east arrived more than 60,000 years ago. Oceania was first explored by Europeans from the 16th century onward. Portuguese explorers, between 1512 and 1526, reached the Tanimbar Islands, some of the Caroline Islands, and west New Guinea. Spanish and Dutch explorers followed, then British and French. 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. The arrival of European settlers in subsequent centuries resulted in a significant alteration in the social and political landscape of Oceania. The Pacific theatre saw major action during the First and Second World Wars. (Full article...)

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The Pitcairn Islands (/ˈpɪtkɛərn/ PIT-kairn; Pitkern: Pitkern Ailen), officially Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, are a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four islands—Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno—are scattered across several hundred kilometres of ocean and have a combined land area of about 47 square kilometres (18 square miles). Henderson Island accounts for 86% of the land area, but only Pitcairn Island is inhabited. The inhabited islands nearest to the Pitcairn Islands are Mangareva (of French Polynesia), 688 km (428 miles) to the west, as well as Easter Island, 1,929 km (1199 miles) to the east.

The Pitcairn Islanders are descended primarily from nine British HMS Bounty mutineers and twelve Tahitian women. In 2023, the territory had a permanent population of 35, making it the smallest territory in the world by number of permanent residents. Owing to the island's extreme isolation and small population, incidents of widespread sexual abuse went undetected until 1999, culminating in a high-profile sexual assault trial in 2004. (Full article...)

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Typhoon Pongsona near peak intensity on December 8

Typhoon Pongsona was the last typhoon of the 2002 Pacific typhoon season, and was the second costliest United States disaster in 2002, only behind Hurricane Lili. Pongsona developed out of an area of disturbed weather on December 2, and steadily intensified to reach typhoon status on December 5. On December 8 it passed through Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands while at peak intensity, with 10-minute sustained winds of 175 km/h (110 mph). It ultimately turned to the northeast, weakened, and became extratropical on December 11.

Typhoon Pongsona produced strong wind gusts peaking at 285 km/h (175 mph), which left the entire island of Guam without power and destroyed about 1,300 houses. With strong building standards and experience from repeated typhoon strikes, there were no fatalities directly related to Pongsona, although there was one indirect death from flying glass. Damage on the island totaled over $730 million (2002 USD, $1.31 billion 2026 USD), making Pongsona among the five costliest typhoons on the island. The typhoon also caused extreme damage on Rota and elsewhere in the Northern Mariana Islands, and as a result of its impact the name was retired. (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 2Māori war canoe (waka) drawn after James Cook's voyage to New Zealand. (from Polynesia)
Image 3Grinding stones discovered from archaeology in Samoa (from Polynesia)
Image 4The arrival of Abel Tasman in Tongatapu, 1643; drawing by Isaack Gilsemans (from Polynesia)
Image 5King Kamehameha I receiving the Russian naval expedition of Otto von Kotzebue. Drawing by Louis Choris in 1816. (from Polynesia)
Image 6The Polynesian spread of colonization in the Pacific (from Polynesia)
Image 7Languages of Micronesia. (from Micronesia)
Image 8Manila Galleon in the Marianas and Carolinas, c. 1590 Boxer Codex (from Micronesia)
Image 9Polynesians with outrigger canoes at Waikiki Beach, Oahu Island, early 20th century (from Polynesia)
Image 10Australia's concept of Australasia, which includes Australia, New Zealand and Melanesia. (from Australasia)
Image 11Melanesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Micronesia and Polynesia. (from Melanesia)
Image 12Carving from the ridgepole of a Māori house, ca 1840 (from Polynesia)
Image 13German New Guinea before and after the German-Spanish treaty of 1899 (from Micronesia)
Image 14Spinner dolphins (from Micronesia)
Image 15A depiction of a royal heiau (Hawaiian temple) at Kealakekua Bay, c. 1816 (from Polynesia)
Image 16Subregions (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Australasia), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of Oceania (from Polynesia)
Image 17Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Micronesia)
Image 18Subregions (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and Australasia), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of Oceania (from Micronesia)
Image 19Chamorro people in 1915 (from Micronesia)
Image 20A Melanesian child from Vanuatu (from Melanesia)
Image 21Beach scenery at Laura, Majuro, Marshall Islands (from Micronesia)
Image 22Map of Melanesia, showing its location within Oceania (from Melanesia)
Image 23Köppen-Geiger climate classification map of Melanesia (from Melanesia)
Image 24Polynesian (Hawaiian) navigators sailing multi-hulled canoe, c. 1781 (from Polynesia)
Image 25Canoe carving on Nanumea atoll, Tuvalu (from Polynesia)
Image 26Micronesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Melanesia and Polynesia. (from Micronesia)
Image 27Map from 1961 of the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, formerly Japan's South Seas Mandate. (from Micronesia)
Image 28Moai at Ahu Tongariki on Rapa Nui (from Polynesia)
Image 29Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific (from Micronesia)
Image 30Cook's Bay on Moorea, French Polynesia (from Polynesia)
Image 31Cinder plain of Mount Yasur in Vanuatu (from Melanesia)
Image 32Polynesia is one of three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands, along with Melanesia and Micronesia. (from Polynesia)
Image 33Image of the Castle Bravo nuclear test, detonated on 1 March 1954, at Bikini Atoll (from Micronesia)
Image 34Mount Marpi in Saipan. (from Micronesia)
Image 35A common fishing canoe va'a with outrigger in Savaiʻi island, Samoa, 2009 (from Polynesia)
Image 36Tarawa Atoll (from Micronesia)
Image 37Sailors of Melanesia in the Pacific Ocean, 1846 (from Melanesia)
Image 38Outline of sovereign (orange) and dependent islands (yellow) (from Melanesia)
Image 39Kili Island is one of the smallest islands in the Marshall Islands. (from Micronesia)
Image 40New Caledonia (from Melanesia)
Image 41German trading station at Jaluit Atoll with a Marshallese korkor outrigger canoe in the foreground (from Micronesia)
Image 42Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange) (from Polynesia)
Image 43Map 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 44Mokoliʻi Isle near Oahu, Hawaii (from Polynesia)
Image 45An 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 46Painting of Tahitian Women on the Beach by Paul Gauguin—Musée d'Orsay (from Polynesia)
Image 47A pan flute from Solomon Islands, 19th century (from Melanesia)
Image 48Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific (from Melanesia)
Image 49Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa from 1998 to 2021, who initiated the Polynesian Leaders Group in late 2011. (from Polynesia)
Image 50On February 14, 1779, Capt. James Cook was killed on the island of Hawaii. (from Polynesia)