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Oceania is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands but sometimes including Australia—in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The exact scope of Oceania is defined variously, with interpretations including Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and those parts of Indonesia east of the Wallace Line.

For the oceans of the Earth, see .

Overview

The primary use of the term Oceania is to describe a macrogeographical region that lies between Asia and the Americas, with the Australian continent as the major landmass and consisting of some 10,000 islands in the Pacific. The name Oceania is used because, unlike the other regional groupings, it is the ocean and adjacent seas rather than a continent that link the lands together.

Extent

Originally coined by the French explorer Dumont d'Urville in 1831, Oceania has been traditionally divided into Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Australasia. As with any region, however, interpretations vary; increasingly, geographers and scientists divide Oceania into Near Oceania and Remote Oceania.

Most of Oceania consists of small island nations. Australia is the only continental country; by some definitions, Indonesia has land borders with East Timor and Papua New Guinea.

Territories and regions

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