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UNIDAD 4: ÁFRICA, OCEANÍA Y LA ANTÁRTIDA

ACTIVITY 15: OCEANIA

Map from: http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/oceania.htm

1. Read the text.

Oceania (sometimes Oceanica) is a geographical region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands and usually including Australia—in the Pacific Ocean.

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 Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia.

2. Open your book and look up in a world map where are these islands.

Name of territory, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2002 estimate)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Australasia
Australia	7,686,850	20,697,241	2.5	Canberra
Christmas Island (Australia)	135	474	3.5	The Settlement
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)	14	632	45.1	West Island
New Zealand^[4]	268,680	3,908,037	14.5	Wellington
Norfolk Island (Australia)	35	1,866	53.3	Kingston
Melanesia
Fiji	18,270	856,346	46.9	Suva
Indonesia	499,852	4,211,532	8.4	Jakarta
New Caledonia (France)	19,060	207,858	10.9	Nouméa
Papua New Guinea	462,840	5,172,033	11.2	Port Moresby
Solomon Islands	28,450	494,786	17.4	Honiara
Vanuatu	12,200	196,178	16.1	Port Vila
Micronesia
Federated States of Micronesia	702	135,869	193.5	Palikir
Guam (USA)	549	160,796	292.9	Hagåtña
Kiribati	811	96,335	118.8	Bairiki
Marshall Islands	181	73,630	406.8	Majuro
Nauru	21	12,329	587.1	Yaren
Northern Mariana Islands (USA)	477	77,311	162.1	Saipan
Palau	458	19,409	42.4	Melekeok^[8]
Polynesia
American Samoa (USA)	199	68,688	345.2	Fagatogo, Utulei^[10]
Cook Islands (NZ)	240	20,811	86.7	Avarua
French Polynesia (France)	4,167	257,847	61.9	Papeete
Niue (NZ)	260	2,134	8.2	Alofi
Pitcairn Islands (UK)	5	47	10	Adamstown
Samoa	2,944	178,631	60.7	Apia
Tokelau (NZ)	10	1,431	143.1	—^[11]
Tonga	748	106,137	141.9	Nuku'alofa
Tuvalu	26	11,146	428.7	Vaiaku
Wallis and Futuna (France)	274	15,585	56.9	Mata-Utu
Total	9,008,458	35,834,670	4.0