Oceania countries

Oceania is a geographic region described as a continent in some parts of the world. It includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of 8 525 989 km² (3 291 903 sq mi) and a population of about 44.4 million people as of 2022. Oceania is regarded as a geographic region in most English-speaking countries, but outside the English-speaking world it is treated as one of the continents. In this model, Australia is considered only an island country within the continent of Oceania, not a separate continent. Compared to other continents, Oceania is the smallest by area and the second-least populous after Antarctica.

Oceania has a diverse mix of economies, from the highly developed and globally competitive financial markets of Australia, French Polynesia, the Hawaiian Islands, New Caledonia, and New Zealand—which rank high on quality-of-life and human development indices—to much less developed economies in Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Western New Guinea, as well as mid-level economies in Pacific island states such as Fiji, Palau, and Tonga. The largest and most populous country in Oceania is Australia, and its largest city is Sydney. Puncak Jaya in the Papua Highlands of Indonesia is the highest peak in Oceania at 4 884 m (16 024 ft).

The first settlers of Australia, New Guinea, and the larger islands to the east arrived more than 60 000 years ago. Oceania was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century. Portuguese navigators between 1512 and 1526 reached the Tanimbar Islands, parts of the Caroline Islands, and western New Guinea. They were followed by Spanish and Dutch explorers, and later by the British and the French. On his first voyage in the 18th century, James Cook—who subsequently reached the highly developed Hawaiian Islands—sailed to Tahiti and became the first European to chart the eastern coast of Australia.

The arrival of European settlers in subsequent centuries brought profound changes to the social and political landscape of Oceania. The Pacific Theater of World War II saw major campaigns, primarily between Allied forces (the United States, the Philippines—then part of the U.S. Commonwealth—and Australia) and the Axis power Japan. Aboriginal rock art in Australia represents the world’s longest continuously practiced artistic tradition. In most countries of Oceania, tourism remains a major source of income.