First popolation of Oceania

Dec 26, 2024

Primo for Oceania

OCEANIA: AUSTRALIA AND THE ISLANDS

Situated between the Pacific and Indian Oceans and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, Oceania has a total surface area of approximately 8.526.000 km², equal to 6% of the world's land mass. It includes Australia, which is the smallest of the continents, Tasmania, New Zealand and an innumerable quantity of islands and archipelagos which give rise to three large conventional groupings, such as Melanesia, or the Black Islands, including New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands, Vismarck, Solomon, Santa Cruz, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Loyalty and Fiji, then Micronesia, or the Small Islands, including the Marianas, Carolines, Palau, Marshall, Gilbert, Ellice and finally Polynesia, or the many Islands, including the eastern islands and archipelagos, such as Hawaii, the Sporades, the Central Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Cook, the Society Islands, Tuamotu and others.

A HYBRID CONTINENT

The salient feature of Oceania is its insularity, although most of its surface is made up of Australia, as well as the notable geological and morphological differences between one part of the territory and another, such as between the eroded and tabular shape of Australia and the more rugged and vigorous forms, with reliefs of considerable consistency, in the more recently formed island terrains. The islands of Oceania, included in the equatorial and tropical regions, generally have high temperatures, mitigated by sea breezes and the regular blowing of monsoons and trade winds, with abundant rainfall equally distributed throughout the various seasons. Australia, on the other hand, has a hot desert climate with very little and irregular rainfall in two thirds of its territory, that is, except for the south-eastern area where there is a fair amount of rainfall and very strong temperature variations.