Australasia

For other uses, see Australasia (disambiguation) and Australasian (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Australia (continent), Australia (country), Austrasia, or Austroasian.

Australia's concept of Australasia, which includes Australia, New Zealand and, in this case, Melanesia

Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologically, where the term covers several slightly different but related regions.

Derivation and definitions

Charles de Brosses coined the term (as French Australasie) in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes^[1] (1756). He derived it from the Latin for "south of Asia" and differentiated the area from Polynesia (to the east) and the southeast Pacific (Magellanica).^[2]

In the late 19th century, the term Australasia was used in reference to the "Australasian colonies". In this sense it related specifically to the British colonies south of Asia: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, Victoria (i.e., the Australian colonies) and New Zealand.^[3]

Australasia found continued geopolitical attention in the early 20th century. Historian Hansong Li finds that against the backdrop of British colonialism, German geopoliticians considered "Australasia" as a counterweight to the former German South Sea Edge (Südseerand), both of which form the "Indo-Pacific" region.^[4]

The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary gives two meanings of "Australasia". One, especially in Australian use, is "Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the neighbouring islands of the Pacific". The other, especially in New Zealand use, is just Australia and New Zealand.^[5] Two Merriam-Webster dictionaries online (Collegiate and Unabridged) define Australasia as "Australia, New Zealand, and Melanesia". The American Heritage Dictionary online recognizes two senses in use: one more precise and the other broader, loosely covering all of Oceania.

Demographics

Arms	Flag	Name of region, followed by countries	Area (km^2)	Population (2021)[6][7]	Population density (per km^2)	Capital	ISO 3166-1
Australasia
		Ashmore and Cartier Islands (Australia)	199	—
		Australia	7,686,850	25,921,089	3.1	Canberra	AU
		Christmas Island (Australia)	135	1,692	12.5	Flying Fish Cove	CX
		Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)	14	593	42.4	West Island	CC
		Coral Sea Islands (Australia)	10	4	0.4	—
		New Zealand	268,680	5,129,727	17.3	Wellington	NZ
		Norfolk Island (Australia)	35	2,302	65.8	Kingston	NF
		Papua New Guinea	462,840	9,949,437	22	Port Moresby	PG
Total
Australasia			8,418,763	42,836,966	5.1	—

See also

• All pages with titles beginning with Australasia
• Asia-Pacific
• Australasian realm
• Australasia at the Olympics
• Austral-Asia Cup
• Down Under
• Sundaland
• Trans-Tasman
• Zealandia

References

1. de Brosses, Charles (1756). Histoire des navigations aux terres Australes. Contenant ce que l'on sçait des moeurs & des productions des contrées découvertes jusqu'à ce jour; & où il est traité de l'utilité d'y faire de plus amples découvertes, & des moyens d'y former un établissement [History of voyages to the Southern Lands. Containing what is known concerning the customs and products...] (in French). Paris: Durand. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
2. Douglas, Bronwen (2014). Science, Voyages, and Encounters in Oceania, 1511–1850. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 6.
3. Lee, Joseph (1889). "Anti-Chinese Legislation in Australasia". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 3 (2). p. 220. doi:10.2307/1879468. JSTOR 1879468.
4. Li, Hansong (2021). "The "Indo-Pacific": Intellectual Origins and International Visions in Global Contexts" (PDF). Modern Intellectual History. 19 (3): 20–23. doi:10.1017/S1479244321000214. S2CID 236226422. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
5. Deverson, Tony; Kennedy, Graeme, eds. (2005). "Australasia". New Zealand Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195584516.001.0001. ISBN 9780195584516.
6. "World Population Prospects 2022". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
7. "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.

• Richards, Kel (2006). "Australasia". Wordwatch. ABC News Radio. Archived from the original on 2007-03-18. Retrieved 2006-09-30.

External links

• Media related to Australasia at Wikimedia Commons

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