This is a list of sovereign states and dependent territories in the geographical region of Oceania. Although it is mostly ocean and spans many tectonic plates, Oceania is occasionally listed as one of the continents.
The boundary between Southeast Asia and Oceania is not clearly defined. For political reasons, the United Nations considers the boundary between the two regions to be the Indonesian–Papua New Guinean border.[2] Papua New Guinea is occasionally considered Asian as it neighbours Indonesia,[3][4][5] but this is rare, and it is generally accepted to be part of Oceania. Biogeographically and geologically, Papua and West Papua provinces are parts of Oceania.
Likewise, there is also no clearly defined boundary between Latin America and Oceania; the mostly uninhabited oceanic Pacific islands near Latin America have been considered by some as part of Oceania, both historically and in present-day times.[6][7][8][9][10] Nearly all of these islands have become politically associated with the Americas, but none lie on the respective tectonic plates of those continents, nor were any inhabited by Indigenous peoples of the Americas during the pre-Columbian era.[11] Some share strong biogeographical affinities to geopolitical Oceania.[12] The Malay Archipelago has historically been associated with Oceania,[13][9][14][15] however, very few present-day definitions include it as part of Oceania.[16][17] The Malay Archipelago lies on the continental shelf of Asia; Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (both adjacent to the Malay Archipelago) lie on the Australian tectonic plate, and are not politically associated with Asia. The Bonin Islands, which have been politically integrated into Japan, are not geologically associated with the Asian continent, and are biogeographically within Micronesia.
The following are entities considered to be within Oceania that fall into one of these categories:
1. Federal territories of sovereign states located outside these states' mainland.
2. Territories that constitute integral parts of sovereign states in some form other than as federal territories, where a significant part of the sovereign state's landmass is located outside Oceania or the territory is located outside the sovereign state's mainland. Many of these territories are often described as dependencies or autonomous areas.
^"Oceania Bibliography"(PDF). Helictite: Journal of Australasian Cave Research. 25 (1). 1987. Retrieved 16 March 2022. This paper covers the region from Irian Jaya (Western New Guinea, a province of New Guinea) in the west to Galapagos Islands (Equador) and Easter Island (Chile) in the east.
^Review of the Protected Areas System in Oceania(PDF). International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. 1986. Retrieved 17 January 2022. Easter Island on the east has been included on the basis of its Polynesian and biogeographic affinities even though it is politically apart. The other islands of the eastern Pacific (Galapagos, Juan Fernandez, etc.) have sometimes been included in Oceania.
^Todd, Ian (1974). Island Realm: A Pacific Panorama. Angus & Robertson. p. 190. ISBN9780207127618. Retrieved 2 February 2022. [we] can further define the word culture to mean language. Thus we have the French language part of Oceania, the Spanish part and the Japanese part. The Japanese culture groups of Oceania are the Bonin Islands, the Marcus Islands and the Volcano Islands. These three clusters, lying south and south-east of Japan, are inhabited either by Japanese or by people who have now completely fused with the Japanese race. Therefore they will not be taken into account in the proposed comparison of the policies of non - Oceanic cultures towards Oceanic peoples. On the eastern side of the Pacific are a number of Spanish language culture groups of islands. Two of them, the Galapagos and Easter Island, have been dealt with as separate chapters in this volume. Only one of the dozen or so Spanish culture island groups of Oceania has an Oceanic population — the Polynesians of Easter Island. The rest are either uninhabited or have a Spanish - Latin - American population consisting of people who migrated from the mainland. Therefore, the comparisons which follow refer almost exclusively to the English and French language cultures.
^Parley, Peter (1866). Tales about Europe, Asia, Africa, America, & Oceania. Oxford University. p. 2. Retrieved 12 March 2022. Oceania consists of Australasia, Polynesia and Malaysia. Australasia means South Asia. It comprises New Holland or Australia, Van Diemen's Land or Tasmania, Papua or New Guinea, Norfolk Island, New Zealand and some smaller islands. Polynesia is the term given to the various islands in the Pacific Ocean, which, as you may see on the map, are situated to the eastward of Australia, including the Philippine Islands. Malaysia is the name given to the islands of the Malay Archipelago, which are principally inhabited by the Malay race, comprising Borneo, the Sunday Isles, Celebes, Moluccas [...]
^Chambers's New Handy Volume American Encyclopædia: Volume 9. The University of Virginia. 1885. p. 657. Retrieved 13 March 2022. the whole region has sometimes been called Oceania, and sometimes Australasia—generally, however, in modern times, to the exclusion of the islands in the Indian archipelago, to which certain writers have given the name of Malaysia [...] we have the three geographical divisions of Malaysia, Australasia and Polynesia, the last mentioned of which embraces all the groups and single islands not included under the other two. Accepting this arrangement, still the limits between Australasia and Polynesia have not been very accurately defined; indeed, scarcely any two geographers appear to be quite agreed upon the subject; neither shall we pretend to decide in the matter. The following list, however, comprises all the principal groups and single island not previously named as coming under the division of Australasia: 1. North of the equator—The Ladrone or Marian islands. the Pelew islands, the Caroline islands, the Radack and Ralick chains, the Sandwich islands, Gilbert's or Kingstnill's archipelago. and the Galapagos. 2. South of the equator—The Ellice group, the Phoenix and Union groups. the Fiji islands, the Friendly islands, the Navigator's islands. Cook's or Harvey islands, the Society islands. the Dangerous archipelago, the Marquesas islands, Pitcairn island, and Easter island.
^Henderson, John William (1971). Area Handbook for Oceania. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 5. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
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