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More about Oceania

Oceania ×

• Oceania is made up of 14 countries. Most of these are collections of islands, joined together to form a country.
• Total landmass 7.7 million square kilometres or 3.0 million square miles.
• Oceania covers 1.5% of the earth's surface and 5.2% of the earth's landmass.
• As of 2017 there are about 41 million people living in Oceania.
• 0.7% of the world's population live in Oceania.
• All Oceania countries are in the Pacific Ocean.
• In the 19th century, European countries notably Great Britain and France, conquered much of Oceania.
• During the 20th century nearly all Oceanic nations gained independence from their European rulers.
• The native people of these countries are the Maori, in New Zealand, the Aboriginals in Australia and the Micronesians, Melanesians and Polynesians who live in the smaller island states.
• Settlement occurred at very different times. The Aboriginals settled in Australia over 40,000 years ago; the Maori came to New Zealand less than 1,000 years ago.