WOceania is a geographic region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, Oceania has a land area of 8,525,989 square kilometres (3,291,903 sq mi) and a population of over 41 million. When compared to continents, the region of Oceania is the smallest in land area and the second smallest in population after Antarctica.
WThe following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to Oceania.
WThe continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts by the names Sahul, Australinea, or Meganesia to distinguish it from the country of Australia, consists of the landmasses which sit on Australia's continental plate. The name "Sahul" takes its name from the Sahul Shelf, which is part of the continental shelf of the Australian continent. The continent includes mainland Australia, Tasmania, and the island of New Guinea, which consists of Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea. Situated in the geographical region of Oceania, Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents.
WOceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania vary, with it being defined in various ways, often geopolitically or geographically. In the geopolitical conception used by the United Nations, International Olympic Committee, and many atlases, the Oceanic region includes Australia and the nations of the Pacific from Papua New Guinea east, but not the Malay Archipelago or Indonesian New Guinea. The term is sometimes used more specifically to denote Australasia as a geographic continent, or biogeographically as a synonym for either the Australasian realm or the Oceanian realm.
WEunicidae is a family of marine polychaetes. The family comprises marine annelids distributed in diverse benthic habitats across Oceania, Europe, South America, North America, Asia and Africa. The Eunicid anatomy typically consists of a pair of appendages near the mouth (mandibles) and complex sets of muscular structures on the head (maxillae) in an eversible pharynx. One of the most conspicuous of the eunicids is the giant, dark-purple, iridescent "Bobbit worm", a bristle worm found at low tide under boulders on southern Australian shores. Its robust, muscular body can be as long as 2 m. Eunicidae jaws are known from as far back as Ordovician sediments. Cultural tradition surrounds Palola worm reproductive cycles in the South Pacific Islands. Eunicidae are economically valuable as bait in both recreational and commercial fishing. Commercial bait-farming of Eunicidae can have adverse ecological impacts. Bait-farming can deplete worm and associated fauna population numbers, damage local intertidal environments and introduce alien species to local aquatic ecosystems.
WThe term "New World" is a name used for the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas. The term gained prominence in the early 16th century, during the Age of Discovery, shortly after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci concluded that America represented a new continent, and subsequently published his findings in a pamphlet titled Mundus Novus. This realization expanded the geographical horizon of classical European geographers, who had thought the world consisted of Africa, Europe, and Asia, collectively now referred to as the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia. The Americas were also referred to as the fourth part of the world.
WThis is a list of sovereign states and dependent territories in the geopolitical region of Oceania. Although it is mostly ocean and spans many continental plates, Oceania is occasionally listed as one of the continents.
WSunda or Sundaland was a prehistoric landmass that consisted of mainland and western Maritime Southeast Asia. It was partially submerged starting around 18,000 years ago and continuing till about 5000 BC.