OCEANIA


Meaning of OCEANIA in English

Collective name for the islands scattered throughout most of the Pacific Ocean.

The term especially refers to islands of the central and southern Pacific, including Micronesia , Melanesia , and Polynesia , and sometimes Australia , New Zealand , and the Malay Archipelago . In its most restricted sense, excluding Australia but including Papua New Guinea , Oceania includes more than 10,000 islands, with an area of about 317,000 sq mi (821,000 sq km); with Australia the land area is about 3,453,550 sq mi (8,944,700 sq mi). Pop. (2001 est.) including Australia, 31,377,000.

Britannica English dictionary.      Английский словарь Британика.