n.
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.