Editing Oceania (section)

==Definition==
===Characteristics===
[[File:Oceania UN Geoscheme - Map with Zones.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Oceania with its sovereign states and dependent territories within the subregions [[Australasia]], [[Melanesia]], [[Micronesia]], and [[Polynesia]]]]

Definitions of Oceania vary.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lidstone |first1=John |last2=Stoltman |first2=Joseph P. |last3=DeChano |first3=Lisa M. |title=International Perspectives on Natural Disasters: Occurrence, Mitigation, and Consequences |date=2004 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |page=193 |isbn=978-1402028519 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=94q9GgFtjYoC&dq=%22and+Melanesia,+meaning%22&pg=PA193 |quote=Anthropologists have defined Oceania as that region of the Pacific Ocean that encompasses three distinct geographical areas—Polynesia, meaning "many islands"; Micronesia, meaning "small islands"; and Melanesia, meaning "black islands." Other definitions of Oceania are used by geographers, economists, and oceanographers. The definition of the region generally depends on the context that one assigns to it in research or writing. |access-date=2022-07-30 |archive-date=2022-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064235/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/International_Perspectives_on_Natural_Di/94q9GgFtjYoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22and+Melanesia%2C+meaning%22&pg=PA193&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="asianpacific">{{Cite book |last=Crocombe |first=R. G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iDg9oAkwsXAC&dq=%22included+in+cultural+definitions+of+oceania%22&pg=PR13 |title=Asia in the Pacific Islands: Replacing the West |date=2007 |publisher=University of the South Pacific. Institute of Pacific Studies |isbn=978-9820203884 |page=13 |access-date=24 January 2022 |archive-date=9 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209001401/https://books.google.com/books?id=iDg9oAkwsXAC&dq=%22included+in+cultural+definitions+of+oceania%22&pg=PR13 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="worldatlas" /> The broadest definition encompasses the islands between mainland [[Asia]] and the [[Americas]].<ref name="aging">{{cite book |doi=10.1093/med/9780198701590.003.0008 |chapter=Population ageing in Oceania |title=Oxford Textbook of Geriatric Medicine |year=2017 |last1=Flicker |first1=Leon |last2=Kerse |first2=Ngaire |pages=55–62 |isbn=978-0-19-870159-0 |quote=The region of Oceania describes a collection of islands scattered throughout the Pacific Ocean between Asia and the Americas. The region is vast and largely covered by ocean. There are four subregions of this region, including Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), Melanesia (Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and [[Western New Guinea]]), Micronesia (the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Palau etc.), and Polynesia (American Samoa, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, and Tuvalu etc.).}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Oceania {{pipe}} Definition, Population, & Facts {{pipe}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Oceania-region-Pacific-Ocean |website=Britannica.com |access-date=2022-07-30 |archive-date=2008-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531185210/https://www.britannica.com/place/Oceania-region-Pacific-Ocean |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="harv">{{Cite book |last=Bequaert |first=Joseph C. |url=http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pubs-online/pdf/op16-11.pdf |title=The Hippoboscidae of Oceania |date=1941 |publisher=Harvard Medical School |quote=In the present taxonomic study of the Hippoboscidae, Oceania covers, rather arbitrarily, the many archipelagos and isolated islands scattered throughout the Pacific Ocean, from the Marianas and Caroline Islands, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia to the Hawaiian islands and the Galapagos. |access-date=24 January 2022 |archive-date=24 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124010141/http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pubs-online/pdf/op16-11.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The island nation of [[Australia]] is the only piece of land in the area which is large enough to typically be considered a continent.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Margaret |first=Cowan E. |url={{Google books|JIGZhTRPSe4C|page=9|plainurl=yes}} |title=An Analysis of the Process Used to Develop a Publication of International Case Studies on Environmental Education |date=1983 |page=9 |quote=Australia, as a separate continent, is geographically a part of Oceania }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511619007.005 |chapter=Oceania: Pohnpei and the Eastern Carolines |title=The Archaeology of Islands |year=2007 |pages=90–113 |isbn=978-0-521-85374-3 |quote=The thousands of islands of Oceania, excluding the island-continent of Australia and the very large island of New Guinea, are regarded by many as the theatre for island archaeology par excellence. }}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=A Master of Science thesis and an archaeology book are poor quality sources to support the text about Australia usually being regarded as a continent|date=January 2023}} The culture of the people who lived on these islands was often distinct from that of Asia and [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] America.<ref name="edu au">{{cite book |last1=Firth |first1=Stewart |last2=Naidu |first2=Vijay |title=Understanding Oceania: Celebrating the University of the South Pacific and its collaboration with The Australian National University |date=2019 |publisher=ANU Press |page=354 |isbn=978-1-76046-289-5 |url={{Google books|cHmfDwAAQBAJ|page=354|plainurl=yes}} }}</ref> Before [[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europeans]] arrived in the area, the sea shielded Australia and south central Pacific islands from cultural influences that spread through large continental landmasses and adjacent islands.<ref name="edu au" /><ref name="cam uk">{{cite web |date=21 September 2016 |title=Unprecedented study of Aboriginal Australians points to one shared Out of Africa migration for modern humans |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/unprecedented-study-of-aboriginal-australians-points-to-one-shared-out-of-africa-migration-for |website=University of Cambridge |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=15 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615162942/https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/unprecedented-study-of-aboriginal-australians-points-to-one-shared-out-of-africa-migration-for |url-status=live }}</ref> The islands of the [[Malay Archipelago]], north of Australia, mainly lie on the [[continental shelf]] of Asia, and their inhabitants had more exposure to mainland Asian culture as a result of this closer proximity.<ref name="edu au"/>

[[File:Mappe-Monde sur la Projection de Mercator Carte Encyprotype.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mercator projection|Mercator]] Planisphere by A.-H. Brué (1816), showing ''Océanie'', the ''Grand Océan'' and ''Polynésie'' including all the islands of the Pacific Ocean]]

The geographer [[Conrad Malte-Brun]] coined the [[French language|French]] expression ''Terres océaniques'' (Oceanic lands) {{circa}} 1804.<ref name="OED" /> In 1814 another French cartographer, Adrien-Hubert Brué, coined from this expression the shorter "Océanie",<ref>Grataloup, Christian, ''Continents et océans : le pavage européen du globe'', Monde(s), 2013, volume nr 3, pages 240.</ref> which derives from the [[Latin]] word {{wikt-lang|la|oceanus}}, and this from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word {{wikt-lang|grc|ὠκεανός}} (''ōkeanós''), "ocean". The term ''Oceania'' is used because, unlike the other continental groupings, it is the ocean that links the parts of the region together.<ref>Tcherkézoff, Serge, ''Polynésie / Mélanésie. L’invention française des « races » et des régions de l’Océanie'', Au vent des îles, Tahiti, 2009. {{ISBN|978-2-915654-52-3}}.</ref> John Eperjesi's 2005 book ''The Imperialist Imaginary'' says that Since the mid-19th century, [[Western world|Western]] cartographers have used the term ''Oceania'' to organize and classify the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] region.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eperjesi |first1=John |title=The Imperialist Imaginary: Visions of Asia and the Pacific in American Culture |date=2004 |publisher=Dartmouth College Press |isbn=978-1-58465-435-3 }}{{page needed|date=November 2022}}</ref>

[[File:1852 Bocage Map of Australia and Polynesia - Geographicus - Oceanie-bocage-1852.jpg|thumb|1852 map by Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage. Includes regions of [[Polynesia]], [[Micronesia]], [[Melanesia]] and [[Malesia]]]]

In the 19th century, many geographers divided Oceania into mostly racially based subdivisions: ''Australasia'', ''[[Malesia]]'' (encompassing the [[Malay Archipelago]]), ''Melanesia'', ''Micronesia'' and ''Polynesia''. The 2011 book ''Maritime Adaptations of the Pacific'', by Richard W. Casteel and Jean-Claude Passeron, states that, Oceania has traditionally been considered a continent in anthropological studies, similar to Africa, Asia, and the Americas.<ref>{{cite book |last1=W. Casteel |first1=Richard |last2=Passeron |first2=Jean-Claude |title=Maritime Adaptations of the Pacific |date=2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3110879902 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RUryHhPBT3EC&dq=%22ALEUTS%22+%22OCEANIA%22&pg=PR5 |access-date=24 September 2022}}</ref> [[John Bartholomew|Bartholomew]] described Oceania as one of six major world divisions, including Australia and Pacific islands.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bartholomew |first1=John |title=Zell's Descriptive Hand Atlas of the World |date=1873 |publisher=T.E. Zell |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmSp46xxpJQC&dq=%22oceania%22+%22yokohama%22+%22australia%22&pg=PA3 |access-date=20 August 2022}}</ref> American author [[Samuel Griswold Goodrich]] wrote in his 1854 book ''History of All Nations'' that, some 19th-century geographers classified the Pacific islands as a third continent called Oceania, alongside the New and Old Worlds. In this book, the other two continents were categorized as being the New World (the Americas) and the [[Old World]] ([[Afro-Eurasia]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goodrich |first1=Samuel Griswold |title=History of All Nations |date=1854 |publisher=Miller, Orton and Mulligan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=heJPYUnr70kC&dq=%22aleutian+islands%22+%22oceania%22&pg=PA52 |access-date=20 December 2022}}</ref> In his 1879 book ''Australasia'', British naturalist [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] commented that, geographers commonly used ''Oceania'' to refer to the Pacific islands, with Australia as its central landmass.<ref name="austral">{{cite book |last1=Wallace |first1=Alfred Russel |title=Australasia |date=1879 |publisher=The University of Michigan |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e2kcAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22oceania+is+the+word+often%22&pg=PA2 |access-date=12 March 2022 |quote=Oceania is the word often used by continental geographers to describe the great world of islands we are now entering upon [...] This boundless watery domain, which extends northwards of Behring Straits and southward to the Antarctic barrier of ice, is studded with many island groups, which are, however, very irregularly distributed over its surface. The more northerly section, lying between Japan and California and between the Aleutian and Hawaiian Archipelagos is relieved by nothing but a few solitary reefs and rocks at enormously distant intervals. |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064236/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Australasia/e2kcAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22oceania+is+the+word+often%22&pg=PA2&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> He did not explicitly label Oceania a continent in the book, but did note that it was one of the six major divisions of the world.<ref name="austral"/> ''The Oxford Handbook of World History'' (2011) describes the Oceania is often treated as a secondary topic in world history, appearing at the end of global narratives as a marginal region.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of World History |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199235810.001.0001 |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-19-923581-0 |editor-last1=Bentley |editor-first1=Jerry H }}</ref> 

<div>In most non-[[English language|English]]-speaking countries Oceania is treated as a continent in the sense that it is "one of the parts of the world", and Australia is only seen as an island nation. In other non-English-speaking countries Australia and [[Eurasia]] are thought of as continents, while Asia, Europe, and Oceania are regarded as "parts of the world".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brotschul |first1=Amy |title=Continents in French |url=https://study.com/academy/lesson/continents-in-french.html |website=Study.com |access-date=4 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Divisões dos continentes |url=https://atlasescolar.ibge.gov.br/images/atlas/mapas_mundo/mundo_034_divisao_continentes.pdf |access-date=12 January 2021 |publisher=IBGE |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813231055/https://atlasescolar.ibge.gov.br/images/atlas/mapas_mundo/mundo_034_divisao_continentes.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Nevertheless, various writers from [[English language|English]]-speaking countries have described Oceania as a continent over the years.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/znsj7yc BBC Bitesize: The continent of Oceania]</ref><ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Visual_Guide_to_Understanding_Planet/Yxhp1LqpE2gC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=the+continent+of+Oceania&pg=PA120&printsec=frontcover The Visual Guide to Understanding Planet Earth - Planet Earth By QA international Collectif QA international Collectif, 2007, P.120]</ref><ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Current_Review_of_Economic_and_Social_Pr/5qKD-DeVixMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Among+the+six+continents,+Oceania+(comprising+Australia,+New+Zealand&pg=RA17-PA13&printsec=frontcover Current Review of Economic and Social Problems in the United Nations, 1950, P.13]</ref><ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/IELTS_Writing_Task_1_Academic_and_Genera/tgDsCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Continent+of+Oceania&pg=PT19&printsec=frontcover IELTS Writing Task 1 – Academic and General By Nathan Dixon, 2015]</ref><ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/What/-kSBeFkUUHwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=the+continent+of+Oceania&pg=PA29&printsec=frontcover What? By Erin McHugh, 2005, P.29]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EGyleDQzs0kC&dq=continent+oceania&pg=PA532|title=Daily Consular and Trade Reports|date=6 May 1928|publisher=Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Manufactures|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HskKAAAAYAAJ&dq=continent+of+oceania+1920&pg=PA46|title=Mineral Resources of the United States|first=United States Bureau of|last=Mines|date=6 May 1922|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|via=Google Books}}</ref> Prior to the 1950s, before the popularization of the theory of [[plate tectonics]], [[Antarctica]], Australia, and [[Greenland]] were sometimes described as island continents, but none were usually taught as one of the world's continents in the English-speaking countries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Southwell |first1=Thomas |title=Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society: Volume 4 |date=1889 |publisher=Norfolk Naturalists' Trust and Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists' Society. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P0NMAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22greenland%22+%22island+continent%22&pg=PA164 |access-date=16 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society: Volume 36 |date=1932 |publisher=Royal Aeronautical Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJPyAAAAMAAJ&q=%22continent+of+greenland%22 |access-date=16 November 2022}}</ref><ref name=lewis32b>{{harvp|Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents|1997|p=32}}: "...the 1950s... was also the period when... Oceania as a "great division" was replaced by Australia as a continent along with a series of isolated and continentally attached islands. [Footnote 78: When Southeast Asia was conceptualised as a world region during World War II..., Indonesia and the Philippines were perforce added to Asia, which reduced the extent of Oceania, leading to a reconceptualisation of Australia as a continent in its own right. This manoeuvre is apparent in postwar atlases]"</ref> In his 1961 book ''The United States and the Southwest Pacific'', American author [[C. Hartley Grattan|Clinton Hartley Grattan]] commented that, By 1961, the term ''Oceania'' to describe Australia, [[New Zealand]], and the Pacific Islands was considered somewhat outdated.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grattan |first1=Clinton Hartley |title=The United States and the Southwest Pacific |date=1961 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-49244-8 }}{{page needed|date=November 2022}}</ref> Australia is a founding member of the [[Pacific Islands Forum]] in 1971, and at times has been interpreted as the largest Pacific island.<ref name="'O'Malley SMH 21 Sep 2014">{{cite news |last1=O'Malley |first1=Nick |title=Australia is a Pacific island – it has a responsibility |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/australia-is-a-pacific-island--it-has-a-responsibility-20140921-10jwdw.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=21 September 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.afr.com/world/asia/rudd-on-avoiding-war-and-australia-s-big-policy-failure-in-the-pacific-20220329-p5a945|title=Rudd on avoiding war and Australia's big policy failure in the Pacific|date=31 March 2022|website=Australian Financial Review|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=30 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064236/https://www.afr.com/world/asia/rudd-on-avoiding-war-and-australia-s-big-policy-failure-in-the-pacific-20220329-p5a945|url-status=live}}</ref> Some geographers group the [[Australian Plate|Australian tectonic plate]] with others in the Pacific to form a geological continent.<ref>{{harvp|Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents|1997 |page=40 |ps=: "The joining of Australia with various Pacific islands to form the quasi continent of Oceania ... "}}</ref> [[National Geographic|''National Geographic'']] defines Oceania as a continent based on its connection to the Pacific Ocean rather than landmass.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/oceania-physical-geography/|title=Australia and Oceania: Physical Geography|first=National Geographic|last=Society|date=4 January 2012|website=National Geographic Society|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=23 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523144947/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/oceania-physical-geography/|url-status=live}}</ref> Others have labelled it as the "liquid continent".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Werry |first1=Margaret |title=Sea-change: Performing a fluid continent: 2nd Oceanic Performance Biennial: Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 8–11 July 2015 |journal=Performance Research |date=3 March 2016 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=90–95 |doi=10.1080/13528165.2016.1173926 |s2cid=148622133 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rubow |first1=Cecilie |last2=Bird |first2=Cliff |title=Eco-theological Responses to Climate Change in Oceania |journal=Worldviews |date=2016 |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=150–168 |doi=10.1163/15685357-02002003 |jstor=26552256 |url=https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/ecotheological-responses-to-climate-change-in-oceania(b5e47709-5d0b-41ff-be39-3544eb29a4ff).html }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/oceania/martin-clunes-ultimate-guide-pacific-islands/ |title=Martin Clunes' ultimate guide to the Pacific islands |publisher=Telegraph.co.uk |date=8 January 2022 |access-date=27 February 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064859/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/oceania/martin-clunes-ultimate-guide-pacific-islands/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Pacific Ocean itself has been labelled as a "continent of islands", and contains approximately 25,000, which is more than all the other major oceans combined.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eh-resources.org/pacific-islands-bibliography/|title=Environmental history of the Pacific Islands: a Bibliography {{pipe}}|website=Eh-resources.org|access-date=2022-07-30|archive-date=2021-04-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419224008/https://www.eh-resources.org/pacific-islands-bibliography/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldvision.com.au/docs/default-source/publications/australia-and-the-pacific/the-pacific--transition-and-uncertainty.pdf?sfvrsn=d26fec3c_4 |title=POLICY BRIEF: The Pacific: Transition & Uncertainty |publisher=World Vision |date=March 2008 |access-date=1 June 2022 |archive-date=17 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317104928/https://www.worldvision.com.au/docs/default-source/publications/australia-and-the-pacific/the-pacific--transition-and-uncertainty.pdf?sfvrsn=d26fec3c_4 |url-status=live }}</ref> In a 1991 article, American archeologist Toni L. Carrell wrote, The vast size and distances within the [[Pacific Rim|Pacific Basin]] make it challenging to view it as a single geographical unit.<ref name="nps">{{cite web |url=http://npshistory.com/series/archeology/scrc/36/report.pdf |title=Micronesia: Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment |publisher=National Park Service |date=1991 |access-date=1 November 2022}}</ref>

Oceania's subregions of [[Australasia]], [[Melanesia]], [[Micronesia]], and [[Polynesia]] cover two major plates; the Australian Plate (also known as the [[Indo-Australian Plate]]) and the [[Pacific Plate]], in addition to two minor plates; the [[Nazca Plate]] and the [[Philippine Sea Plate]].<ref name="birds"/><ref name="plates"/> The Australian Plate includes Australia, [[Fiji]], [[New Caledonia]], [[Papua New Guinea]], [[Vanuatu]], and parts of New Zealand.<ref name="birds">{{cite book |last1=Steadman |first1=David W. |title=Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds |date=2006 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=7 |isbn=978-0226771427 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBZXJQ3HDg0C&dq=%22tropical+%22easter+island%22+%22indo+australian+plate%22&pg=PA7 |access-date=4 February 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064236/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Extinction_and_Biogeography_of_Tropical/vBZXJQ3HDg0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22tropical+%22easter+island%22+%22indo+australian+plate%22&pg=PA7&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="plates"/> The Pacific Plate covers the [[Solomon Islands (archipelago)|Solomon Islands]] and parts of New Zealand, as well as Micronesia (excluding the westernmost islands near the Philippine Sea Plate) and Polynesia (excluding Easter Island).<ref name="birds"/><ref name="plates"/> The Nazca Plate, which includes Easter Island, neighbours the [[South American Plate]], and is still considered to be a separate tectonic plate, despite only containing a handful of islands.<ref name="birds"/><ref name="plates">{{cite journal |last1=Nunn |first1=Patrick D. |last2=Kumar |first2=Lalit |last3=Eliot |first3=Ian |last4=McLean |first4=Roger F. |title=Classifying Pacific islands |journal=Geoscience Letters |date=December 2016 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=7 |doi=10.1186/s40562-016-0041-8 |bibcode=2016GSL.....3....7N |s2cid=53970527 |doi-access=free }}</ref></div>
[[File:Map of Near and Remote Oceania and location of Efate Island, Vanuatu.tif|thumb|upright=1.3|Map displaying parts of [[Near Oceania]] and [[Remote Oceania]] with a focus on [[Efate]]]]

The new terms [[Near Oceania]] and [[Remote Oceania]] were proposed in 1973 by anthropologists [[Roger Curtis Green|Roger Green]] and [[Andrew Pawley]]. By their definition, Near Oceania consists of New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands, with the exception of the [[Santa Cruz Islands]].<ref>Green & Pawley, 1973, "Dating the Dispersal of the Oceanic Languages"</ref> They are designed to dispel the outdated categories of [[Melanesia]], [[Micronesia]], and [[Polynesia]]; many scholars now replace those categories with Green's terms since the early 1990s, but the old categories are still used in science, popular culture and general usage.<ref>« Although based on a superficial understanding of the Pacific islanders, Dumont d’Urville’s tripartite classification stuck. Indeed, these categories — Polynesians, Micronesians, Melanesians — became so deeply entrenched in Western anthropological thought that it is difficult even now to break out the mould in which they entrap us ([[Nicholas Thomas (anthropologist)|Thomas]], 1989). Such labels provide handy geographical referents, yet they mislead us greatly if we take them to be meaningful segments of cultural history. Only Polynesia has stood the tests of time and increased knowledge, as a category with historical significance », [[Patrick Vinton Kirch]], ''On the Road of the Winds : an Archeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact'', Berkeley, University of California Press, 2000: 5.</ref>

===Boundaries===
{{Further|topic=Oceania borders|Boundaries between the continents of Earth|List of transcontinental countries}}

Islands at the geographic extremes of Oceania are generally considered to be the [[Bonin Islands]], a politically integral part of Japan; [[Hawaii]], a state of the [[United States]]; [[Clipperton Island]], a possession of [[France]]; [[Easter Island|Rapa Nui (Easter Island)]], belonging to [[Chile]]; and [[Macquarie Island]], belonging to Australia.<ref name="class">{{cite web |last1=Udvardy |first1=Miklos D.F. |title=A Classification of the Biogeographical Provinces of the World |url=https://fnad.org/Documentos/A%20Classification%20of%20the%20Biogeographical%20Provinces%20of%20the%20World%20Miklos%20D.F.%20Udvardy.pdf |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=7 March 2022 |archive-date=18 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218131430/http://www.fnad.org/Documentos/A%20Classification%20of%20the%20Biogeographical%20Provinces%20of%20the%20World%20Miklos%20D.F.%20Udvardy.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tourist attractions in Easter Island & Robinson Crusoe |publisher=GoChile |url=https://www.gochile.cl/en/destinations-easter-island-robinson-crusoe.htm |access-date=2 February 2022 |quote=Despite being geographically located in Oceania, Juan Fernández Archipelago belongs to the insular Chilean territory, just like Easter Island. |archive-date=2 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202002755/https://www.gochile.cl/en/destinations-easter-island-robinson-crusoe.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ausgov">{{Cite book |last1=Thomson |first1=Lex |url=https://www.aciar.gov.au/sites/default/files/mn201_trees_for_life_-_final_artwork_-_15052018_web_upload_version.pdf |title=Trees for life in Oceania: Conservation and utilisation of genetic diversity |last2=Doran |first2=John |last3=Clarke |first3=Bronwyn |date=2018 |publisher=Australian Center for International Agricultural Research |location=Canberra, Australia |page=16 |quote=In a number of cases, human exploitation of certain high-value tree species, including sandalwoods and other highly prized timbers, has led to their extinction—such as the sandalwood species ''Santalum fernandezianum'', in Juan Fernández Islands; and others to the brink of extinction, such ''S. boninensis'' in Ogasawara Islands, Japan; or is an ongoing threatening factor in the examples of ''S. yasi'' in Fiji and Tonga, ''Gyrinops spp''. in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and ''Intsia bijuga'' throughout the Pacific Islands. |access-date=24 January 2022 |archive-date=24 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124215245/https://www.aciar.gov.au/sites/default/files/mn201_trees_for_life_-_final_artwork_-_15052018_web_upload_version.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kladnik |first=Drago |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=69V7DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22geographically+part+of+oceania%22&pg=PA47 |title=Terraced Landscapes |date=2017 |publisher=Založba ZRC |page=47 |isbn=978-9610500193 |quote=In North America, agricultural terraces are exclusive to Mexico and the United States – which Hawaii, in the Pacific, is also part of, but is otherwise geographically part of Oceania. |access-date=2022-07-30 |archive-date=2022-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064236/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Terraced_Landscapes/69V7DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22geographically+part+of+oceania%22&pg=PA47&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="realm">{{cite book |last1=Todd |first1=Ian |title=Island Realm: A Pacific Panorama |date=1974 |publisher=Angus & Robertson |page=190 |isbn=978-0207127618 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gcEJAQAAIAAJ&q=%22French+language+cultures%22+1974+pacific |access-date=2 February 2022 |quote=[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. |archive-date=18 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618161036/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Island_Realm/gcEJAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22French+language+cultures%22+1974+pacific&dq=%22French+language+cultures%22+1974+pacific&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Horn |first=Walter |url=http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pubs-online/pdf/op12-6.pdf |title=Check list of the Cicindelidae of Oceania. |date=1936 |publisher=Bishop Museum |location=Honolulu, Hawaii |access-date=24 January 2022 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309041008/http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pubs-online/pdf/op12-6.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="countriesoftheworld">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Robert |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-0DAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22oceania%22+%22juan%22+%22galapagos%22&pg=PA2 |title=The Countries of the World: Volume 4 |date=1876 |publisher=Oxford University |chapter=Oceania: General Characteristics |access-date=1 February 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064236/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_countries_of_the_world/3-0DAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22oceania%22+%22juan%22+%22galapagos%22&pg=PA2&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref>

====United Nations interpretation====
{{Main|United Nations geoscheme for Oceania}}

[[File:Oceania UN Geoscheme Regions.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Oceania and its four subregions]]

The [[United Nations]] (UN) has used its own geopolitical definition of Oceania since its foundation in 1947, which utilizes four of the five subregions from the 19th century: Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. This definition consists of discrete political entities, and so excludes the Bonin Islands, Hawaii, Clipperton Island and the Juan Fernández Islands, along with Easter Island — which was annexed by Chile in 1888.<ref name="stats">{{cite web |title=Countries or areas / geographical regions |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |access-date=25 April 2019 |publisher=United Nations |archive-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830170949/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is used in statistical reports, by the [[International Olympic Committee]], and by many atlases.<ref name="Lewis 1997 32" /> The UN categorizes Oceania, and by extension the Pacific area, as one of the major continental divisions of the world, along with Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Their definition includes [[American Samoa]], Australia and their [[States and territories of Australia|external territories]], the [[Cook Islands]], [[Federated States of Micronesia]], [[French Polynesia]], Fiji, [[Guam]], [[Kiribati]], the Marshall Islands, [[Nauru]], New Caledonia, New Zealand, [[Niue]], the [[Northern Mariana Islands]], [[Palau]], Papua New Guinea, [[Pitcairn Islands]], [[Samoa]], the Solomon Islands, [[Tokelau]], [[Tonga]], [[Tuvalu]], [[Vanuatu]], [[Wallis and Futuna]], and the [[United States Minor Outlying Islands]] ([[Baker Island]], [[Howland Island]], [[Jarvis Island]], [[Midway Atoll]], [[Palmyra Atoll]], and [[Wake Island]]).<ref name="stats"/> The original UN definition of Oceania from 1947 included these same countries and semi-independent territories, which were mostly still [[Colony|colonies]] at that point.<ref>{{cite book |title=Status of the 1950 Census Program in the United States: A Preliminary Report |date=1951 |publisher=United States. Bureau of the Census |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h3v502REqhUC&dq=United+Nations+%22oceania%22&pg=PA58 |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref> Hawaii had not yet become a U.S. state in 1947, and as such was part of the original UN definition of Oceania. The island states of Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, [[Singapore]] and Taiwan, all located within the bounds of the Pacific or associated marginal seas, are excluded from the UN definition. The states of [[Hong Kong]] and [[Malaysia]], located in both mainland Asia and marginal seas of the Pacific, are also excluded, as are [[Brunei]], [[East Timor]] and [[Western New Guinea|Indonesian New Guinea/Western New Guinea]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbd.int/doc/world/tl/tl-nr-04-en.pdf|title=Timor-Leste's Fourth National Report to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity|work=Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste|access-date=12 March 2023|date=October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Westaway |first1=J. |last2=Quintao |first2=V. |last3=de Jesus Marcal |first3=S. |title=Preliminary checklist of the naturalised and pest plants of Timor-Leste |journal=Blumea - Biodiversity, Evolution and Biogeography of Plants |date=30 November 2018 |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=157–166 |doi=10.3767/blumea.2018.63.02.13 |s2cid=89935772 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2018Blume..63..157W }}</ref> [[The World Factbook|The CIA World Factbook]] also categorizes Oceania as one of the major continental divisions of the world, but the name "Australia and Oceania" is used. Their definition does not include all of Australia's external territories, but is otherwise the same as the UN's definition, and is also used for statistical purposes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/australia-and-oceania/|title=Australia and Oceania |work=The World Factbook|access-date=2022-07-30|archive-date=2022-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064857/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/australia-and-oceania/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Pacific Islands Forum expanded during the early 2010s, and areas that were already included in the UN definition of Oceania, such as French Polynesia, gained membership.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/02/how-the-pacific-islands-forum-fell-apart/|title=How the Pacific Islands Forum Fell Apart|website=thediplomat.com}}</ref>

====Early interpretations====
[[File:Meyers b12 s0582a.jpg|thumb|upright=1.85|A German map of Oceania from 1884, showing the region to encompass Australia and all islands between Asia and [[Latin America]]]]

French writer [[Gustave d'Eichthal]] remarked in 1844 that, Oceania's boundaries as extending across the entire Pacific Ocean.<ref name="eic">{{cite book |last1=Mortimer |first1=John |title=Polytechnic Review and Magazine of Science, Literature and the Fine Arts: Volume 1 |date=1844 |publisher=The University of Michigan |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5LU5AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22BOUNDARIES+OF+OCEANIA%22&pg=PA42 |access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064236/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Polytechnic_Review_and_Magazine_of_Scien/5LU5AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22BOUNDARIES+OF+OCEANIA%22&pg=PA42&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Conrad Malte-Brun]] in 1824 defined Oceania as covering Australia, New Zealand, the islands of Polynesia (which then included all the Pacific islands) and the Malay Archipelago.<ref>Which includes the present-day countries of Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Malte-Brun |first1=Conrad |title=Universal Geography: Containing the description of part of Asia, of Oceanica, &c. with additional matter, not in the European edition |date=1827 |publisher=Princeton University |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YXA9AAAAYAAJ |access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref> [[Joseph Emerson Worcester|Worcester]] described Oceania as a collection of numerous Pacific islands, categorizing it as one of the world's five major divisions. He also viewed Oceania as covering Australia, New Zealand, the Malay Archipelago and the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Worcester |first1=Joseph Emerson |title=Elements of Geography, Modern and Ancient with a Modern and an Ancient Atlas |date=1840 |publisher=Lewis and Sampson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TmFiAAAAcAAJ |access-date=13 December 2022}}</ref> In 1887, the [[Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland]] referred to Australia as the area's westernmost land,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |title=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 19 |date=1887 |publisher=Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society |page=370 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=03qFAAAAIAAJ |access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064237/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Journal_of_the_Royal_Asiatic_Society_of/03qFAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> while in 1870, British Reverend [[Alexander Murdoch Mackay|Alexander Mackay]] identified the [[Bonin Islands]] as its northernmost point, and [[Macquarie Island]] as its southernmost point.<ref name="mac">{{cite book |last1=Mackay |first1=Alexander |title=Manual of modern geography, mathematical, physical, and political: Volume 2 |date=1970 |publisher=Oxford University |page=602 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHEDAAAAQAAJ&dq=macquarie+islands+bonin+islands+oceania&pg=PA602 |access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064237/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Manual_of_modern_geography_mathematical/HHEDAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=macquarie+islands+bonin+islands+oceania&pg=PA602&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> The Bonin Islands at that time were a possession of Britain; Macquarie Island, to the south of [[Tasmania]], is a subantarctic island in the Pacific. It was politically associated with Australia and Tasmania by 1870.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/M/Macquarie%20Island.htm |title=Macquarie Island |work=Utas.edu.au |date= |accessdate=2022-09-25}}</ref>

[[Alfred Russel Wallace]] believed in 1879 that Oceania extended to the [[Aleutian Islands]], which are among the northernmost islands of the Pacific.<ref name="austral"/> The islands, now politically associated with [[Alaska]], have historically had [[Aleut|inhabitants]] that were related to [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous American]]s, in addition to having non-tropical biogeography similar to that of Alaska and [[Siberia]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.arlis.org/docs/vol1/A/1246860.pdf |title=FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA |author1=Olaus J. Murie |author2=Victor B. Scheffer |publisher=Fish and Wildlife service |location= |year=1939 |access-date=3 October 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pandian |first1=Jacob |last2=Parman |first2=Susan |title=The Making of Anthropology: The Semiotics of Self and Other in the Western Tradition |date=2004 |publisher=Vedams |page=206 |isbn=978-8179360149 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RgO8nLql2KwC&dq=%22some+exclude%22+%22ryukyu%22&pg=PA206 |access-date=31 March 2022 |quote=Some exclude from "Oceania" the nontropical islands such as Ryukyu, the Aleutian islands, and Japan, and the islands such as Formosa, Indonesia, and the Philippines that are closely linked with mainland Asia |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064238/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Making_of_Anthropology/RgO8nLql2KwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22some+exclude%22+%22ryukyu%22&pg=PA206&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> Wallace insisted while the surface area of this wide definition was greater than that of Asia and [[Europe]] combined, the land area was only a little greater than that of Europe.<ref name="austral"/> American geographer Sophia S. Cornell claimed that the Aleutian Islands were not part of Oceania in 1857.<ref name="corn">{{cite book |last1=Cornell |first1=Sophia S. |title=Cornell's Primary Geography: Forming Part First of a Systematic Series of School Geographies |year=1857 |publisher=Harvard University |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z9hizT9tiAC&dq=%22included+in+oceania%22&pg=RA2-PA95 |access-date=31 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064858/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/CORNELL_S_PRIMARY_GEOGRAPHY/1Z9hizT9tiAC?".hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22included+in+oceania%22&pg=RA2-PA95&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> She stated that Oceania was divided up into three groups; Australasia (which included Australia, New Zealand, and the Melanesian islands), [[Malesia]] (which included all present-day countries within the Malay Archipelago, not the modern country of [[Malaysia]]) and Polynesia (which included both the Polynesian and Micronesian islands in her definition).<ref name="corn"/> Aside from mainland Australia, areas that she identified as of high importance were Borneo, Hawaii, Indonesia's [[Java]] and [[Sumatra]], New Guinea, New Zealand, the Philippines, French Polynesia's [[Society Islands]], Tasmania, and Tonga.<ref name="corn"/>

American geographer [[Jesse Olney]]'s 1845 book ''A Practical System of Modern Geography'' defined Oceania as consisting of the many islands of the Pacific located southeast of Asia. Olney divided up Oceania into three groups; Australasia (which included Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand), Malesia and Polynesia (which included the combined islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia in his definition).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Olney |first1=Jesse |title=A Practical System of Modern Geography |date=1845 |publisher=Pratt, Woodford & cr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JE9SAQAAMAAJ |access-date=22 November 2022}}</ref> Publication ''Missionary Review of the World'' claimed in 1895 that Oceania was divided up into five groups; Australasia, Malesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. It did not consider Hawaii to be part of Polynesia, due to its geographic isolation, commenting that Oceania also included, "isolated groups and islands, such as the Hawaiian and [[Galápagos Islands|Galápagos]]."<ref name="missionary">{{cite book |title=Missionary Review of the World: Volume 18 |date=1895 |publisher=Funk & Wagnalls |page=533 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZRVy7TO2nTsC |access-date=31 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064354/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Missionary_Review_of_the_World/ZRVy7TO2nTsC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1876, French geographer [[Élisée Reclus]] described Australia’s plant life as highly distinctive and noted that Hawaii and the Galápagos had significant numbers of unique, endemic plant species.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reclus |first1=Élisée |title=The Earth and Its Inhabitants: Australasia |date=1876 |publisher=Oxford University |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzEBAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22hawaiian+archipelago+also+constitutes%22&pg=PA32-IA6 |access-date=9 January 2023}}</ref> [[Rand McNally|Rand McNally & Company]], an American publisher of maps and atlases, defined Oceania as including Australia and the Pacific islands while classifying the Malay Archipelago as part of Asia.<ref>{{cite book |title=Rand, McNally & Co.'s Universal Atlas of the World |date=1892 |publisher=Rand McNally and Company |page=171 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lixEAQAAMAAJ&q=%22the+110th%22+%22universal+atlas%22 |access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064354/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/RAND_MCNALLY_CO_S_UNIVERSAL_ATLAS_OF_THE/lixEAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22the+110th%22+%22universal+atlas%22&dq=%22the+110th%22+%22universal+atlas%22&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> British linguist [[Robert Needham Cust]] argued in 1887 that the Malay Archipelago should be excluded since it had participated in Asian civilization.<ref name="ess">{{cite book |last1=Cust |first1=Robert Needham |title=Linguistic and Oriental Essays: 1847-1887 |date=1887 |publisher=Trübner & Company |page=518 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZ4KtNU2-PMC |access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064357/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Linguistic_and_Oriental_Essays_1847_1887/vZ4KtNU2-PMC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> Cust considered Oceania's four subregions to be Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.<ref name="ess"/> New Zealand was categorized by him as being in Polynesia; and the only country in his definition of Australasia was Australia.<ref name="ess"/> His definition of Polynesia included both Easter Island and Hawaii, which had not yet been annexed by either Chile or the United States.<ref name="ess"/>

The ''[[Journal of the Royal Statistical Society]]'' stated in 1892 that Australia was a large island within Oceania rather than a small continent. It additionally commented: <blockquote>It is certainly not necessary to consider the Hawaiian Islands and Australia as being in the same part of the world, it is however permissible to unite in one group all the islands which are scattered over the great ocean. It should be remarked that if we take the Malay Archipelago away from Oceania, as do generally the German geographers, the insular world contained in the great ocean is cut in two, and the least populated of the five parts of the world is diminished in order to increase the number of inhabitants of the most densely populated continent.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Royal Statistical Society (Great Britain) |title=Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Volume 55 |date=1892 |publisher=Royal Statistical Society. |page=309 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hujWAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22OCEANIA%22%27&pg=PA309 |access-date=13 April 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064359/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Journal_of_the_Royal_Statistical_Society/hujWAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22OCEANIA%22%27&pg=PA309&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote> Regarding Australia and the Pacific, ''Chambers's New Handy Volume American Encyclopædia'' observed in 1885 that, the term "Oceania" has been used interchangeably with "Australasia," though often excluding the Malay Archipelago, which some writers referred to as "[[Malesia]]."<ref name="chambers"/> It added there was controversy over the exact limits of Oceania, saying that, the encyclopaedia mentioned the lack of agreement among geographers about the exact boundaries of Oceania.<ref name="chambers">{{cite book |title=Chambers's New Handy Volume American Encyclopædia: Volume 9 |date=1885 |publisher=The University of Virginia |page=657 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J2NRAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22easter+island%22+%22oceania%22+%22galapagos%22&pg=PA657 |access-date=13 March 2022 |quote=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 Malesia, 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. |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064400/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Chambers_s_New_Handy_Volume_American_Enc/J2NRAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22easter+island%22+%22oceania%22+%22galapagos%22&pg=PA657&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> British physician and ethnologist [[James Cowles Prichard]] stated that the Aleutian and [[Kuril Islands]], along with the coasts of Asia and America, marked the northern boundary of Oceania. However, Prichard argued that these islands were generally not considered part of Oceania because their inhabitants were not connected to the indigenous peoples of the more remote Pacific islands. He added that Hawaii was the most northerly area to be inhabited by races associated with Oceania.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Prichard |first1=James Cowles |title=Researches Into the Physical History of Mankind: Researches into the history of the Oceanic and of the American nations |date=1847 |publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign }}</ref>

The 1926 book ''Modern World History, 1776&ndash;1926'', by Alexander Clarence Flick, considered Oceania to include all islands in the Pacific, and associated the term with the Malay Archipelago, the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, the Aleutian Islands, Japan's [[Ryukyu Islands]], Taiwan and the Kuril Islands.<ref name="flick">{{cite book |last1=Flick |first1=Alexander Clarence |title=Modern World History, 1776-1926: A Survey of the Origins and Development of Contemporary Civilization |date=1926 |publisher=A.A. Knopf |page=492 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PhGHAAAAMAAJ&q=Modern%20World%20History,%201776-1926A%20Survey%20of%20the%20Origins%20and%20Development%20of%20Contemporary%20Civilization |access-date=10 July 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064936/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Modern_World_History_1776_1926/PhGHAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Modern+World+History%2C+1776-1926A+Survey+of+the+Origins+and+Development+of+Contemporary+Civilization |url-status=live }}</ref> He further included in his definition [[Sakhalin]], an island which is geologically part of the [[Japanese archipelago|Japanese Archipelago]], but that has been administered by Russia since [[World War II]]. Hong Kong, partly located in another marginal sea of the Pacific (the [[South China Sea]]) was also included in his definition. Australia and New Zealand were grouped together by Flick as Australasia, and categorized as being in the same area of the world as the islands of Oceania. Flick described the demographic composition of Oceania, stating that the majority of the population consisted of "brown and yellow races," while whites were primarily "owners and rulers."<ref name="flick"/> Hutton Webster's 1919 book ''Medieval and Modern History ''also defined Oceania broadly, stating that it encompassed all islands in the Pacific. Webster broke Oceania up into two subdivisions; the continental group, which included Australia, the Japanese archipelago, the Malay Archipelago and Taiwan, and the oceanic group, which included New Zealand and the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Webster |first1=Hutton |title=World History: Volume 1 |date=1921 |publisher=D. C. Heath |page=563 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cboXAAAAIAAJ&q=the+term+Oceania,+or+Oceania,+in+its+widest+sense+applies+to+all+the+Pacific+Islands. |access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref>

Charles Marion Tyler's 1885 book ''The Island World of the Pacific Ocean'' considered Oceania to ethnographically encompass Australia, New Zealand, the Malay Archipelago, and the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. However, Tyler included other Pacific islands in his book as well, such as the Aleutian Islands, the Bonin Islands, the Japanese archipelago, the Juan Fernández Islands, the Kuril Islands, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, [[California]]'s [[Channel Islands (California)|Channel Islands]] and [[Farallon Islands]], [[Canada]]'s [[Vancouver Island]] and [[Haida Gwaii|Queen Charlotte Islands]] (now known as Haida Gwaii), Chile's [[Chiloé Island]], Ecuador's Galápagos Islands, Mexico's [[Guadalupe Island]], [[Revillagigedo Islands]], [[Islas San Benito|San Benito Islands]] and [[Islas Marías|Tres Marías Islands]], and Peru's [[Chincha Islands]].<ref name="tyler">{{cite book |last1=Charles Marion |first1=Tyler |title=The Island World of the Pacific Ocean |date=1885 |publisher=Howard & Pariser |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8D5CAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22vancouver+island%22+%22pacific+islands%22+%22australia%22&pg=PR6 |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref> Islands in marginal seas of the Pacific were also covered in the book, including Alaska's [[Pribilof Islands]] and China's [[Hainan]]. Tyler additionally profiled the [[Anson Archipelago]], which during the 19th century was a designation for a widely scattered group of purported islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean between Japan and Hawaii. The Anson archipelago included [[phantom island]]s such as [[Ganges Island]] and [[Los Jardines]] which were proven to not exist, as well as real islands such as Marcus Island and Wake Island.<ref>{{cite book | last = Stommel | first = Henry | title = Lost Islands: The Story of Islands That Have Vanished from Nautical Charts | publisher = University of British Columbia Press | location = Vancouver | year = 1984 | isbn = 0-7748-0210-3 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/lostislands00henr/page/ xvii, 105ff] | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/lostislands00henr/page/ }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzhjAAAAMAAJ|title=Maritime Geography and Statistics ...|first=James Hingston|last=Tuckey|date=13 November 1815|publisher=Black, Parry & Company|via=Google Books}}</ref> Tyler described Australia as "the [[leviathan]] of the island groups of the world".<ref name="tyler"/> In his 1857 book ''A Treatise on Physical Geography'', Francis B. Fogg defined Oceania, or "the Maritime World," as being divided into three major subregions: Australasia, Malesia, and Polynesia. Fogg defined Polynesia as covering the combined islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, as well as the Ryukyu Islands. He listed additional significant islands in the Pacific beyond those in the standard subregions of Oceania.<ref>{{cite book |last1=B. Fogg |first1=Francis |title=A Treatise on Physical Geography ... |date=1857 |publisher=Ivison & Phinney |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQgAAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22hainan%22+%22galapagos%22+%22aleutian%22&pg=PA3 |access-date=22 January 2023}}</ref> Scottish academic [[John Merry Ross]] in 1879 considered Polynesia to cover the entire South and Central Pacific area, not just islands ethnographically within Polynesia. He wrote in ''The Globe Encyclopedia of Universal Information'' that, in its broadest sense, Polynesia could include islands spanning from Sumatra to the Galápagos, along with Australia.<ref name="suma">{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=John Merry |title=The Globe Encyclopedia of Universal Information: Volume 6 |year=1879 |publisher=The University of Michigan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rBaRjHkYy1cC&dq=%22literally%22+%22galapagos%22+%22sumatra%22&pg=PA166 |access-date=5 February 2023}}</ref> Ross acknowledged that Oceania had historically been applied to this vast region but noted that, by his time, the Malay Archipelago was often excluded.<ref name="suma"/>

====Historical and contemporary interpretations====
In a 1972 article for the ''[[Music Educators Journal]]'' titled ''Musics of Oceania'', author Raymond F. Kennedy wrote: <blockquote>Many meanings have been given to the word Oceania. The most inclusive–but not always the most useful–embraces about 25,000 land areas between Asia and the Americas. A more popular and practical definition excludes Indonesia, East Malaysia (Borneo), the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, and other islands closely related to the Asian mainland, as well as the Aleutians and the small island groups situated near the Americas. Thus, Oceania most commonly refers to the land areas of the South and Central Pacific.<ref name="journal">{{cite journal |last1=Kennedy |first1=Raymond F. |title=Musics of Oceania |journal=Music Educators Journal |date=October 1972 |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=59–64 |doi=10.2307/3394143 |jstor=3394143 |s2cid=191492515 }}</ref></blockquote> Kennedy defined Oceania as including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.<ref name="journal"/> The [[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Publishing Office]]'s ''Area Handbook for Oceania'' from 1971 states that Australia and New Zealand are the principal large sovereignties of the area. It further states: <blockquote>In its broadest definition Oceania embraces all islands and island groups of the Pacific Ocean that lie between Asia and the two American continents. In popular usage, however, the designation has a more restricted application. The islands of the North Pacific, such as the Aleutians and the Kuriles, usually are excluded. In addition, the series of sovereign island nations fringing Asia (Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, East Malaysia, the Republic of Indonesia) are not ordinarily considered to be part of the area.<ref name="handbook">{{cite book |last1=Henderson |first1=John William |title=Area Handbook for Oceania |date=1971 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuOIqt-UQowC&dq=%22oceania%22+%22all+islands%22&pg=PA39 }}</ref></blockquote> In 1948, American military journal ''Armed Forces Talk'' broke the islands of the Pacific up into five major subdivisions; Indonesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and the non-tropical Islands. The Indonesia subdivision consisted of the islands of the Malay Archipelago, while the non-tropical islands were categorized as being North Pacific islands such as Alaska's [[Kodiak Archipelago|Kodiak archipelago]], the Aleutian Islands, Japan, the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin. Japan's Bonin and Ryukyu Islands are also considered to be [[Subtropics|subtropical islands]], with the main Japanese archipelago being non-tropical.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1479-8298.2007.00250.x|title=Diversity of drosophilid flies on Kume-jima, a subtropical island: comparison with diversity on Iriomote-jima|first1=Masanori|last1=Kondo|first2=Masahito T.|last2=Kimura|date=13 March 2008|journal=Entomological Science|volume=11|issue=1|pages=7–15|doi=10.1111/j.1479-8298.2007.00250.x|s2cid=83888348 }}</ref> The journal associated the term Oceania with the Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian subdivisions, but not with the Indonesian or non-tropical subdivisions.<ref>{{cite book |title=Armed Forces Talk |date=1948 |publisher=War Department |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HUQV0sJpJPIC |access-date=7 September 2022}}</ref> The ''Pacific Islands Handbook'' (1945), by Robert William Robson, stated that, "Pacific Islands generally are regarded as Pacific islands lying within the tropics. There are a considerable number of Pacific Islands outside the tropics. Most of them have little economic or political importance." He noted the political significance of the Aleutian Islands, which were invaded by the Japanese military in World War II, and categorized New Zealand's [[Antipodes Islands]], [[Auckland Islands]], [[Bounty Islands]], [[Campbell Islands]], [[Chatham Island]] and [[Kermadec Islands]] as being non-tropical islands of the South Pacific, along with Australia's [[Lord Howe Island]] and Norfolk Island. The Kermadec Islands, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island are also considered to be subtropical islands. Other non-tropical areas below the [[equator]], such as Chiloé Island, Macquarie Island, Tasmania, and the southern portions of mainland Australia and New Zealand, were not included in this category.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robson |first1=Robert William |title=The Pacific Islands Handbook North American Ed. 1944 |date=1946 |publisher=Macmillan |pages=357 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mmuAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Pacific+Islands+generally+are+regarded+as+Pacific+islands+lying+within+the+Tropics%22 |access-date=9 November 2022}}</ref>

According to the 1998 book ''Encyclopedia of Earth and Physical Sciences'', Oceania refers to Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and more than 10,000 islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean. It notes that, "the term [has] also come under scrutiny by many geographers. Some experts insist that Oceania encompasses even the cold Aleutian Islands and the islands of Japan. Disagreement also exists over whether or not Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan should be included in Oceania."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Marshall Cavendish Corporation |title=Encyclopedia of Earth and Physical Sciences: Nuclear physics-Plate tectonics |date=1998 |publisher=Pennsylvania State University |page=876 |isbn=978-0761405511 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=px7YAAAAMAAJ&q=%22japan%22+%22aleutian%22+%22oceania%22 |access-date=29 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064459/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_Earth_and_Physical_Scien/px7YAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22japan%22+%22aleutian%22+%22oceania%22&dq=%22japan%22+%22aleutian%22+%22oceania%22&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> The Japanese Archipelago, the Malay Archipelago and Taiwan and other islands near China are often deemed as a geological extension of Asia, since they do not have [[Oceanic islands|oceanic geology]], instead being detached fragments of the Eurasian continent that were once [[Physical geography|physiographically]] connected.<ref>{{cite web |author= |url=https://www.dost.gov.ph/knowledge-resources/news/38-2009-news/365-philippines-islands-to-reunite-with-mainland-asia.html |title=Philippines islands to reunite with mainland Asia |website=Dost.gov.ph |date=28 August 2009 |access-date=14 July 2022 |archive-date=2 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502045840/https://www.dost.gov.ph/knowledge-resources/news/38-2009-news/365-philippines-islands-to-reunite-with-mainland-asia.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="chen">{{cite book |last1=Chenevière |first1=Alain |last2=Sabater |first2=Roger |title=Pacific: The Boundless Ocean |date=1995 |publisher=Konecky & Konecky |page=14 |isbn=978-1568522395 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=So2r2OogWtoC&q=%22form+part+of+it+since+they+are+attached+both%22 |access-date=24 April 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064502/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Pacific/So2r2OogWtoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22form+part+of+it+since+they+are+attached+both%22&dq=%22form+part+of+it+since+they+are+attached+both%22&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Osozawa |first1=Soichi |last2=Shinjo |first2=Ryuichi |last3=Armid |first3=Alroem |last4=Watanabe |first4=Yasushi |last5=Horiguchi |first5=Toshiaki |last6=Wakabayashi |first6=John |title=Palaeogeographic reconstruction of the 1.55 Ma synchronous isolation of the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, and Taiwan and inflow of the Kuroshio warm current |journal=International Geology Review |date=September 2012 |volume=54 |issue=12 |pages=1369–1388 |doi=10.1080/00206814.2011.639954 |bibcode=2012IGRv...54.1369O |s2cid=129309233 }}</ref> Certain Japanese islands off the main archipelago are not geologically associated with Asia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.science.gov/topicpages/r/ryukyu+islands+japan.html|title=ryukyu islands japan: Topics by Science.gov|website=Science.gov|access-date=2022-07-30|archive-date=2022-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408172011/https://www.science.gov/topicpages/r/ryukyu+islands+japan.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ohba |first1=Michio |last2=Tsuchiyama |first2=Akira |last3=Shisa |first3=Noriko |last4=Nakashima |first4=Kei |last5=Lee |first5=Dong-Hyun |last6=Ohgushi |first6=Akira |last7=Wasano |first7=Naoya |title=Naturally occurring Bacillus thuringiensis in oceanic islands of Japan, Daito-shoto and Ogasawara-shoto. |journal=Applied Entomology and Zoology |date=2002 |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=477–480 |doi=10.1303/aez.2002.477 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2002AppEZ..37..477O }}</ref> The book ''The World and Its Peoples: Australia, New Zealand, Oceania'' (1966) asserts that, "Japan, Taiwan, the Aleutian Islands, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia [and] the Pacific archipelagos bordering upon the [[East Asia|Far East Asian]] mainland are excluded from Oceania", and that "all the islands lying between Australia and the Americas, including Australia, are part of Oceania."<ref name="nz">{{cite book |title=The World and Its Peoples: Australia, New Zealand, Oceania |date=1966 |publisher=Greystone Press |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MhBAAAAIAAJ&q=%22excluded+from+oceania%22 |access-date=29 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064537/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_World_and_Its_Peoples_Australia_New/4MhBAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22excluded+from+oceania%22&dq=%22excluded+from+oceania%22&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> Furthermore, the book adds that Hawaii is still within Oceania, despite being politically integrated into the U.S., and that the Pacific Ocean "gives unity to the whole" since "all these varied lands emerge from or border upon the Pacific."<ref name="nz"/>

The 1876 book ''The Countries of the World'', by British scientist and explorer [[Robert Brown (botanist, born 1842)|Robert Brown]], labelled the Malay Archipelago as Northwestern Oceania, but Brown still noted that these islands belonged more to the Asian continent. They are now often referred to as [[Maritime Southeast Asia]], with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore being founding members of the [[ASEAN]] regional organization for [[Southeast Asia]] in 1967 (Brunei and East Timor did not exist as independent nations at that point).<ref name="countriesoftheworld"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chong |first1=Teck Choy |title=Brunei Darussalam Independence 1984: The Memorable Year 1984, a New Nation was Born |date=2015 |publisher=Sci-Tech Technologies |isbn=978-9991796000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KnUjwEACAAJ |access-date=20 January 2023}}</ref> Brown also categorized Japan and Taiwan as being in the same part of the world as the islands of Oceania, and excluded them from ''The Countries of the World: Volume 5'', which covered mainland Asia and Hong Kong.<ref name="countriesoftheworld"/> However, Brown did not explicitly associate Japan or Taiwan with the term Oceania.<ref name="countriesoftheworld"/> He divided Oceania into two subregions: Eastern Oceania, which included the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, and Southwestern Oceania, which included Australia and New Zealand.<ref name="countriesoftheworld"/> The Galápagos Islands, the Juan Fernández Islands and the Revillagigedo Islands were identified as the easternmost areas of Oceania in the book. Brown wrote, "they lie nearest the American continent of all oceanic islands, and though rarely associated with Polynesia, and never appearing to have been inhabited by any aboriginal races, are, in many ways, remarkable and interesting."<ref name="countriesoftheworld"/> Brown went on to add, "the small islands lying off the continent, like the [[Queen Charlotte Islands|Queen Charlotte's]] in the North Pacific, the [[Farallon Islands|Farallones]] off California, and the [[Chincha Islands|Chinchas]] off Peru are—to all intents and purposes, only detached bits of the adjoining shores. But in the case of the Galápagos, at least, this is different."<ref name="countriesoftheworld"/> The Juan Fernández Islands and the neighbouring [[Desventuradas Islands]] are today seen as the easternmost extension of the Indo-West Pacific biogeographic region. The islands lie on the Nazca Plate with Easter Island and the Galápagos Islands, and have a significant south central Pacific component to their marine fauna.<ref name="marine">{{cite journal|title=Marine Biodiversity in Juan Fernández and Desventuradas Islands, Chile: Global Endemism Hotspots |publisher=Journals.plos.org |date=6 January 2016 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0145059 |doi-access=free |last1=Friedlander |first1=Alan M. |last2=Ballesteros |first2=Enric |last3=Caselle |first3=Jennifer E. |last4=Gaymer |first4=Carlos F. |last5=Palma |first5=Alvaro T. |last6=Petit |first6=Ignacio |last7=Varas |first7=Eduardo |last8=Muñoz Wilson |first8=Alex |last9=Sala |first9=Enric |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=e0145059 |pmid=26734732 |pmc=4703205 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1145059F }}</ref><ref name="east">{{cite journal |last1=Pequeño |first1=Germán |title=Shore Fishes of Easter Island, John E. Randall & Alfredo Cea Egaña |journal=Gayana |date=2011 |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages=201–202 |id={{ProQuest|920291064}} |doi=10.4067/S0717-65382011000200011 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="class"/> According to scientific journal ''[[PLOS One]]'', the [[Humboldt Current]] helps create a biogeographic barrier between the marine fauna of these islands and South America.<ref name="marine"/> Chile's government have occasionally considered them to be within Oceania along with Easter Island.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Georgia |title=Rapa Nui Journal: Volumes 7-10 |date=1993 |publisher=University of Texas |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXvjAAAAMAAJ&q=%22juan+fernandez%22+%22oceania%22+%22rapa+nui%22 |access-date=19 March 2022 |quote=[...] Chile Division of Cultural Affairs and Information (DIRACI) [stated] that Chile's area included "180 km2 (69.48 miles) of Oceania— Easter Island, Juan Fernandez Archipelago (Robinson Crusoe Island) and other islands off the Chilean coast." The ''Pacific Islands Handbook'' (1989) and ''Encyclopedia of World Cultures'' (1991) did not realize that they had overestimated Rapa Nui because of this. |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064541/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Rapa_Nui_Journal/ZXvjAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22juan+fernandez%22+%22oceania%22+%22rapa+nui%22&dq=%22juan+fernandez%22+%22oceania%22+%22rapa+nui%22&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> Chile's government also categorize Easter Island, the Desventuradas Islands and the Juan Fernández Islands as being part of a region titled [[Insular Chile]]. They further include in this region Salas y Gómez, a small uninhabited island to the east of Easter Island. ''PLOS One'' describe Insular Chile as having "cultural and ecological connections to the broader insular Pacific."<ref name="marine"/>

[[File:Members of Pacific Island Forum.svg|thumb|upright=1.55|A map of member states for the [[Pacific Islands Forum]], the member states are depicted in blue. The PIF is a governing organization for the Pacific, and all of its members are seen as being politically within Oceania. Territories ethnographically associated with Oceania, but not politically associated with Oceania, such as Easter Island, Hawaii, and Western New Guinea, have considered gaining representation in the PIF. The Pacific island nations of Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan are dialogue partners, but none have full membership. East Timor, located in marginal seas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, also have observer status.]]
[[File:Map of the Territorial Waters of the Pacific Ocean.png|thumb|upright=1.55|An [[exclusive economic zone]] map of the Pacific which includes areas not politically associated with Oceania, that may be considered geographically or geologically within Oceania]]

In her 1997 book ''Australia and Oceania'', Australian historian [[Kate Darian-Smith]] defined the area as covering Australia, New Zealand and the islands of the Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. She excluded Hawaii from her definition, but not Easter Island.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Kate Darian |title=Australia and Oceania |date=1997 |publisher=Raintree Steck-Vaughn |isbn=978-0817247782 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2VnZUM8DzEC&q=%22AUSTRALIA+AND+OCEANIA%22+1997+EASTER |access-date=6 January 2023}}</ref> The [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] stated in a 1986 report that they include Easter Island in their definition of Oceania "on the basis of its Polynesian and biogeographic affinities even though it is politically apart", further noting that other oceanic islands administered by Latin American countries had been included in definitions of Oceania.<ref>{{cite book |title=Review of the Protected Areas System in Oceania |date=1986 |isbn=978-2-88032-509-1 |url=https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/30152 |quote=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. |last1=Dahl |first1=Arthur Lyon |publisher=The Union }}</ref> In 1987, ''The Journal of Australasian Cave Research'' described Oceania as being "the region from [[Irian Jaya]] (Western New Guinea, a province of New Guinea) in the west to Galápagos Islands (Equador) and Easter Island (Chile) in the east."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Oceania Bibliography |journal=Helictite: Journal of Australasian Cave Research |date=1987 |volume=25 |issue=1 |url=https://helictite.caves.org.au/pdf4/25.01.Issue.Print.pdf |access-date=16 March 2022 |quote=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. |archive-date=22 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322012745/https://helictite.caves.org.au/pdf4/25.01.Issue.Print.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In a 1980 report on [[Sexually transmitted infection|venereal disease]]s in the South Pacific, the ''British Journal of Venereal Diseases'' categorized the Desventuradas Islands, Easter Island, the Galápagos Islands and the Juan Fernández Islands as being in an eastern region of the South Pacific, along with areas such as Pitcairn Islands and French Polynesia, but noted that the Galápagos Islands were not a member of the [[Pacific Community|South Pacific Commission]], like other islands in the South Pacific.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://sti.bmj.com/content/sextrans/56/4/204.full.pdf |title=Venereal diseases in the islands of the South Pacific |last1=Willcox |first1=R. R. |journal=British Journal of Venereal Diseases |volume=56 |issue= 4|year=1980 |pages=204–209 |doi=10.1136/sti.56.4.204 |pmid=7427693 |pmc=1045778 |access-date=3 September 2022 }}</ref> The South Pacific Commission is a developmental organization formed in 1947 and is currently known as the Pacific Community; its members include Australia and other Pacific Islands Forum members. In a 1947 article on the formation of the South Pacific Commission for the ''Pacific Affairs'' journal, author Roy E. James stated the organization's scope encompassed all non-self governing islands below the equator to the east of Papua New Guinea (which itself was included in the scope and then known as [[Dutch New Guinea]]). Easter Island and the Galápagos Islands were defined by James as falling within the organization's geographical parameters.<ref>James, R.E., 1947. The South Pacific Commission. ''Pacific Affairs'', pp.193-198.</ref> The 2007 book ''Asia in the Pacific Islands: Replacing the West'', by New Zealand Pacific scholar [[Ron Crocombe]], defined the term "Pacific Islands" as being islands in the South Pacific Commission, and stated that such a definition "does not include Galápagos and other [oceanic] islands off the Pacific coast of the Americas; these were uninhabited when Europeans arrived, then integrated with a South American country and have almost no contact with other Pacific Islands." He adds, "Easter Island still participates in some Pacific Island affairs because its people are Polynesian."<ref name="asianpacific"/>

[[Thomas Sebeok]]'s two volume 1971 book ''Linguistics in Oceania'' defines Easter Island, the Galápagos Islands, the Juan Fernández Islands, [[Costa Rica]]'s [[Cocos Island]] and [[Colombia]]'s [[Malpelo Island]] (all oceanic)<ref name="zug"/> as making up a [[Spanish language]] segment of Oceania.<ref name="ling"/> Cocos Island and Malpelo Island are the only landmasses located on the [[Cocos Plate]], which is to the north of the Nazca Plate. The book observed that a native Polynesian language was still understood on Easter Island, unlike with the other islands, which were uninhabited when discovered by Europeans and mostly being used as prisons for convicts.<ref name="ling"/> Additionally, the book includes Taiwan and the entire Malay Archipelago as part of Oceania.<ref name="lingtai">{{cite book |last1=Bowen |first1=James Dean |title=Linguistics in Oceania, 2 |date=1971 |publisher=The University of Michigan |page= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYouAAAAMAAJ&q=taiwan+Linguistics+in+Oceania+(2+v. |access-date=2 February 2022 |chapter=Japanese in Taiwan |quote= |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064537/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Current_Trends_in_Linguistics_Linguistic/lYouAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=taiwan+Linguistics+in+Oceania+%282+v.&dq=taiwan+Linguistics+in+Oceania+%282+v.&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> While not oceanic in nature, Taiwan and Malay Archipelago countries like Indonesia and the Philippines share [[Austronesians|Austronesia]]n ethnolinguistic origins with Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, hence their inclusion in the book.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p69411/pdf/book.pdf |title=The Austronesians: Historical and comparative perspectives |editor1=Peter Bellwood |editor2=James J. Fox |editor3=Darrell Tryon |publisher=Australian National University |location=Canberra |year=2006 |access-date=1 June 2022 |archive-date=24 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524202017/https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p69411/pdf/book.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="lingtai"/> Hainan, which neighbours Taiwan, also has Austronesian ethnolinguistic origins, although it was not included in the book.<ref>{{cite journal | pmc=2374892 | year=2008 | last1=Li | first1=D. | last2=Li | first2=H. | last3=Ou | first3=C. | last4=Lu | first4=Y. | last5=Sun | first5=Y. | last6=Yang | first6=B. | last7=Qin | first7=Z. | last8=Zhou | first8=Z. | last9=Li | first9=S. | last10=Jin | first10=L. | title=Paternal Genetic Structure of Hainan Aborigines Isolated at the Entrance to East Asia | journal=PLOS ONE | volume=3 | issue=5 | pages=e2168 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0002168 | pmid=18478090 | bibcode=2008PLoSO...3.2168L | doi-access=free }}</ref> The book defined Oceania's major subregions as being Australia, Indonesia (which included all areas associated with the Malay Archipelago), Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. In 2010, Australian historian Bronwen Douglas claimed in ''The Journal of Pacific History'' that "a strong case could be made for extending Oceania to at least Taiwan, the homeland of the Austronesian language family whose speakers colonized significant parts of the region about 6,000 years ago."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Douglas |first1=Bronwen |title='Terra Australis' to Oceania: Racial Geography in the "Fifth Part of the World" |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |date=2010 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=179–210 |doi=10.1080/00223344.2010.501696 |jstor=25764398 |pmid=20836257 |hdl=1885/52012 |s2cid=205438654 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> For political reasons, Taiwan was a member of the [[Oceania Football Confederation]] during the 1970s and 1980s, rather than the [[Asian Football Confederation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goal.com/en-au/news/chinese-taipei-india-intercontinental-cup-know-your-rivals/bugueu6dtcwd1u6nbyi6wmj90/match/4c8k8i08ssh8dc5lclsl4sxuy|title=Indian National Football Team: Know Your Rivals - Chinese Taipei|website=Goal.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Van Fossen |first1=Anthony |title=The Struggle for Recognition: Diplomatic Competition Between China and Taiwan in Oceania |journal=Journal of Chinese Political Science |date=August 2007 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=125–146 |doi=10.1007/s11366-007-9008-0 |hdl=10072/18133 |s2cid=154652706 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Ian Todd's 1974 book ''Island Realm: A Pacific Panorama'' also defines oceanic Latin American islands as making up a Spanish language segment of Oceania, and included the Desventuradas Islands, Easter Island, the Galápagos Islands, Guadalupe Island, the Juan Fernández Islands, the Revillagigedo Islands and Salas y Gómez. Cocos Island and Malpelo Island were not explicitly referenced in the book, despite being areas which would fall within this range. All other islands associated with Latin American countries were excluded, as they are continental in nature, unlike Guadalupe Island and the Revillagigedo Islands (both situated on the Pacific Plate) and the oceanic islands situated on the Cocos Plate and Nazca Plate. Todd defined the oceanic Bonin Islands as making up a [[Japanese language]] segment of Oceania, and excluded the main Japanese archipelago.<ref name="realm"/> Todd further included the Aleutian Islands in his definition of Oceania. The island chain borders both the Pacific Plate and the [[North American Plate]], and is geologically a partially submerged volcanic extension of the [[Aleutian Range]] on the Alaskan mainland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hurtigruten.com/en-us/expeditions/stories/tectonics-of-the-east-pacific/|title=Tectonics of the East Pacific {{pipe}} Hurtigruten Expeditions|website=hurtigruten.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.apiai.org/departments/cultural-heritage-department/culture-history/history/|title=History {{pipe}}|website=Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association}}</ref><ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Aleutian Islands|volume=1|pages=543–544}}</ref> He did not include the volcanic Kuril Islands and Ryukyu Islands, which similarly border both the Eurasian Plate and the Pacific Plate,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Prasad |first1=Birendra |title=BPSC General Studies Preliminary Guide 2022 |date=2021 |publisher=Prabhat Prakashan |isbn=978-9354880216 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VFFREAAAQBAJ&dq=volcanic+islands+ryuku+kuril&pg=RA1-PA12 |access-date=19 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.soundseismic.com/earthquake-resources/kuril-islands-earthquake-of-8-5-magnitude|title=1963 Kuril Islands earthquake of 8.5 magnitude &#124; Sound Seismic|website=soundseismic.com}}</ref> nor did he include the neighbouring Kodiak archipelago in the North Pacific Ocean, which is firmly situated on the North American Plate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dggs.alaska.gov/popular-geology/earthquakes-tsunamis.html|title=Popular Geology - Earthquakes & Tsunamis|website=dggs.alaska.gov}}</ref> ''The Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies'' stated in 1996 that Oceania was defined as Australia and an ensemble of various Pacific Islands, "particularly those in the central and south Pacific [but] never those in the extreme north, for example the Aleutian chain."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies: Volumes 6-8 |date=1996 |publisher=Center for Pacific Asia Studies, University of Stockholm |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qP8uAQAAIAAJ&q=%22extreme+north%22+%22oceania%22+1996+%22aleutian%22 |access-date=31 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064537/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Stockholm_Journal_of_East_Asian_Stud/qP8uAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22extreme+north%22+%22oceania%22+1996+%22aleutian%22&dq=%22extreme+north%22+%22oceania%22+1996+%22aleutian%22&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> In the ''Pacific Ocean Handbook'' (1945), author Eliot Grinnell Mears claimed, "it is customary to exclude the Aleutians of the North Pacific, the American coastal islands and the [[Netherlands East Indies]]", and that he included Australia and New Zealand in Oceania for "scientific reasons; Australia's fauna is largely continental in character, New Zealand's are clearly insular; and neither [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth realm]] has close ties with Asia."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mears |first1=Eliot Grinnell |title=Pacific Ocean Handbook |date=1945 |publisher=J. L. Delkin |pages=45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ku04AAAAIAAJ&q=%22customary%22+%22exclude%22+%22north+pacific%22+%22aleutians%22 |access-date=27 July 2022}}</ref> In his 2002 book ''Oceania: An Introduction to the Cultures and Identities of Pacific Islanders'', Andrew Strathern excluded [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] and the rest of the Ryukyu Islands from his definition of Oceania, but noted that the islands and their [[Ryukyuan people|indigenous inhabitants]] "show many parallels with Pacific island societies."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Strathern |first1=Andrew |title=Oceania: An Introduction to the Cultures and Identities of Pacific Islanders |year=2002 |publisher=Carolina Academic Press |page=5 |isbn=978-0890894446 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_AMAQAAMAAJ&q=okinawa+%22Pacific+island+societies.%22 |access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref>

In the 2006 book ''Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds'', American paleontologist [[David Steadman]] wrote, "no place on earth is as perplexing as the 25,000 islands that make Oceania." Steadman viewed Oceania as encompassing Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (including Easter Island and Hawaii). He excluded from his definition the larger islands of New Guinea and New Zealand, and argued that Cocos Island, the Galápagos Islands, the Revillagigedo Islands and other oceanic islands nearing the Americas were not part of Oceania, due to their biogeographical affinities with that area and lack of prehistoric indigenous populations.<ref name="birds"/> In his 2018 book ''Regionalism in South Pacific'', Chinese author Yu Changsen wrote that some "stress a narrow vision of the Pacific as those Pacific Islands excluding Australia and even sometimes New Zealand", adding that the term Oceania "promotes a broader concept that has room for Australia and New Zealand."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Changsen |first1=Yu |title=Regionalism in South Pacific |date=2018 |publisher=[[Social Sciences Literature Press]] |isbn=978-7520133111 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmVmEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22room+for+australia%22+%22pacific%22+%22oceania%22&pg=PT8 |access-date=6 December 2022}}</ref>

American marine geologist Anthony A. P. Koppers wrote in the 2009 book ''Encyclopedia of Islands'' that, "as a whole, the islands of the Pacific Region are referred to as Oceania, the tenth continent on earth. Inherent to their remoteness and because of the wide variety of island types, the Pacific Islands have developed unique social, biological and geological characteristics." Koppers considered Oceania to encompass the entire 25,000 islands of the Pacific Ocean. In this book, he included the Aleutian Islands, the Galápagos Islands, the Japanese archipelago, the Kuril Islands and continental islands off the coast of the Americas such as the Channel Islands, the Farallon Islands and Vancouver Island;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clague |first1=David |last2=Gillespie |first2=Rosemary |title=Encyclopedia of Islands |date=2009 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520256491 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9ZogGs_fz8C |access-date=5 December 2022}}</ref> all of these islands lie in or close to the Pacific [[Ring of Fire]], as is the case with New Guinea and New Zealand, which were also included. In the 2013 book ''The Environments of the Poor in Southeast Asia, East Asia and the Pacific'', Paul Bullen critiqued the definition of Oceania in ''Encyclopedia of Islands'', and wrote that since Koppers included areas such as Vancouver Island, it is "not clear what the referents of 'Pacific Region', 'Oceania' or 'Pacific Islands' are." Bullen added that, "Asia, Europe and the Maritime Continent are not literal geographic continents. The '[[Asia–Pacific]] region' would comprise two quasi-continents. 'The Pacific' would not refer to the Pacific Ocean and everything in it e.g., the Philippines."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bullen |first1=Paul |title=The Environments of the Poor in Southeast Asia, East Asia and the Pacific |date=19 November 2013 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |isbn=9789814517997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ev3AwAAQBAJ&dq=%22vancouver+island%22+%22oceania%22+%22pacific+region%22&pg=PA134 |access-date=5 December 2022}}</ref> ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names'' (2017), by John Everett-Heath, states that Oceania is "a collective name for more than 10,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean" and that "it is generally accepted that Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the islands north of Japan (the Kurils and Aleutians) are excluded."<ref name="ev">{{cite book |last1=Everett-Heath |first1=John |title=The Concise Dictionary of World Place Names |date=2017 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-255646-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qgJCDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22generally+accepted%22+oceania+excluded+japan&pg=PT1171 |access-date=8 July 2022 |quote=It is generally accepted that Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the islands north of Japan (the Kurils and Aleutians) are excluded}}</ref> In his 1993 book ''A New Oceania: Rediscovering Our Sea of Islands'', New Guinea-born [[Fijians|Fijian]] scholar [[Epeli Hauʻofa]] wrote that, "Pacific Ocean islands from Japan, through the Philippines and Indonesia, which are adjacent to the Asian mainland, do not have oceanic cultures, and are therefore not part of Oceania."<ref name="edu au" />

''The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania'' (2018) defined Oceania as only covering Austronesian-speaking islands in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, with this definition including New Guinea and New Zealand. Other Austronesian areas such as Indonesia and the Philippines were not included, due to their closer cultural proximity to mainland Asia. Australia was also not included, as it was settled several thousands of years before the arrival of Austronesian-speaking peoples in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The book stated, "this definition of Oceania might seem too restrictive: Why not include Australia, for example, or even too broad, for what does [[New Guinea Highlands|Highland New Guinea]] have to do with Hawai'i?", further noting that, "a few other islands in the Pacific such as those of Japan or the Channel Islands off the southern California coast are not typically considered Oceania as the indigenous populations of these places do not share a common ancestry with Oceanic groups, except for a time far before humans sailed Pacific waters."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cochrane |first1=Ethan E. |last2=Hunt |first2=Terry L. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-992507-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZRODwAAQBAJ&dq=%22islands+in+the+pacific+such+as+those+of+japan%22&pg=PA1 |access-date=21 January 2023}}</ref> It has been theorized that the indigenous [[Jōmon people]] of the Japanese archipelago are related to Austronesians, along with the indigenous inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands. Some also theorize that [[Indigenous Australian]]s are related to the [[Ainu people]], who are the original inhabitants of Japan's [[Hokkaido]], the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin.<ref>{{cite web |author=Moller Eric |url=https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/ainu-spirit-northern-people |title=Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People |publisher=Cultural Survival |date= 18 July 2022|accessdate=2022-09-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9783110807554.195 |chapter=Dentition of the Ainu and the Australian Aborigines |title=Orofacial Growth and Development |year=1977 |last1=Hanihara |first1=Kazuro |pages=195–200 |isbn=978-90-279-7889-9 }}</ref> In their 2019 book ''Women and Violence: Global Lives in Focus'', Kathleen Nadeau and Sangita Rayamajhi wrote: <blockquote>the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and most of Indonesia are not usually considered to be part of the region of Oceania as it is understood today. These regions are usually considered to be part of Maritime Southeast Asia. Although these regions, as well as the large East Asian islands of Taiwan, Hainan and the Japanese archipelago, have varying degrees of cultural connections.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nadeau |first1=Kathleen |last2=Rayamajhi |first2=Sangita |title=Women and Violence: Global Lives in Focus |date=2023 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1440862243 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KXe5DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22hainan%22+%22varying+degrees+of+cultural%22&pg=PA231 |access-date=20 January 2023}}</ref></blockquote>

In ''Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pacific Islands: A Comprehensive Guide'' (2013), [[George Robert Zug|George R. Zug]] claimed that "a standard definition of Oceania includes Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, and New Zealand and the oceanic islands of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia." He went on to write that his preferred definition of Oceania emphasizes islands with oceanic geology, stating that oceanic islands are, "islands with no past connections to a continental landmass" and that, "these boundaries encompass the Hawaiian and Bonin Islands in the north and Easter Island in the south, and the [[Palau]] Islands in the west to the Galápagos Islands in the east."<ref name="zug">{{cite book |last1=Zug |first1=George R. |author-link=George Robert Zug |title=Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pacific Islands: A Comprehensive Guide |date=2013 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |page= |quote=}} 320 pp. {{ISBN|978-0520274969}}.</ref> Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and New Caledonia (which is geologically associated with New Zealand) were all excluded, as these areas are descendants of the ancient [[Pangaea]] supercontinent, along with landmasses such as the Americas and [[Afro-Eurasia]]. Volcanic islands which are geologically associated with continental landmasses, such as the Aleutian Islands, Japan's [[Izu Islands]], the Kuril Islands, the Ryukyu Islands and most of the Solomon Islands, were also excluded from his definition. Unlike the United Nations, the World Factbook defines the still-uninhabited Clipperton Island as being a discrete political entity, and they categorize it as part of North America, presumably due to its relative proximity (situated 1,200 kilometres off Mexico on the Pacific Plate). Clipperton is not politically associated with the Americas, as is the case with other oceanic islands nearing the Americas, having had almost no interaction with the continent throughout its history.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p241101/pdf/book.pdf |title=France in the South Pacific: Power and Politics |author=Denise Fisher |publisher=Australian National University |location=Canberra |year=2013 |access-date=1 June 2022 |archive-date=26 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326211929/https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p241101/pdf/book.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pacific-studies.net/datadetails.php?place=4&type=Data&source=3|title=pacific-studies.eu: Clipperton Island (France) {{pipe}} The World Factbook|website=Pacific-studies.net|access-date=2022-07-30|archive-date=2022-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204075635/https://www.pacific-studies.net/datadetails.php?place=4&type=Data&source=3|url-status=live}}</ref> From the early 20th century to 2007, the island was administratively part of French Polynesia, which itself was known as French Oceania up until 1957.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/summary/French-Polynesia|title=French Polynesia summary {{pipe}} Britannica|website=Britannica.com|access-date=2022-07-30|archive-date=2022-05-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504205135/https://www.britannica.com/summary/French-Polynesia|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Clipperton-Island|title=Clipperton Island {{pipe}} island, Pacific Ocean {{pipe}} Britannica|website=Britannica.com|access-date=2022-07-30|archive-date=2022-05-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504205134/https://www.britannica.com/place/Clipperton-Island|url-status=live}}</ref> In terms of marine fauna, Clipperton shares similarities with areas of the Pacific which are much farther removed from the Americas.<ref name="clipzoo">{{cite web |last1=Robertson |first1=D. Ross |last2=Allen |first2=Gerald R. |year=1996 |title=Zoogeography of the shorefish fauna of Clipperton Atoll |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/19435 |publisher=Repository.si.edu |hdl=10088/19435 |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112172307/https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/19435 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.2839.1.1 |title=Sponges from Clipperton Island, East Pacific |journal=Zootaxa |publisher=Mapress.com |date= 29 April 2011 |volume=2839 |issue=1 |pages=1–46–1–46 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.2839.1.1 |access-date=27 February 2022 |archive-date=27 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227130813/https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.2839.1.1 |url-status=live |last1=Van Soest |first1=Rob W. M. |last2=Kaiser |first2=Kirstie L. |last3=Van Syoc |first3=Robert |citeseerx=10.1.1.296.6640 }}</ref> Scottish author [[Robert Hope Moncrieff]] considered Clipperton to be the easternmost point of Oceania in 1907, while Ian Todd also included it in his definition of Oceania in ''Island Realm: A Pacific Panorama''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moncrieff |first1=Robert Hope |title=The World of To-day A Survey of the Lands and Peoples of The Globe as Seen in Travel and Commerce: Volume 4 |date=1907 |publisher=Oxford University |page=222 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VPVaAAAAQAAJ&q=%22easter+island%22+%22clipperton+island%22+%22oceania%22 |access-date=28 March 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064635/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_World_of_To_day/VPVaAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22easter+island%22+%22clipperton+island%22+%22oceania%22&dq=%22easter+island%22+%22clipperton+island%22+%22oceania%22&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref>

Other uninhabited Pacific Ocean landmasses have been explicitly associated with Oceania,<ref name="janick">{{Cite book |last=Janick |first=Jules |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrXCupIJVQMC&dq=%22galapagos%22+%22oceania%22+%22polynesia%22&pg=PA146 |title=Horticultural Reviews, Volume 36 |date=2010 |publisher=Wiley |page=146 |isbn=978-0470527221 |quote=Oceania is a broadly applied term for the thousands of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They range from extremely small, uninhabited islands, to large ones, including Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea. Oceania is further grouped into three regions, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. There a few other Pacific island groups that do not fit into these groupings, such as Galapagos. |access-date=1 February 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064634/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Horticultural_Reviews_Volume_36/DrXCupIJVQMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22galapagos%22+%22oceania%22+%22polynesia%22&pg=PA146&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> including the highly remote Baker Island and Wake Island (now administered by the [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]]).<ref name="stats"/> This is due to their location in the centre of the Pacific, their biogeography and their oceanic geology. Less isolated oceanic islands that were once uninhabited, such as the Bonin Islands, the Galápagos Islands and the Juan Fernández Islands, have since been sparsely populated by citizens of their political administrators.<ref name="realm"/><ref name="ling"/> Archaeological evidence suggests that [[Micronesians]] may have lived on the Bonin Islands {{c.|2,000}} years ago, but they were uninhabited at the time of European discovery in the 16th century.<ref>{{citation |last=Welsch |first=Bernhard |date=June 2004 |contribution-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25169675 |contribution=Was Marcus Island Discovered by Bernardo de la Torre in 1543? |title=Journal of Pacific History |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=109–122 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=Milton Park |doi=10.1080/00223340410001684886 |jstor=25169675 |s2cid=219627973 }}.</ref>

====Boundaries between subregions====
Depending on the definition, New Zealand could be part of Polynesia, or part of Australasia with Australia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dumas |first1=Michel |last2=Preux |first2=Pierre-Marie |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KUuZDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22new+zealand%22+%22australasia+or+polynesia%22&pg=PA87 |title=Neuroepidemiology in Tropical Health |date=2017 |publisher=Academic Press |page=87 |access-date=6 February 2022 |chapter=Neurologic Diseases in Tropical Oceania |isbn=978-0128046258 |archive-date=4 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304050555/https://books.google.com/books?id=KUuZDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22new+zealand%22+%22australasia+or+polynesia%22&pg=PA87 |url-status=live }}</ref> New Zealand was originally settled by the Polynesian [[Māori people|Māori]], and has long maintained a political influence over the subregion.<ref name="southsea">{{cite book |last1=Halter |first1=Nicholas |title=Australian Travellers in the South Seas |date=2021 |publisher=ANU Press |isbn=978-1760464158 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAAbEAAAQBAJ |access-date=10 January 2022 |archive-date=6 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206160214/https://books.google.com/books?id=dAAbEAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="lowy18">{{cite web |url=https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/nz-and-australia-big-brothers-or-distant-cousins |title=NZ and Australia: Big Brothers or Distant Cousins? {{pipe}} The Interpreter |publisher=Lowyinstitute.org |date=9 July 2020 |access-date=6 February 2022 |archive-date=6 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206160214/https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/nz-and-australia-big-brothers-or-distant-cousins |url-status=live }}</ref> Through immigration and high Māori birth rates, New Zealand has attained the largest population of Polynesians in the world,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whimp |first1=Graeme |chapter=Working in the Space Between: Pacific Artists in Aotearoa/New Zealand |date=2009 |hdl=10125/146805b24 |editor1-first=A. Marata |editor1-last=Tamaira |title=In The Space Between: Negotiating Culture, Place, and Identity in the Pacific |pages=9–23 }}</ref> while Australia has the third largest Polynesian population (consisting entirely of immigrants). Modern-day Indigenous Australians are loosely related to Melanesians,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Whole-Genome Genetic Diversity in a Sample of Australians with Deep Aboriginal Ancestry|last1=McEvoy|first1=B. P.|last2=Lind|first2=J. M.|last3=Wang|first3=E. T.|last4=Moyzis|first4=R. K.|last5=Visscher|first5=P. M.|last6=Van Holst Pellekaan|first6=S. M.|last7=Wilton|first7=A. N.|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|year=2010|volume=87|issue=2|pages=297–305|doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.07.008|pmc=2917718|pmid=20691402}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Malaspinas |first1=Anna-Sapfo |last2=Westaway |first2=Michael C. |last3=Muller |first3=Craig |last4=Sousa |first4=Vitor C. |last5=Lao |first5=Oscar |last6=Alves |first6=Isabel |last7=Bergström |first7=Anders |last8=Athanasiadis |first8=Georgios |last9=Cheng |first9=Jade Y. |last10=Crawford |first10=Jacob E. |last11=Heupink |first11=Tim H. |last12=Macholdt |first12=Enrico |last13=Peischl |first13=Stephan |last14=Rasmussen |first14=Simon |last15=Schiffels |first15=Stephan |last16=Subramanian |first16=Sankar |last17=Wright |first17=Joanne L. |last18=Albrechtsen |first18=Anders |last19=Barbieri |first19=Chiara |last20=Dupanloup |first20=Isabelle |last21=Eriksson |first21=Anders |last22=Margaryan |first22=Ashot |last23=Moltke |first23=Ida |last24=Pugach |first24=Irina |last25=Korneliussen |first25=Thorfinn S. |last26=Levkivskyi |first26=Ivan P. |last27=Moreno-Mayar |first27=J. Víctor |last28=Ni |first28=Shengyu |last29=Racimo |first29=Fernando |last30=Sikora |first30=Martin |last31=Xue |first31=Yali |last32=Aghakhanian |first32=Farhang A. |last33=Brucato |first33=Nicolas |last34=Brunak |first34=Søren |last35=Campos |first35=Paula F. |last36=Clark |first36=Warren |last37=Ellingvåg |first37=Sturla |last38=Fourmile |first38=Gudjugudju |last39=Gerbault |first39=Pascale |last40=Injie |first40=Darren |last41=Koki |first41=George |last42=Leavesley |first42=Matthew |last43=Logan |first43=Betty |last44=Lynch |first44=Aubrey |last45=Matisoo-Smith |first45=Elizabeth A. |last46=McAllister |first46=Peter J. |last47=Mentzer |first47=Alexander J. |last48=Metspalu |first48=Mait |last49=Migliano |first49=Andrea B. |last50=Murgha |first50=Les |last51=Phipps |first51=Maude E. |last52=Pomat |first52=William |last53=Reynolds |first53=Doc |last54=Ricaut |first54=Francois-Xavier |last55=Siba |first55=Peter |last56=Thomas |first56=Mark G. |last57=Wales |first57=Thomas |last58=Wall |first58=Colleen Ma'run |last59=Oppenheimer |first59=Stephen J. |last60=Tyler-Smith |first60=Chris |last61=Durbin |first61=Richard |last62=Dortch |first62=Joe |last63=Manica |first63=Andrea |last64=Schierup |first64=Mikkel H. |last65=Foley |first65=Robert A. |last66=Lahr |first66=Marta Mirazón |last67=Bowern |first67=Claire |last68=Wall |first68=Jeffrey D. |last69=Mailund |first69=Thomas |last70=Stoneking |first70=Mark |last71=Nielsen |first71=Rasmus |last72=Sandhu |first72=Manjinder S. |last73=Excoffier |first73=Laurent |last74=Lambert |first74=David M. |last75=Willerslev |first75=Eske |title=A genomic history of Aboriginal Australia |journal=Nature |date=13 October 2016 |volume=538 |issue=7624 |pages=207–214 |doi=10.1038/nature18299 |pmid=27654914 |pmc=7617037 |bibcode=2016Natur.538..207M |hdl=10754/622366 |s2cid=4471731 |url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1516136/ |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and Australia maintains political influence over Melanesia,<ref name="lowy18"/> which is mostly located on the same tectonic plate.<ref name="birds"/><ref name="plates"/> Despite this, Australia is rarely seen as a part of the subregion.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor = 40387356|last1 = Kirch|first1 = Patrick V.|title = Reviewed work: Archaeology of Oceania: Australia and the Pacific Islands, Ian Lilley|journal = Archaeology in Oceania|year = 2006|volume = 41|issue = 3|pages = 128–130|doi = 10.1002/j.1834-4453.2006.tb00623.x}}</ref><ref name="Codrington Melanesians Encyc">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Codrington|first=Robert|title=Melanesians|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics|year=1915|publisher=T & T Clark|location=Edinburgh|pages=528–535}}</ref> As with Australia and New Zealand, Melanesia's New Caledonia has a significant non-indigenous European population, numbering around 71,000.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web|url=http://www.isee.nc/tec/popsociete/telechargements/4-population.pdf|title=ISEE - Salaires|website=Isee.nc|access-date=20 August 2017|archive-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225164238/http://www.isee.nc/tec/popsociete/telechargements/4-population.pdf%20}}</ref> Conversely, New Caledonia has still had a similar history to the rest of Melanesia, and their [[French language|French]]-speaking Europeans make up only 27% of the total population.<ref name="autogenerated2"/><ref name="devchris">{{Cite journal |last1=Ernst |first1=Manfred |last2=Anisi |first2=Anna |date=1 February 2016 |title=The Historical Development of Christianity in Oceania |url=https://www.academia.edu/33371338 |journal=Sanneh/Wiley |pages=588–604 |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=12 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412012839/https://www.academia.edu/33371338 |url-status=live }}</ref> As such, it is not also culturally considered a part of the predominantly English-speaking Australasia.<ref name="emb">{{cite web|url=https://noumea.embassy.gov.au/nmeafrench/media191.html|title=Australian Consulate-General in|first=corporateName= Department of Foreign Affairs and|last=Trade|website=Noumea.embassy.gov.au|access-date=2022-07-30|archive-date=2022-04-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411100613/https://noumea.embassy.gov.au/nmeafrench/media191.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Some cultural and political definitions of Australasia include most or all of Melanesia, due to its geographical proximity to Australia and New Zealand, but these are rare.<ref name=NZOD>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Australasia |encyclopedia=New Zealand Oxford Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0195584516 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195584516.001.0001|editor1-last=Deverson |editor1-first=Tony |editor2-first=Graeme |editor2-last=Kennedy }}</ref> Australia, New Zealand and the islands of Melanesia are more commonly grouped together as part of the [[Australasian realm|Australasian biogeographical realm]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.biologyonline.com/dictionary/australasia-realm|title=Australasia realm|date=7 October 2019|website=Biology Articles, Tutorials & Dictionary Online|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=30 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064726/https://www.biologyonline.com/dictionary/australasia-realm|url-status=live}}</ref> Papua New Guinea is geographically the closest country to Australia, and is often geologically associated with Australia as it was once physiologically connected.<ref name="stats"/> Australia's Indian Ocean external territories of [[Christmas Island]] and [[Cocos (Keeling) Islands]] are situated within the bounds of the Australian Plate and have been geographically associated with Southeast Asia, due to their proximity to western Indonesia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/api/records/a05f7892-8f70-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6|title=BMR Cruise 107: Seabed Morphology and Offshore Resources around Christmas Island, Indian Ocean|website=Product catalogue}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://parksaustralia.gov.au/marine/pub/scientific-publications/archive/conservation-christmas-cocos.pdf |title=Conservation values in Commonwealth waters of the Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Island remote Australian territories |publisher=CSIRO |date=August 2009 |access-date=1 June 2022 |archive-date=1 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401084035/https://parksaustralia.gov.au/marine/pub/scientific-publications/archive/conservation-christmas-cocos.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=M. Athyal |first1=Jesudas |title=Religion in Southeast Asia: An Encyclopedia of Faiths and Cultures: An Encyclopedia of Faiths and Cultures |date=2015 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=40 |isbn=978-1610692502 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RfYBgAAQBAJ&dq=%22christmas+island%22+%22in+southeast+asia%22&pg=PA40 |access-date=10 July 2022 |archive-date=10 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710222449/https://books.google.com/books?id=-RfYBgAAQBAJ&dq=%22christmas+island%22+%22in+southeast+asia%22&pg=PA40 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/christmas-island-australias-gem-in-the-indian-ocean/|title=Christmas Island – Australia's Gem In The Indian Ocean|website=Wildlifetourism.org.au|access-date=19 July 2022|archive-date=30 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064649/https://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/christmas-island-australias-gem-in-the-indian-ocean/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://parksaustralia.gov.au/christmas/pub/bird-brochure.pdf|title=Christmas & Cocos Keeling Islands Birding Guide|website=Parksaustralia.gov.au|access-date=19 July 2022|archive-date=6 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210406033004/https://parksaustralia.gov.au/christmas/pub/bird-brochure.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Both were uninhabited when discovered by Europeans during the 17th century. Approximately half of the population on these islands are [[European Australians|European Australian]] mainlanders (with smaller numbers being [[European New Zealanders]]), while the other half are immigrants from China or the nearby Malay Archipelago.<ref name=Census2016>{{cite web |publisher=Australian Government |department=[[Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development]] |title=2016 Census: Christmas Island |url=http://regional.gov.au/territories/Christmas/files/CI_2016_Census_Data_Fact_Sheet_Final.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180111164850/http://regional.gov.au/territories/Christmas/files/CI_2016_Census_Data_Fact_Sheet_Final.pdf |archive-date=11 January 2018|access-date=3 May 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Egan |first1=Colleen |title=Bad tidings on Christmas |url=http://sievx.com/articles/psdp/19991211ColleenEgan.html |publisher=The Weekend Australian |access-date=7 March 2022 |date=11 December 1999 |archive-date=8 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608164850/http://sievx.com/articles/psdp/19991211ColleenEgan.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Australia's Indian Ocean external territory Heard Island and McDonald Islands lie on the [[Antarctic Plate]] and are also thought of as being in Antarctica or no region at all, due to their extreme geographical isolation.<ref name="geo">{{cite book |doi=10.1130/2007.2425(18) |chapter=The seismicity of the Antarctic plate |title=Continental Intraplate Earthquakes: Science, Hazard, and Policy Issues |year=2007 |last1=Reading |first1=Anya M. |isbn=978-0-8137-2425-6 }}</ref><ref name="stats"/> The World Factbook define Heard Island and McDonald Islands as part of Antarctica, while placing Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands as the westernmost extent of Oceania.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/cocos-keeling-islands/ |title=Cocos (Keeling) Islands - The World Factbook |website=Cia.gov |date=24 June 2022 |access-date=10 July 2022 |archive-date=10 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710181719/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/cocos-keeling-islands/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/christmas-island/|title=Christmas Island|date=24 June 2022|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|website=Cia.gov|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126032949/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/christmas-island/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Norfolk Island]], an external territory of Australia, was inhabited in prehistoric times by either Melanesians or Polynesians, and is geographically adjacent to the islands of Melanesia. The current inhabitants are mostly European Australians, and the UN categorize it as being in the Australasia subregion.<ref name="stats"/> The 1982 edition of the ''South Pacific Handbook'', by David Stanley, groups Australia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, and Hawai{{okina}}i together under an "Anglonesia" category. This is in spite of the geographical distance separating these areas from Hawai{{okina}}i, which technically lies in the North Pacific.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stanley |first=David |url={{Google books|lRV1FozOqQAC|page=502|plainurl=yes}} |title=South Pacific Handbook |date=1982 |publisher=Moon Publications |page=502 |isbn=978-0-9603322-3-6 }}</ref> The 1985 edition of the ''South Pacific Handbook'' also groups the Galápagos Islands as being in Polynesia, while noting that they are not culturally a part of the subregion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stanley |first=David |url={{Google books|unz2v_HT5q0C|page=43||plainurl=yes}} |title=South Pacific Handbook |date=1985 |publisher=Moon Publications |page=43 |isbn=978-0-918373-29-8 }}</ref> The islands are typically grouped with others in the southeastern Pacific that were never inhabited by Polynesians.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hinz |first1=Earl R. |title=Landfalls of Paradise: Cruising Guide to the Pacific Islands |date=1999 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2115-9 |edition=4th |url={{Google books|uK5-YO9J_GcC|page=337|plainurl=yes}} |page=337 }}</ref><ref name="veg"/>

The Bonin Islands are in the same biogeographical realm as the geographically adjacent Micronesia, and are often grouped in with the subregion because of this.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bluejapan.org/fr/geography/climate-and-season/|title=Climate And Seasons – Blue Japan en français|website=Bluejapan.org|access-date=19 July 2022|archive-date=30 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064648/https://bluejapan.org/fr/geography/climate-and-season/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="veg">{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-8686-3 |title=Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands |series=Ecological Studies |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-387-98313-4 |s2cid=46366808 }}</ref>