Australasia

Australasia is a region which comprises Australia, New Zealand, and some neighbouring islands (see the section Derivation and definitions). It is used in a number of different contexts including geopolitically, physiogeographically, and ecologically where the term covers several slightly different but related regions.

This article is about the geographical term. For the Pelican music album, see Australasia (album). For the ecozone, see Australasian realm.
Not to be confused with Australia (continent), Australia (country), Austrasia, or Austroasian.
Australia's concept of Australasia, which includes Australia, New Zealand and, in this case, Melanesia
A typical map from the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography. Australasia and New Guinea during the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery (c. 1590s–1720s): including Nova Guinea (New Guinea), Nova Hollandia (mainland Australia), Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), and Nova Zeelandia (New Zealand)

Derivation and definitions
Regions of Oceania

Charles de Brosses coined the term (as French Australasie) in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes[1] (1756). He derived it from the Latin for "south of Asia" and differentiated the area from Polynesia (to the east) and the southeast Pacific (Magellanica).[2]

In Australia, "Australasia" is considered to be Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the neighbouring islands of Melanesia.

In New Zealand, it means Australia, the Australian external territories, New Zealand, and the associated states and dependent territories of New Zealand.[3]

Two Merriam-Webster dictionaries online (Collegiate and Unabridged) define Australasia as "Australia, New Zealand, and Melanesia". The American Heritage Dictionary online recognizes two senses in use: one more precise, being similar to the aforementioned senses, and the other broader, loosely covering all of Oceania.

See also

Notes
  1. de Brosses, Charles (1756). Histoire des navigations aux terres Australes. Contenant ce que l'on sçait des moeurs & des productions des contrées découvertes jusqu'à ce jour; & où il est traité de l'utilité d'y faire de plus amples découvertes, & des moyens d'y former un établissement [History of voyages to the Southern Lands. Containing what is known concerning the customes and products...] (in French). Paris: Durand. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  2. Douglas, Bronwen (2014). Science, Voyages, and Encounters in Oceania, 1511-1850. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 6.
  3. "Australasia". New Zealand Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2005. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195584516.001.0001. ISBN 9780195584516.

References
  • Richards, Kel (2006). "Australasia". Wordwatch. ABC News Radio. Archived from the original on 2007-03-18. Retrieved 2006-09-30.
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