View source for Place:Australasia

{{Short description|Subregion of Oceania}}
[[File:Oceania UN Geoscheme - Map with Zones.svg|thumb|upright=1.33|Regions of Oceania]]
'''Australasia''' is a [[Earth:Subregion|subregion]] of [[Earth:Oceania|Oceania]], comprising {{wipe|Australia}}, [[Earth:New Zealand|New Zealand]] and some neighbouring islands in the [[Earth:Pacific Ocean|Pacific Ocean]]. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including [[Earth:Geopolitics|geopolitically]], physiogeographically, philologically, and [[Earth:Ecology|ecologically]], where the term covers several slightly different but related regions.

==Derivation and definitions==
[[File:Location Australasia cylindrical.png|thumb|upright=1.25|Australia's concept of Australasia, which includes Australia, New Zealand and, in this case, Melanesia]]
Charles de Brosses coined the term (as French ''Australasie'') in ''Histoire des navigations aux terres australes''<ref>
{{cite book |last1=de Brosses |first1=Charles |title=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 |year=1756 |trans-title=History of voyages to the Southern Lands. Containing what is known concerning the customs and products... |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3x_MaYZVJQC |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Durand |publication-date=1756 |access-date=2013-12-08}}</ref> (1756). He derived it from the [[Social:Latin|Latin]] for "south of [[Earth:Asia|Asia]]" and differentiated the area from [[Place:Polynesia|Polynesia]] (to the east) and the southeast Pacific ([[Earth:Terra Australis|Magellanica]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Douglas |first=Bronwen |date=2014 |title=Science, Voyages, and Encounters in Oceania, 1511-1850 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=6 }}</ref>

In the late 19th century, the term Australasia was used in reference to the "Australasian colonies". In this sense it related specifically to the British colonies south of Asia: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, Victoria (i.e., the Australian colonies) and New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Anti-Chinese Legislation in Australasia|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1879468|journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics|jstor = 1879468|at=p. 220|last1 = Lee|first1 = Joseph|year = 1889|volume = 3|issue = 2|doi=10.2307/1879468 }}</ref> Australasia found continued geopolitical attention in the early 20th century. Historian Hansong Li finds that against the backdrop of British colonialism, German geopoliticians considered "Australasia" as a counterweight to the former German South Sea Edge (Südseerand), both of which form the "Indo-Pacific" region.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Hansong |title=The "Indo-Pacific": Intellectual Origins and International Visions in Global Contexts |journal=Modern Intellectual History |date=2021 |volume=19 |issue=3 | pages=20–23 |doi=10.1017/S1479244321000214 |s2cid=236226422 |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/hansongli/files/li_hansong-the-indo-pacific-intellectual-origins-and-international-visions-in-global-contexts.pdf |access-date=30 July 2022}}</ref> 

The ''New Zealand Oxford Dictionary'' gives two meanings of "Australasia". One, especially in Australian use, is "Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the neighbouring islands of the Pacific". The other, especially in New Zealand use, is just Australia and New Zealand.<ref name=NZOD>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Australasia |encyclopedia=New Zealand Oxford Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780195584516 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195584516.001.0001|editor1-last=Deverson |editor1-first=Tony |editor2-first=Graeme |editor2-last=Kennedy }}</ref>

Two Merriam-Webster dictionaries online (''Collegiate'' and ''Unabridged'') define Australasia as "Australia, New Zealand, and [[Place:Melanesia|Melanesia]]". The ''American Heritage Dictionary'' online recognizes two [[Philosophy:Word sense|senses]] in use: one more precise, being similar to the aforementioned senses,{{Clarify|reason=what are the "aforementioned senses"?|date=January 2024}} and the other broader, loosely covering all of [[Earth:Oceania|Oceania]].

==Demographics==
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="border:1px solid #aaa; font-size:90%;"
|- style="background:#ececec;"|
! style="line-height:95%; width:4em" class="unsortable" | Arms
! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" | Flag
! Name of region, followed by countries
! data-sort-type="number" | Area<br />(km<sup>2</sup>)
! data-sort-type="number" | Population<br />({{UN_Population|Year}}){{UN_Population|ref}}
! data-sort-type="number" | Population density<br />(per km<sup>2</sup>)
! Capital
! [[ISO 3166-1 alpha-2|ISO 3166-1]]
|-
| colspan="8" style="background:#eee; text-align:center;"|'''[[Place:Australasia|Australasia]]'''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Australia}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Ashmore and Cartier Islands}}
| Ashmore and Cartier Islands (Australia)
| style="text-align:right;"| 199
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Australia}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Australia}}
| '''{{wipe|Australia}}'''
| style="text-align:right;"| 7,686,850
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN_Population|Australia}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.1
| [[Place:Canberra|Canberra]]
| AU
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Australia}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Christmas Island}}
| Christmas Island (Australia)
| style="text-align:right;"| 135
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,692
| style="text-align:right;"| 12.5
| [[Place:Flying Fish Cove|Flying Fish Cove]]
| CX
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Australia}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Cocos (Keeling) Islands}}
| Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)
| style="text-align:right;"| 14
| style="text-align:right;"| 593
| style="text-align:right;"| 42.4
| [[Place:West Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands|West Island]]
| CC
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Australia}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Coral Sea Islands}}
| Coral Sea Islands (Australia)
| style="text-align:right;"| 10
| style="text-align:right;"| 4
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.4
|
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|text=none|New Zealand}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|New Zealand}}
| '''[[Earth:New Zealand|New Zealand]]'''
| style="text-align:right;"| 268,680
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN_Population|New Zealand}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 17.3
| [[Place:Wellington|Wellington]]
| NZ
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Norfolk Island}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Norfolk Island}}
| [[Earth:Norfolk Island|Norfolk Island]] (Australia)
| style="text-align:right;"| 35
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,302
| style="text-align:right;"| 65.8
| [[Place:Kingston, Norfolk Island|Kingston]]
| NF
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|
| style="text-align:center;"|
| Australasia (total)
| style="text-align:right;"| 7,955,923
| style="text-align:right;"| 29,645,874
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.7
|}

== See also ==
* {{look from}}
* [[Earth:Asia-Pacific|Asia-Pacific]]
* [[Biology:Australasian realm|Australasian realm]]
* Australasia Olympics
* Austral-Asia Cup
* Down Under
* [[Earth:Sundaland|Sundaland]]
* [[Engineering:Trans-Tasman|Trans-Tasman]]
* [[Earth:Zealandia|Zealandia]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite web |last=Richards |first=Kel |year=2006 |url=http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/txt/s1587644.htm |title=Australasia |work =Wordwatch |publisher=ABC News Radio |access-date=2006-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318140546/http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/txt/s1587644.htm |archive-date=2007-03-18 |url-status=dead }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{EB1911 Poster|Australasia}}

{{Regions of the world}}

{{Coord|28|06|32|S|146|18|00|E|display=title}}

[[Category:Asia-Pacific]]
[[Category:Regions of Oceania]]

{{Sourceattribution|Australasia}}