Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologically, where the term covers several slightly different but related regions.
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 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.[3]
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.[4]
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.[5] 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 and the other broader, loosely covering all of Oceania.
Arms Flag Name of region, followed by countries Area(km2) Population(2021)[6][7] Population density(per km2) Capital ISO 3166-1 Australasia
Ashmore and Cartier Islands (Australia) 199 — Australia 7,686,850 25,921,089 3.1 Canberra AU Christmas Island (Australia) 135 1,692 12.5 Flying Fish Cove CX Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia) 14 593 42.4 West Island CC Coral Sea Islands (Australia) 10 4 0.4 — New Zealand 268,680 5,129,727 17.3 Wellington NZ Norfolk Island (Australia) 35 2,302 65.8 Kingston NF Papua New Guinea 462,840 9,949,437 22 Port Moresby PG Total Australasia 8,418,763 42,836,966 5.1 — - Geography portal
- Oceania portal
- All pages with titles beginning with Australasia
- Asia-Pacific
- Australasian realm
- Australasia at the Olympics
- Austral-Asia Cup
- Down Under
- Sundaland
- Trans-Tasman
- Zealandia
- Media related to Australasia at Wikimedia Commons
28°06′32″S 146°18′00″E / 28.10889°S 146.30000°E / -28.10889; 146.30000
