No one knows how many islands exist in the Pacific Ocean, but some geographers estimate that there are more than 20,000. As a group, the Pacific Islands are called Oceania. Most Pacific islands fall into one of two categories: high islands created by volcanoes or low islands made of coral reef build up created by a submerged volcanoes. Most low islands are Atolls.

New Zealand has two main islands, North Island and South Island. Running down the center of South Island is a 300-mile-long mountain range called the Southern Alps. North Island is much less mountainous than South Island. North Island has fertile farmland and forests that support the lumber industry. New Zealand’s swift-flowing rivers have allowed it to build dams that generate electricity. Also, North Island has a volcanic area with underground steam.

Australia is the smallest of the continents, and the flattest. Near the eastern coast is a chain of highlands called the Great Dividing Range. To the west of this coastal range stretches a vast expanse of plains and plateaus, broken only by low hills and scattered, very low mountain ranges. Australia has few rivers that flow all the time. Among those that do flow all year is the Murray River, Australia’s longest river, which flows into the Southern Ocean. Along Australia’s northeast coast lies the Great Barrier Reef, a 1,250- milelong chain of more than 2,500 reefs and islands.

Most of Oceania features a tropical rain forest climate. In general, Oceania does not have diverse vegetation. The low islands have poor soil and small amounts of rain, so plants do not grow well. Some high islands have rich, volcanic soil and plentiful rain. These islands have abundant flowers and trees, such as the coconut palm.

New Zealand and the southern part of Australia’s east coast share a marine west coast climate. The seasons have mild temperatures because ocean breezes warm the land in the winter and cool it in the summer. New Zealand receives rainfall year round. However, the amount varies dramatically from one part of the country to the other.

Mountains influence Australia’s climate, with the Great Dividing Range forcing moisture- bearing winds to rise and shed their rain before moving inland. One-third of Australia is desert. The desert area lies in an oval in the center of the continent. This region is known as the Outback. It receives less than ten inches of rain a year. Encircling the desert is a band of semiarid climate. This area receives no more than 20 inches of rain a year.

Antarctica is the 5 th largest continent. It’s ice sheet is the largest supply of freshwater. Antarctica is the Earth’s coldest and driest climate. It is often called a Polar Desert. The only things that can survive there are lichens and mosses that can with stand cold and periods of long darkness. It’s animals are mostly birds and sealife.

In 1859, Thomas Austin released 24 rabbits into Australia so he could hunt them. The rabbit population grew faster than anyone could control it. A single pair of rabbits can have up to 184 descendants in 18 months. Plus, rabbits have few natural enemies among Australia’s wildlife. By 1900, Australia had more than a billion rabbits..

Rabbits wiped out native plants and destroyed crops. They ruined pastures. Some of Australia’s native animals became endangered because of competition for food. Australians imported foxes to prey on rabbits, but the growing fox population endangered Australian wildlife. In the early 1900s, the government built a 2,000-mile fence to keep rabbits from spreading to the southwest. This fence succeeded only temporarily before rabbits broke through to the new region. In the 1950s, the government infected wild rabbits with a disease killing more than 90 percent of the total rabbit population. But rabbits became immune to the disease and their numbers boomed again. Now Australians are using poison, introducing new diseases, erecting fences, and destroying the warrens and burrows where rabbits live.

During the arms race with the Soviet Union, the United States wanted to test nuclear bombs without endangering American citizens. In the 1940s and1950s, the United States conducted 66 tests in the Pacific. The U.S. government chose Bikini Atoll for testing because it lay far away from regular shipping and air travel routes. In 1946, the government moved167 Bikini Islanders to another atoll and conducted two atomic- weapons tests. From 1951 to 1958, the U.S. government held several more tests there. Bikini Islanders would like to move back to Bikini Atoll. A cleanup began in No one knows when Bikini Atoll will be suitable for human life.

Oceania is the groupings of islands in the pacific that have populations who share a common cultural background. The large island in South East Asia are not part of Oceania, since they have not experienced the same amount of isolation and as a result share a closer bond with the rest of Asia. Oceania is divided into three regions: Micronesia, meaning “tiny islands,” Melanesia, meaning “black islands,” and Polynesia, meaning “many islands.”

Various people from Asia settled the South Pacific region over 40,000 years ago. Some may have crossed land bridges that are now submerged; others probably sailed in voyaging canoes and rafts. Those who settled in Australia were known as Aboriginies. They followed a nomadic way of life in the hot, dry interior of Australia. In Oceania, people settled in kinship groups on island coasts. They built outrigger canoes that allowed them to travel and to trade with other islands. Between the A.D. 900s and 1300s, the Maori left Polynesia and settled New Zealand.

Beginning in the 1500s, many Europeans explored the Pacific. British sailor James Cook was the most famous European explorer of the region. Between 1768 and 1779, Cook claimed eastern Australia for Britain, visited Oceania, circled Antarctica, and made accurate maps of the area. In the 1800s, missionaries, traders, and sailors hunting whales began to arrive. Settlers started plantations to grow coconuts, coffee, pineapples, or sugar.

When Europeans arrived in Australia, there were an estimated 500 Aboriginal groups. In New Zealand the encountered the Maori, who migrated from Polynesia In 1788, Britain founded Sydney, Australia as a penal colony, (Prison Colony). New Zealand was colonized by hunters and whalers from Europe, America, and Australia. Gold was discovered in Australia in 1851 and in New Zealand in People flocked to these countries to seek gold.

European diseases and weapons greatly reduced the indigenous population. In Australia British immigrants forced Aborigines off their ancestral lands and denied them basic rights. In New Zealand, in 1840, the British and Maori signed the Treaty of Waitangi. This gave Britain control over New Zealand.

During World War II, the Allies and the Japanese fought intense battles in Oceania to gain control of the Pacific. Gradually, the inhabitants of many of the islands moved toward self rule. Since 1962, 12 different nations have gained independence. Many other islands are still ruled by foreigners.

In 1901, Australia’s colonies joined into a single, independent nation. New Zealand became self-governing in Both Australia and New Zealand remained in the British Commonwealth. Many Australians now want to cut ties to the British monarchy and elect a president. In 1893, New Zealand had become the first country to recognize women’s right to vote; it was also among the first to provide government assistance to the elderly, the sick, and the unemployed. The Aborigines and Maori began regaining some of their rights, and immigrants made populations more and more diverse.

Antarctica was discovered in Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole in Antarctica remains unsettled. Twelve countries have scientific research stations there. In 1959, they drafted a treaty preserving the continent for research. Antarctica is a part-time home to between 1,000 and 10,000 researchers and scientists, depending on the season. The climate is too cold to support permanent human habitation.

The first people in Oceania probably came from Asia more than 30,000 years ago. Australia’s indigenous people are called Aborigines. New Zealand’s indigenous people are called the Maori. Most of the population of Australia and New Zealand is of European, mainly British descent. Some of Oceania’s population is also of European descent.

Isolation led to the development of more than 1,200 languages in Oceania. European languages were brought by colonization. English is the chief language of Australia and New Zealand, although Australian English features special local idioms and words. Indigenous religions in the South Pacific region focus on the relationship between human beings and nature. Followers of these religions believe that all natural things have spirits and are interrelated. Christianity, brought by Europeans, is the most widely practiced faith in the region today.

The region of Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica is home to only 0.5 percent of the world’s population because much of the land is uninhabitable. Most people live near the coast.

Literacy rates are high in Australia and New Zealand, where free education is compulsory to age 15. Both countries provide quality medical care. People who live in remote areas can take advantage of Australia’s Flying Doctor Service and its mobile clinics. Most Pacific Islanders still live in small villages. Generally, a chief leads each village. Usually, each extended family has a house or cluster of houses in the village. Village economies center on farming and fishing. Oceania has few cities, but those that exist have been growing.

Most of Oceania has an economy in which people work not for wages, but at subsistence activities. These are activities in which a family produces only the food, clothing, and shelter they themselves need. Agriculture and Tourism are the regions main economic activities. New Zealand earns much of its income by selling butter, cheese, meat, and wool to other countries, and is the world’s largest producer of kiwi fruit. Australia is the largest exporter of wool in the world. Much of Australia is arid, so only about ten percent of the land is used to grow crops. Australia earns much of its income from mining. Many mineral deposits lie in the outback. It is expensive to build roads and equip mines in these areas, so Australia has had to rely on foreign investors.

People in the South Pacific region enjoy a variety of traditional and European sports and leisure activities. Temperate or warm climates encourage people to enjoy many outdoor activities. Many islanders produce arts and crafts, such as baskets and mats woven from the leaves of palm trees or other plants. Carved wooden masks and utensils are also common.