Oceania

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Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (English pronunciation: /əˈl(j)uːʃən/; possibly from Chukchi aliat, "island") are a chain of 14 large volcanic islands and 55 smaller ones , forming part of the Aleutian Arc in the Northern Pacific Ocean, occupying an area of 6,821 sq mi (17,666 km²) and extending about 1,200 mi (1,900 km) westward from the Alaska Peninsula toward the Kamchatka Peninsula, thus marking a line between the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Crossing longitude 180°, they are the westernmost part of the United States (and by one definition the easternmost; see Extreme points of the United States). Nearly all the archipelago is part of Alaska and usually considered as being in the "Alaskan Bush", but at the extreme western end the small, geologically related, and remote Commander Islands are in Russia. The islands, with their 57 volcanoes, are in the northern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Alaska Marine Highway passes through the islands.
Physiographically, they are a distinct section of the larger Pacific Border province, which in turn is part of the larger Pacific Mountain System physiographic division.

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Alofi
Alofi is the capital city of the Pacific Ocean nation of Niue. With a population of 581 (census of 2006), Alofi has the distinction of being the smallest national capital city in terms of population. It consists of the two villages Alofi North (pop. 147) and Alofi South, where the government headquarters are located. (pop. 434).
It is located at the centre of Alofi Bay on the west coast of the island, close to the only break in the coral reef that surrounds Niue. The bay stretches for 30% of the island's length (about seven kilometres) from Halagigie Point in the south to Makapu Point in the north. It is also notable that Alofi contains the world's largest toothbrush fence.
In January 2004, Niue was hit by the fierce tropical storm Cyclone Heta which killed two people and did extensive damage to the entire island. Many of Alofi's buildings were destroyed, including the hospital. Government buildings were shifted to a less exposed site 3 km inland from the west coast, named Fonuakula, after the storm. This site is still within the village boundaries of Alofi South.

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American Samoa
American Samoa (/əˈmɛrɨkən səˈmoʊ.ə/ ( listen); Samoan: Amerika Sāmoa, IPA: [aˈmɛɾika ˌsaːˈmoa]; also Amelika Sāmoa or Sāmoa Amelika) is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the Independent State of Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa). The main (largest and most populous) island is Tutuila, with the Manuʻa Islands, Rose Atoll, and Swains Island also included in the territory.
American Samoa is part of the Samoan Islands chain, located west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga, and some 300 miles (500 km) south of Tokelau. To the west are the islands of the Wallis and Futuna group.
The 2010 census showed a total population of 55,519 people. The total land area is 76.1 square miles (197.1 km²), slightly more than Washington, D.C. American Samoa is the southernmost territory of the United States.
Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century. Jacob Roggeveen (1659–1729), a Dutchman, was the first known European to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by the French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811), who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768. Contact was limited before the 1830s which is when English missionaries and traders began arriving.

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Americas
The Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World.
In the English language, the Americas refers to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, whereas America, in current usage, usually refers to the United States of America.
The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total surface area (28.4% of its land area) and contain about 13.5% of the human population (about 900 million people).
The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion. The traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska around 40,000–17,000 years ago, when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets. Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific Northwest coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age.

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Antarctic
The Antarctic ( /ænˈtɑrktɪk/ or /ænˈtɑrtɪk/) is a polar region, specifically the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters, and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence. The region covers some 20% of the Southern Hemisphere, of which 5.5% (14 million km²) is the surface area of the continent itself.
The maritime part of the region constitutes the area of application of the international Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), where for technical reasons the Convention uses an approximation of the Convergence line by means of a line joining specified points along parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude. The implementation of the Convention is managed through an international Commission headquartered in Hobart, Australia by an efficient system of annual fishing quotas, licenses and international inspectors on the fishing vessels, as well as satellite surveillance.

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Antarctica
Antarctica

This map uses an orthographic projection, near-polar aspect. The South Pole is near the center, where longitudinal lines converge.
Antarctica (ⁱ/æntˈɑrtɨkə/ or /ænˈtɑːktɨkə/) is Earth's southernmost continent, containing the geographic South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.0 million km² (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. For comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages at least 1 mile (1.6 km) in thickness.
Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is considered a desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm (8 inches) along the coast and far less inland. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89 °C (−129 °F). There are no permanent human residents, but anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Only cold-adapted organisms survive there, including many types of algae, animals (for example mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades), bacteria, fungi, plants, and protista. Vegetation where it occurs is tundra.

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Apia
Apia is the capital and the largest city of Samoa. The city is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second largest island. Apia is the only 'city' in Samoa and falls within the political district (itūmālō) of Tuamasaga.
The Apia Urban Area has a population of 37,708 (2006 Census) and is generally referred to as the City of Apia. The geographic boundaries of Apia Urban Area is mainly from Letogo village to the new industrialized region of Apia known as Vaitele.
Apia was originally a small village (1800 population is 304), from which the country's capital took its name. Apia village still exists within the larger modern capital of Apia which has grown into a sprawling urban area with many villages. Like every other settlement in the country, Apia village has its own matai chiefly leaders and fa'alupega (geneaology & customary greetings) according to fa'a Samoa.
The modern capital Apia was founded in the 1850s and has been the official capital of Samoa since 1959.
The harbor was also the site of an infamous 15 March 1889 naval standoff in which 7 ships from Germany, the US, and Britain refused to leave harbor while a typhoon was clearly approaching, lest the first moved would lose face. All the ships were sunk, except the British cruiser Calliope, which barely managed to leave port at 1 mile per hour and ride out the storm. Nearly 200 American and German lives were lost, as well as 6 ships sunk or beyond repair.

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Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea, classifying it as one of the mediterranean seas of the Atlantic Ocean. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean.
Almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America, the Arctic Ocean is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year (and almost completely in winter). The Arctic Ocean's temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes; its salinity is the lowest on average of the five major oceans, due to low evaporation, heavy freshwater inflow from rivers and streams, and limited connection and outflow to surrounding oceanic waters with higher salinities. The summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50%. The US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) uses satellite data to provide a daily record of Arctic sea ice cover and the rate of melting compared to an average period and specific past years.

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Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106,400,000 square kilometres (41,100,000 sq mi), it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to Atlas of Greek mythology, making the Atlantic the "Sea of Atlas".
The oldest known mention of "Atlantic" is in The Histories of Herodotus around 450 BC (Hdt. 1.202.4): Atlantis thalassa (Greek: Ἀτλαντὶς θάλασσα; English: Sea of Atlas); see also: Atlas Mountains. The term Ethiopic Ocean, derived from Ethiopia, was applied to the southern Atlantic ocean as late as the mid-19th century. Before Europeans discovered other oceans, the term "ocean" itself was synonymous with the waters beyond the Strait of Gibraltar that we now know as the Atlantic. The early Greeks believed this ocean to be a gigantic river encircling the world.
The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Europe and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. As one component of the interconnected global ocean, it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean (which is sometimes considered a sea of the Atlantic), to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Southern Ocean in the south. (Other definitions describe the Atlantic as extending southward to Antarctica.) The equator subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean.

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Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area ( /ˈɔːklənd/, AWK-lənd), in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with 1,377,200 residents, 31 percent of the country's population. Auckland has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world. In Māori Auckland's names are Tāmaki Makaurau, and the transliterated version of Auckland, Ākarana.
The 2011 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Auckland 3rd equal place in the world on its list, while the Economist's World's Most Livable Cities index of 2011 ranked Auckland in 9th place. In 2010, Auckland was classified as a Beta World City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough University.
Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two separate major bodies of water.

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Australia
Australia ( /əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.
For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.

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Avarua
Coordinates: 21°12′S 159°46′W / 21.2°S 159.767°W / -21.2; -159.767
Avarua (meaning "Two Harbors" in Cook Islands Māori) is a town and district in the north of Rarotonga Island, the national capital of the Cook Islands. It is equivalent to Te Au O Tonga, one of three vaka (traditional tribal areas of Rarotonga) and had its own local government headed by a mayoress until its legal abolishment in February 2008.
The downtown area is located at sea level, below the towering peaks of Rarotonga (altitude 208 m). The town has several supermarkets, two banks, several restaurants and other shops specializing in the sale of black pearls and other handicrafts. The town's open air market is on Saturday, where you can find everything from brightly coloured pare'u (wrap around dresses), to flower garlands, fresh fish and tropical fruits. The town is served by Rarotonga International Airport (IATA Airport Code: RAR). The population of Avarua District is 5,445 (census of 2006), who mainly make their living from tourism, trade, fishing and agriculture. The one main road in Avarua is Ara Maire Nui, usually referred to as Marine Drive or Main Street, which turns into the island-circling ring road Ara Tapu at both ends of town.

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Babeldaob
Babeldaob (also Babelthuap) is the largest island in the island nation of Palau. Its area, 331 km² (128 mi²), makes up over 70% of the area of the entire country, and about 30% of the population, with about 6,000 people living there. Babeldoab is one of the most undeveloped populated islands in the Pacific.
Babeldaob is located northeast of Koror and contains the site of the new national capital, Ngerulmud. Unlike most of the islands of Palau, Babeldaob is mountainous. It contains Palau's highest point, the 242 m (794 ft)-tall Mount Ngerchelchuus. Babeldaob's eastern coast has many sandy beaches, in particular north from Ngiwal to Ngaraard, and the island's western coast has a shoreline with many mangrove shrubs and trees.
Palau's second-most populous state, Airai, makes up the southern end of the island. The Airai airport is the nation's principal airport. The Koror-Babeldaob Bridge links Airai to Koror.
Babeldaob encompasses 10 of the 16 states of Palau, which are:
Babeldaob was the location to which 426 members of the Sokehs tribe were banished by the German Empire following the Sokehs Rebellion on Sokehs Island and Pohnpei. Japan as mandatory power after World War I administered the return of the Sokehs in stages between 1917 and 1927.

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Bandung
Bandung (pronounced [banˈduŋ]) (Indonesian: Kota Bandung) is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, the country's third largest city, and second largest metropolitan area in Indonesia with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 meters (2,520 ft) above sea level, approximately 140 km south eastern of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler temperatures year-round than most other Indonesian cities. The city lies on a river basin surrounded by volcanic mountains. This topography provides a good natural defense system, which was the primary reason for the Dutch East Indies government's plan to move the colony capital from Batavia to Bandung.
The Dutch colonials first established tea plantations around the mountains in the eighteenth century, and a road was constructed to connect the plantation area to the capital (180 km or 112 miles to the northwest). The Dutch inhabitants of the city demanded establishment of a municipality (gemeente), which was granted in 1906, and Bandung gradually developed itself into a resort city for plantation owners. Luxurious hotels, restaurants, cafes and European boutiques were opened, hence the city was nicknamed Parijs van Java (Dutch: "The Paris of Java").

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Bonin Islands
The Bonin Islands, known in Japan as the Ogasawara Group (小笠原群島, Ogasawara Guntō^?) are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some 1,000 kilometres (540 nmi; 620 mi) directly south of Tokyo, Japan. Administratively, they are part of Ogasawara Municipality (mura) of Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo. The total area of the islands is 73 square kilometres (28 sq mi), with a population of 2,440 (2000 on Chichi-jima, and 440 on Haha-jima).
The Ogasawara Islands were added to UNESCO's list of World Natural Heritage sites in July 2011 as animals and plants there have undergone unique evolutionary processes since these islands have never been connected with a continent, thus often dubbed as the "Galapagos of the Orient".
The only inhabited islands of the group are Chichi-jima (父島), the seat of the municipal government, and Haha-jima (母島) includes what is within Ogasawara Village.
In Japanese, the archipelago is called Ogasawara Group (小笠原群島, Ogasawara Guntō^?). By contrast, the term Ogasawara Archipelago (小笠原諸島, Ogasawara shotō^?), is a wider, collective term for all islands of Ogasawara Municipality, which also includes the Volcano Islands and a few isolated islands. The common English name for Ogasawara Guntō is Bonin Islands, from bunin, an archaic reading of 無人 (mujin), that means "no people" or "uninhabited." Rich of unique forms of life, the archipelago was nominated as a natural World Heritage Site on June 24, 2011.

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Boxing Day Test
The Boxing Day Test match is a cricket Test match hosted in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia involving the Australian cricket team and an opposing national team which is touring Australia that summer. It begins annually on Boxing Day (26 December) and is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Every four years, the Boxing Day Test forms part of the 5-match Ashes series with England.
By long tradition the Victoria-New South Wales Sheffield Shield match included Boxing Day at the MCG as one of the scheduled days of play, much to the chagrin of the NSW players who missed Christmas with their families as a result. In the 1950–51 Ashes series the Melbourne Test was held on the 22–27 December, with the third day's play being on Boxing Day, but No Boxing Day Tests were played in Melbourne between 1953 and 1967. As there were six Tests in the 1974–75 Ashes series to fit them all in the Third Test at Melbourne was scheduled to start on Boxing Day, beginning the modern tradition. In 1980 the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Australian cricket team secured the rights to play the match annually.

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Brisbane
Brisbane ( /ˈbrɪzbən/) is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of approximately 2.1 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3 million. The Brisbane central business district stands on the original European settlement and is situated inside a bend of the Brisbane River, approximately 23 km (14 mi) from its mouth at Moreton Bay. The metropolitan area extends in all directions along the floodplain of the Brisbane River valley between the bay and the Great Dividing Range. While the metropolitan area is governed by several municipalities, a large portion of central Brisbane is governed by the Brisbane City Council, which is by far Australia's largest Local Government Area by population. The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite.
Brisbane is named after the river on which it sits, which, in turn, was named after Scotsman Sir Thomas Brisbane, the Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825. The first European settlement in Queensland was a penal colony at Redcliffe, 28 kilometres (17 mi) north of the Brisbane central business district, in 1824. That settlement was soon abandoned and moved to North Quay in 1825. Free settlers were permitted from 1842. Brisbane was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony from New South Wales in 1859.

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Brunei
Brunei ⁱ/bruːˈnaɪ/, officially the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace (Malay: Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: نڬارا بروني دارالسلام), is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, and it is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang. It is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, with the remainder of the island belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei's population was 401,890 in July 2011.
The official national history claims that Brunei can trace its beginnings to the 7th century, when it was a subject state of the Srivijayan empire under the name P'o-li. It later became a vassal state of Majapahit empire before converting to Islam in the 15th century. At the peak of its empire, the sultanate had control that extended over the coastal regions of modern-day Sarawak and Sabah, the Sulu archipelago, and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. The thalassocracy was visited by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 and fought the Castille War in 1578 against Spain. Its empire began to decline with the forced ceding of Sarawak to James Brooke and the ceding of Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company. After the loss of Limbang, Brunei finally became a British protectorate in 1888, receiving a resident in 1906. In the years after the Japanese wartime occupation during World War II, it formalised a constitution and fought an armed rebellion. Brunei regained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984. Economic growth during the 1970s and 1990s, averaging 56% from 1999 to 2008, has transformed Brunei Darussalam into a newly industrialised country.

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Canberra
Canberra ( /ˈkænbᵊrə/ or /ˈkænbɛrə/) is the capital city of Australia. With a population of 358,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney, and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of Melbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a "Canberran".
The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being an entirely planned city. Following an international contest for the city's design, a blueprint by the Chicago architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected and construction commenced in 1913. The Griffins' plan featured geometric motifs such as circles, hexagons and triangles, and was centred around axes aligned with significant topographical landmarks in the Australian Capital Territory.

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Caribbean
The Caribbean (pronounced /ˌkærɨˈbiːən/ or /kəˈrɪbiən/) is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. From the peninsula of Florida on the mainland of the United States, the islands stretch 1,200 miles (1,900 km) southeastward, then 500 miles (800 km) south, then west along the north coast of Venezuela on the South American mainland.
Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. These islands generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea.
The Caribbean islands are part of the somewhat larger West Indies grouping, which consists of the Greater Antilles on the north, the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), as well as the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands (the Lucayan Archipelago, which does not border the Caribbean Sea). Due to its proximity to the equator, the sun rises from 3am EST to 5am EST.^{[citation needed]}

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Chile
Chile (ⁱ/ˈtʃɪliː/ or /ˈtʃɪleɪ/), officially the Republic of Chile (Spanish: República de Chile [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈtʃile] ( listen)), is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Along with Ecuador, it is one of two countries in South America that do not border Brazil. Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas and Easter Island. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty.
Chile's distinctive shape—4,300 kilometres (2,700 mi) long and on average 175 kilometres (109 mi) wide—makes it the longest country in the world, north to south, with the fifth lengthiest coastline at over 78 thousand kilometers. The diverse climate of Chile ranges from the world's driest desert in the north—the Atacama—through a Mediterranean climate in the centre, humid subtropical in Easter Island, to an Oceanic climate, including alpine tundra and glaciers in the east and south. The northern desert contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources, and is the cultural and political center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century when it incorporated its northern and southern regions. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands.

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Christmas Island
Coordinates: 10°29′S 105°38′E / 10.483°S 105.633°E / -10.483; 105.633 The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, 360 km (220 mi) south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, 975 km (606 mi) ENE of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and 2,748 km (1,708 mi) west of the Territorian city of Darwin.
Christmas Island has a population of 1,403 residents who live in a number of "settlement areas" on the northern tip of the island: Flying Fish Cove (also known as Kampong), Silver City, Poon Saan, and Drumsite.
The island’s geographic isolation and history of minimal human disturbance has led to a high level of endemism among its flora and fauna, which is of significant interest to scientists and naturalists. 63% of its 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi) is an Australian national park. There exist large areas of primary monsoonal forest.
Phosphate, deposited originally as dead marine organisms (not guano as often thought), has been mined on the island for many years.

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Cook Islands
The Cook Islands (ⁱ/ˈkʊk ˈaɪləndz/; Cook Islands Māori: Kūki 'Āirani) is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. The 15 small islands have a total land area of 240 square kilometres (92.7 sq mi), but the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,800,000 square kilometres (690,000 sq mi) of ocean.
The main population centres are on the island of Rarotonga (14,153 in 2006), where there is an international airport. There is a much larger population of Cook Islanders in New Zealand, particularly the North Island. In the 2006 census, 58,008 self-identified as being of ethnic Cook Island Māori descent.
With about 100,000 visitors travelling to the islands in the 2010-11 financial year,tourism is the country's main industry, and the leading element of the economy, far ahead of offshore banking, pearls, and marine and fruit exports.
Defence and foreign affairs are the responsibility of New Zealand, in consultation with the Cook Islands. In recent times, the Cook Islands have adopted an increasingly independent foreign policy. Although Cook Islanders are citizens of New Zealand, they have the status of Cook Islands nationals, which is not given to other New Zealand citizens.

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Coral Sea Islands
The Coral Sea Islands Territory includes a group of small and mostly uninhabited tropical islands and reefs in the Coral Sea, northeast of Queensland, Australia. The only inhabited island is Willis Island. The territory covers 780,000 km², extending east and south from the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, and including Heralds Beacon Island, Osprey Reef, the Willis Group, and fifteen other reef/island groups.
The Coral Sea Islands were first charted in 1803; in the 1870 and 1880s the islands were mined for guano but the absence of a permanent supply of fresh water prevented long-term habitation. The territory was created in 1969 by the Coral Sea Islands Act (before, the area was considered part of Queensland) and extended in 1997 to include Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs nearly 800 km further South, already in the Tasman Sea.
The two latter reefs are much closer to Lord Howe Island, New South Wales (about 150 km) than to the southernmost island of the rest of the territory, Cato Island. The islands, cays and reefs of the Great Barrier Reef are not part of the territory, belonging to Queensland instead. The outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef is the boundary between Queensland and the Coral Sea Islands Territory.

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Dili
Dili is the capital, largest city, chief port and commercial centre of East Timor.
Dili lies on the northern coast of Timor island, the easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It is the seat of the administration of the district of Dili, which is the administrative entity of the area and includes the island of Atauro and some cities close to Dili city. The city is divided into the subdistricts of Nain Feto, Vera Cruz, Dom Aleixo and Cristo Rei and is divided into several sucos, which are headed by an elected chefe de suco. 18 of the 26 sucos of the four subdistricts are categorized as urban.
There is no city administration beside the district administrator, who was appointed by state government. The Timorese government started to plan in 2009 to change the status of districts into municipalities. These will have an elected mayor and council.
The 2010 census recorded a population of 193,563 in the areas of Dili district classified as urban, with a population of 234,331 in the whole district including rural areas such as Atauro and Metinaro.

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East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (tiˈmɔr ˈlɛʃteɪ), commonly known as East Timor ⁱ/ˌiːst ˈtiːmɔr/ (Tetum: Timór Lorosa'e, Portuguese: Timor-Leste), is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor. The small country of 15,410 km² (5,400 sq mi) is located about 640 km (400 mi) northwest of Darwin, Australia.
East Timor was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century, and was known as Portuguese Timor until Portugal's decolonization of the country. In late 1975, East Timor declared its independence, but later that year was invaded and occupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesia's 27th province the following year. In 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory and East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on May 20, 2002. East Timor is one of only two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being the Philippines.

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Easter Island
Coordinates: 27°7′S 109°22′W / 27.117°S 109.367°W / -27.117; -109.367
Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui, Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people. It is a World Heritage Site (as determined by UNESCO) with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park. In recent times the island has served as a warning of the cultural and environmental dangers of overexploitation. Ethnographers and archaeologists also blame diseases carried by European colonizers and slave raiding of the 1860s for devastating the local peoples.
Easter Island is claimed to be the most remote inhabited island in the world.
The name "Easter Island" was given by the island's first recorded European visitor, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who encountered it on Easter Sunday 1722, while searching for Davis or David's island. Roggeveen named it Paasch-Eyland (18th century Dutch for "Easter Island"). The island's official Spanish name, Isla de Pascua, also means "Easter Island".

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Fakaofo
Fakaofo, formerly known as Bowditch Island, is a South Pacific Ocean atoll located at 171° 15' West, 9° 25' South in the Tokelau Group. The actual land area is only about 3 km², consisting of islets on a coral reef surrounding a central lagoon of some 45 km². According to the 2006 census 483 people officially live on Fakaofo (however just 370 were present at census night). Of those present 70% belong to the Congregational Church and 22% to the Catholic Church.
The main settlement on the island is Fale on Fale Islet, towards the western side of the atoll. Located two kilometres to the west of it is the relatively large Fenua Fala Islet, where a second settlement had been established in 1960. Other islets in the group include Teafua, Nukumatau, Nukulakia, Fenua Loa, Saumatafanga, Motu Akea, Matangi, Lalo, and Mulifenua.
Fakaofo's Council of Elders is made up of citizens over the age of 60.
Previously known as Bowditch after its discoverer, this island was visited by the American ship Peacock which was part of the first American voyage of discovery~ The United States Navy Exploring Expedition, or simply the Ex Ex, 1838–1842, Charles Wikes Commanding. Nathaniel Bowditch(1773–1838) was a noted American navigator who wrote a famous two volume epitome of Navigation that is still used and published today by the Defense Mapping Agency/Topography Center; U.S Printing Office, Washington, D.C. This Epitome is an encyclopedic work on everything to do with Navigation and Sailing. The author of a first hand account entitled Twenty Years Before The Mast, one Charles Erskine, wrote that "The people found on this island had no knowledge of fire, which I believe, is the only instance of the kind on record." Twenty Years Before The Mast, George W. Jacobs & Co, Philadelphia, 1896. This book should not be confused with another book with a similar title by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. which tells about hide trading on the California coast in the early 19th century.

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Fiji
Fiji ⁱ/ˈfiːdʒiː/ (Fijian: Viti; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी), officially the Republic of Fiji (Fijian: Matanitu ko Viti; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी गणराज्यFijī Gaṇarājya), is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, France's New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas, France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast and Tuvalu to the north.
The majority of Fiji's islands were formed through volcanic activity started around 150 million years ago. Today, some geothermal activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji has been inhabited since the second millennium BC. The country comprises an archipelago of more than 332 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of circa 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population of almost 850,000. The former contains Suva, the capital and largest city. Most of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres. Viti Levu's interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain.

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Flying Fish Cove
Flying Fish Cove is the main settlement of Australia's Christmas Island. Many maps simply label it “The Settlement”. It was the first British settlement on the island, established in 1888. The cove is named after the survey vessel HMS Flying Fish.
About a third of the territory's total population of 1,600 lives in Flying Fish Cove. It is located in the northeast of the island; there is a small harbour which serves tourists with yachts, and an airfield some kilometers southeast from Flying Fish Cove. It is possible to dive at the settlement's beach.
Coordinates: 10°25′18″S 105°40′41″E / 10.42167°S 105.67806°E / -10.42167; 105.67806

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France
France (English ⁱ/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

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French Polynesia
French Polynesia (ⁱ/ˈfrɛntʃ pɒlɨˈniːʒə/; French: Polynésie française, pronounced: [pɔlinezi fʁɑ̃sɛz]; Tahitian: Pōrīnetia Farāni) is an overseas country of the French Republic (pays d'outre-mer). It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory (Papeetē). Although not an integral part of its territory, Clipperton Island was administered from French Polynesia until 2007.
The island groups that make up French Polynesia were not officially united until the establishment of the French protectorate in 1889. The first of these islands to be settled by indigenous Polynesians were the Marquesas Islands in AD 300 and the Society Islands in AD 800. The Polynesians were organized in loose chieftainships.
European communication began in 1521 when the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sighted Pukapuka in the Tuāmotu-Gambier Archipelago. Dutchman Jakob Roggeveen came across Bora Bora in the Society Islands in 1722, and the British explorer Samuel Wallis visited Tahiti in 1767. The French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville visited Tahiti in 1768, while the British explorer James Cook visited in 1769. Christian missions began with Spanish priests who stayed in Tahiti for a year from 1774; Protestants from the London Missionary Society settled permanently in Polynesia in 1797.

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Funafuti
Funafuti is an atoll that forms the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 4,492 (2002 Census), making it the most populated atoll in the country. It is a narrow sweep of land between 20 and 400 metres wide, encircling a large lagoon 18 km long and 14 km wide, with a surface of 275 km², by far the largest lagoon in Tuvalu. The land area of the 33 islets aggregates to 2.4 km², less than one percent of the total area of the atoll. There is an airstrip, hotel (Vaiaku Langi Hotel), and administrative buildings, as well as homes, constructed both in the traditional manner, out of palm fronds, and more recently out of cement blocks. The most prominent building on Funafuti atoll is the Fetu Ao Lima Church of Tuvalu. Other sites of interest are the remains of United States aircraft that crashed on Funafuti during World War II, when the airstrip was used by the U.S. forces to defend the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands.
The largest island is Fongafale. The island houses four villages, including Vaiaku, seat of the Tuvalu government. There are two junior schools, Nauti Primary School and SDA Primary School and Fetuvalu High School.

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Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands (official name: Archipiélago de Colón; other Spanish names: Islas de Colón or Islas Galápagos) are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, 972 km (525 nmi) west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.
The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a biological marine reserve. The principal language on the islands is Spanish. The islands have a population of slightly over 25,000.
The islands are geologically young and famed for their vast number of endemic species, which were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
The first crude navigation chart of the islands was made by the buccaneer Ambrose Cowley in 1684.^{[dubious – discuss]} He named the individual islands after some of his fellow pirates or after the British noblemen who helped the privateer's cause. More recently, the Ecuadorian government gave most of the islands Spanish names. While the Spanish names are official, many users (especially ecological researchers) continue to use the older English names, principally because those were the names used when Charles Darwin visited.

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Guam
Guam (ⁱ/ˈɡwɑːm/; Chamorro: Guåhån) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of sixteen Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United Nations. The island's capital is Hagåtña (formerly Agaña). Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.
The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous people, first populated the island approximately 4,000 years ago. The island has a long history of European colonialism. Discovered by Ferdinand Magellan during a Spanish expedition on March 6, 1521, the first colony was established in 1668 by Spain with the arrival of settlers including Padre San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. For more than two centuries Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons that crossed the Pacific annually. The island was controlled by Spain until 1898, when it was surrendered to the United States during the Spanish-American War and later formally ceded as part of the Treaty of Paris.

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Hanga Roa
Hanga Roa is the main town, harbour and capital of the Chilean province of Easter Island. It is located in the southern part of the island's west coast, in the lowlands between the extinct volcanoes of Terevaka and Rano Kau.
The population of 3,304 (2002 census) comprises 87 percent of the total population of the island. For much of the twentieth century, the rest of the island was leased to the Williamson-Balfour Company and closed to the Rapanui; in 1914, the population of Hanga Roa was just 250 and the rest of the island was inhabited by large populations of sheep.
The island's main avenue, Avenida Atamu Tekena (formerly Avenida Policarpo Toro), is the heart of the town. Many stores, hotels, restaurants, and the island's only supermarket and pharmacy are found alongside this road. In 1998, the road was renamed after nineteenth century Rapanui hero Atamu Te Kena; it had previously been named after Captain Policarpo Toro, the Chilean Naval officer who annexed Easter Island to Chile in 1888. The island's museum and also the Roman Catholic church, are located in the center of town. With the advent of the internet and the expansion of communication services by the Chilean government, many internet cafes and even several automated teller machines (ATM) have appeared in recent years.

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Hawaii
Coordinates: 21°18′41″N 157°47′47″W / 21.31139°N 157.79639°W / 21.31139; -157.79639
Hawaii (ⁱ/həˈwaɪ.iː/ or /həˈwaɪʔiː/; Hawaiian: Hawaiʻi Hawaiian pronunciation: [hɐˈvɐiʔi]) is the most recent of the 50 U.S. states (August 21, 1959), and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean.
Hawaii’s diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches and oceanic surrounding, and active volcanoes make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists alike. Due to its mid-Pacific location, Hawaii has many North American and Asian influences along with its own vibrant native culture. Hawaii has over a million permanent residents along with many visitors and U.S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu.
The state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km). At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight "main islands" are (from the northwest to southeast) Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the island of Hawaiʻi. The last is by far the largest and is often called "The Big Island" to avoid confusion with the state as a whole. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.

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Honiara
Honiara, population 49,107 (1999 census), 78,190 (2009 estimate), is the capital of the Solomon Islands and of Guadalcanal Province, although it is a separately administered town. The name Honiara derives from nagho ni ara which roughly translates as "facing the southeast wind" in one of the Guadalcanal languages.
Honiara is located on the northern coast of the island of Guadalcanal and includes a sea port at Point Cruz. The town revolves around the Kukum Highway, which connects the Honiara International Airport (former known as Henderson Field) in the east of Honiara with the settlement of White River in the west, and passes the National Referral Hospital and the Chinatown (burnt down in 2006 election riot).
The climate is tropical, the average daytime temperature is about 28 degrees Celsius, the water temperatures between 26 and 29 degrees. Damper periods are predominantly between November and April. The average amount of precipitation per year is about 2,000 mm and thus somewhat lower than the average on the entire Solomon Islands (3,000 mm).

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Honolulu
Honolulu /hoʊnoʊˈluːluː/ is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as Honolulu County which covers the entire island. For statistical purposes, the U.S. Census Bureau recognizes the urban part of Honolulu as a census-designated place. Honolulu is a major financial center of the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The population of the census-designated place was 337,256 at the 2010 census, while the population of the city and county was 953,207. Honolulu is the most populous state capital relative to state population.
In the Hawaiian language, Honolulu means "sheltered bay" or "place of shelter". The old name is said to be Kou, a district roughly encompassing the area from Nuuanu Avenue to Alakea Street and from Hotel Street to Queen Street which is the heart of the present downtown district. The city has been the capital of the Hawaiian islands since 1845 and gained historical recognition following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor near the city on December 7, 1941, and as the birthplace of Barack Obama, the 44th and current President of the United States.

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Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula (or, more generally, by southern and western Asia); on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, by Antarctica). The ocean is named after the geographic location of India.
As one component of the interconnected global ocean, the Indian Ocean is delineated from the Atlantic Ocean by the 20° east meridian running south from Cape Agulhas, and from the Pacific by the meridian of 146°55' east. The northernmost extent of the Indian Ocean is approximately 30° north in the Persian Gulf. This ocean is nearly 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) wide at the southern tips of Africa and Australia; its area is 73,556,000 square kilometres (28,350,000 sq mi), including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

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Indomalaya ecozone
The Indomalaya ecozone is one of the eight ecozones that cover the planet's land surface. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia.
Also called the Oriental Realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya extends from Afghanistan through the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia to lowland southern China, and through Indonesia as far as Java, Bali, and Borneo, east of which lies the Wallace line, the ecozone boundary named after Alfred Russel Wallace which separates Indomalaya from Australasia. Indomalaya also includes the Philippines, lowland Taiwan, and Japan's Ryukyu Islands.
Most of Indomalaya was originally covered by forest, mostly tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, with tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests predominant in much of India and parts of Southeast Asia. The tropical moist forests of Indomalaya are dominated by trees of the dipterocarp family (Dipterocarpaceae).
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) divides Indomalaya into three bioregions, which it defines as "geographic clusters of ecoregions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)."

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Indonesia
Indonesia (ⁱ/ˌɪndəˈniːʒə/ IN-də-NEE-zhə or /ˌɪndoʊˈniːziə/ IN-doh-NEE-zee-ə), officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia Indonesian pronunciation: [rɛpʊblɪk ɪndɔnɛsɪa]), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 17,508 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN and a member of the G-20 major economies. The Indonesian economy is the world's 17th largest economy by nominal GDP.
The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers brought Christianity and fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II. Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change.

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Insular area
An insular area is a United States territory, that is neither a part of one of the 50 U.S. states nor the District of Columbia, the federal district of the U.S. They are called "insular" from the Latin word insula ("island") because they were once administered by the War Department's Bureau of Insular Affairs, now the Office of Insular Affairs at the Department of the Interior. The term insular possession is also sometimes used.
Because those insular areas that are inhabited are unincorporated territories, their native-born inhabitants are not constitutionally entitled to United States citizenship, under the Citizenship Clause.^{[citation needed]} However, Congress has extended citizenship rights to all inhabited territories except American Samoa, and these citizens may vote and run for office in any U.S. jurisdiction in which they are residents. The people of American Samoa are U.S. nationals, but not U.S. citizens; they are free to move around and seek employment within the whole United States without immigration restrictions, but cannot vote or hold office outside of American Samoa.^{[citation needed]}

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Jakarta
Jakarta ( /dʒəˈkɑrtə/), officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Jakarta), is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of Java, Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre, and with a population of 10,187,595 as of November 2011, it is the most populous city in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia, and is the twelfth-largest city in the world. The official metropolitan area, known as Jabodetabekjur, is the second largest in the world, yet the city's suburbs still continue beyond it. Jakarta is listed as a global city in the 2008 Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) research. and has an area of 661 square kilometres (255 sq mi)
Based on Brooking Institute survey about growth, in 2011 Jakarta ranked 17th among the world's 200 largest cities, a significant jumps from 2007 when Jakarta ranked 171st. Jakarta has seen more rapid growth than Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Bangkok.

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Japan
Japan ⁱ/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.

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Japanese Archipelago
The Japanese archipelago (日本列島, Nihon Rettō^?), which forms the country of Japan, extends roughly from northeast to southwest along the northeastern coast of the Eurasia mainland, washing upon the northwestern shores of the Pacific Ocean. It is composed of islands from the Sakhalin island arc and the Northeastern Japan arc.
The term Home Islands was used at the end of World War II to define the area of Japan to which its sovereignty and the constitutional rule of the Emperor would be restricted. The term is also commonly used today to distinguish the archipelago from Japan's colonies and other territories in the first half of the 20th century, but is not used in reference to the country as it exists today.
The archipelago consists of 6,852 islands ("island" defined as land more than 100 m in circumference), of which 430 are inhabited. The four main islands, listed from north to south, are as followed:
Changes to the Japanese archipelago over time:

37°30′52″N 137°42′44″E / 37.514444°N 137.712222°E / 37.514444; 137.712222Coordinates: 37°30′52″N 137°42′44″E / 37.514444°N 137.712222°E / 37.514444; 137.712222 center of mass

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Kerguelen Plateau
The Kerguelen Plateau ( /ˈkɜrɡələn/, /kərˈɡeɪlən/) is an underwater volcanic large igneous province (LIP), also the microcontinent and submerged continent in the southern Indian Ocean. It lies about 3,000 km to the southwest of Australia and is nearly three times the size of Japan. The plateau extends for more than 2,200 km in a northwest-southeast direction and lies in deep water.
The plateau was produced by the Kerguelen hotspot, starting with or following the breakup of Gondwana about 130 million years ago. There is a small portion of the plateau that breaks sea level, forming the Kerguelen Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands. Intermittent volcanism continues on Heard and McDonald islands.
Symmetrically located across the Indian Ocean ridge and due west of Australia, is the Broken Ridge underwater volcanic plateau which was at one time contiguous with the Kerguelen Plateau prior to rifting by the mid-ocean ridge.
To the north of Broken Ridge lies the linear Ninety East Ridge which continues almost due north into the Bay of Bengal and is considered to be a hotspot track.

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Kiribati
Kiribati ([kɪribas] KIRR-i-bas or ˌkɪrəˈbɑdi;Gilbertese: [ˈkiɾibas]), officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is just over 100,000 (2011), and the island nation is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles) straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line at its easternmost point.
The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands. The capital of South Tarawa consists of a number of islets connected through a series of causeways, located in the Tarawa archipelago. Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999.
Kiribati was named in French by captains Krusenstern and Louis Isidore Duperrey "îles Gilbert", Gilbert Islands, after the British Captain Thomas Gilbert, who sighted the islands in 1788. The current name, Kiribati, is an adaptation of "Gilberts", from the former European name the "Gilbert Islands". Although the indigenous Gilbertese language name for the Gilbert Islands proper is Tungaru, the new state chose the name "Kiribati", the Gilbertese rendition of "Gilberts", as an equivalent of the former colony to acknowledge the inclusion of islands which were never considered part of the Gilberts chain.

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Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island (or Macca) lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54°30S, 158°57E. Politically, it is part of Tasmania, Australia since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a World Heritage Site. It was a part of Esperance Municipality until 1993, when the municipality was merged with other municipalities to Huon Valley. The island is home to the entire Royal Penguin population on earth during their annual nesting season. Ecologically, it is part of the Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra ecoregion.
Since 1948 the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) has maintained a permanent base, the Macquarie Island Station, on the isthmus at the northern end of the island at the foot of Wireless Hill. The population of the base, the island's only human inhabitants, usually varies from 20 to 40 people over the year.
The Australian/Briton Frederick Hasselborough discovered the uninhabited island accidentally on 11 July 1810 when looking for new sealing grounds. He claimed Macquarie Island for Britain and annexed it to the colony of New South Wales in 1810. The island took its name after Colonel Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. Hasselborough reported a wreck "of ancient design", which has given rise to speculation that the island may have been visited before by Polynesians or others.

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Majuro
Majuro ( /ˈmædʒəroʊ/) (Marshallese: Mājro, /mʲatʲrˠɘɦˠʷ/ or [mæʑɛ͡ʌr̴ɤ͡oo̯]), is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of 9.7 square kilometres (3.7 sq mi) and encloses a lagoon of 295 square kilometres (114 sq mi). As with other atolls in the Marshall Islands, Majuro consists of narrow land masses.
The main population center, also named Majuro, population 25,400 (as of 2004^[update]), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Majuro has a port, shopping district, hotels, and an international airport.
The major population centers are the D–U–D communities: the islets of Delap–Uliga–Djarrit (listed from south to north, on the eastern edge of the atoll).^{[citation needed]} As of 2008, Majuro has a population of 30,000. Most people are Christians.
At the western end of the atoll, about 30 miles (48 km) from D–U–D by road, is the island community of Laura, a growing residential area with a popular beach. Laura has the highest elevation point on the atoll, estimated at less than 10 feet above sea level.

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Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race.
It has also been called the Indo-Australian Archipelago, East Indies, Indonesian Archipelago, and other names over time. The term is largely synonymous with the term Maritime Southeast Asia. Situated between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the group of over 25,000 islands is the largest archipelago by area, and fourth by number of islands in the world. It includes Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore,^{[citation needed]}Brunei, East Malaysia and East Timor. The island of New Guinea or islands of Papua New Guinea are not always included in definitions of the Malay Archipelago.
The term was derived from the concept of a Malay race, which included the peoples of the modern-day nations of Indonesia (excluding western New Guinea), Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor and the Philippines. The racial concept was proposed by European explorers based on their observations of the influence of the ethnic Malay empire (Indonesia), Srivijaya.

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Malaysia
Malaysia (ⁱ/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-LAY-zhə or ⁱ/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-LAY-see-ə) is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population exceeded 27.5 million, with over 20 million living on the Peninsula.
Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963, with si being added to give the new country the name Malaysia. However, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. Since independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its natural resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism.

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Manila
Manila (English: /məˈnɪlə/; Tagalog: Maynila, [majˈnilaʔ]) is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities (along with the smaller municipality of Pateros) that comprise Metro Manila.
Manila is located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north; Quezon City to the northeast; San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east; Makati to the southeast, and Pasay to the south.
Manila has a total population of more than 1,652,171 according to the 2010 census. Manila is the second most populous city in the Philippines, behind its neighbor, Quezon City. The populace inhabit an area of only 38.55 square kilometers, making Manila the most densely populated city in the world.Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines and the 11th in the world with an estimated population of 16,300,000. The greater urban area is the fifth-most populous in the world and has an estimated metropolitan population of 20,654,307 people.
The city is divided into six legislative districts and consists of sixteen geographical districts: Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Port Area, Quiapo, Sampaloc, San Andres, San Miguel, San Nicolas, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, Santa Mesa and Tondo. Bustling commerce and some of the most historically and culturally significant iconic landmarks in the country, as well as the seat of the executive and judicial branches of the government are to be found in the city; and it is also home to many scientific and educational institutions, numerous sport facilities, a variety of other culturally and historically significant venues. As a primary transportation hub and with the larger capital region bearing its name, there is very little of a general nature to be found in cities anywhere that Manila is lacking.

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Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands (Marshallese: Aolepān Aorōkin M̧ajeļ), is an island country located in the northern Pacific Ocean. Geographically, the country is part of the larger island group of Micronesia, with the population of around 68,000 people spread out over 34 low-lying coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets. The islands share maritime boundaries with the Federated States of Micronesia to the west, Wake Island to the north,Kiribati to the south-east, and Nauru to the south. The most populous atoll is Majuro, which also acts as the capital.
Micronesian colonists gradually settled the Marshall Islands during the 2nd millennium BC, with inter-island navigation made possible using traditional stick charts. Islands in the archipelago were first explored by Europeans in the 1520s, with Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar sighting an atoll in August 1526. Other expeditions by Spanish and English ships followed, with the islands' current name stemming from British explorer John Marshall. Recognised as part of the Spanish East Indies in 1874, the islands were sold to Germany in 1884, and became of German New Guinea in 1885. The Empire of Japan occupied the Marshall Islands in World War I, which were later joined with other former German territories in 1919 by the League of Nations to form the South Pacific Mandate. In World War II, the islands were conquered by the United States in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign. Along with other Pacific Islands, the Marshall Islands were then consolidated into the United-States-governed Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Self-government was achieved in 1979, and full sovereignty in 1986, under a Compact of Free Association with the United States.

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Medan
Medan (Indonesian: Kota Medan; pronounced [meˈdan]) is the capital of the North Sumatra province in Indonesia. Located on the northern coast, Medan is the fourth largest city in Indonesia (behind Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung), and the largest Indonesian city outside Java. The city is bordered by the Deli Serdang Regency to the east, south and west, and the Strait of Malacca to the north. It is close to the volcano Sinabung, which erupted in August 2010 after a 400 year dormant state.
From 2005 Medan was governed by a mayor, Dr. H. Abdillah Ak, MBA (appointed for the period 2005-2010). However, Abdillah and his vice mayor were caught by Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission in 2008. Syamsul Arifin, the Governor of North Sumatra Province, then appointed Affifudin Lubis to become the acting mayor. In 2009, Affifudin Lubis resigned as mayor, and the Governor then appointed Rahudman Harahap to become the mayor. Because Rahudman wanted to be a candidate in the 2010 mayor election, he resigned as mayor. Then Syamsul Arifin became the acting mayor. In the 2010 mayor election, Rahudman Harahap is elected mayor. Medan is divided into 21 districts (kecamatan) and 151 subdistricts (kelurahan).

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Melbourne
Melbourne ([ˈmelbən, -bn̩, ˈmæl-],rhotically /ˈmɛlbərn/) is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2010, the greater geographical area had an approximate population of four million. Inhabitants of Melbourne are called Melburnians or Melbournians.
The metropolis is located on the large natural bay known as Port Phillip, with the city centre positioned at the estuary of the Yarra River (at the northernmost point of the bay). The metropolitan area then extends south from the city centre, along the eastern and western shorelines of Port Phillip, and expands into the hinterland. The city centre is situated in the municipality known as the City of Melbourne, and the metropolitan area consists of a further 30 municipalities.
Melbourne was founded in 1835 (47 years after the European settlement of Australia) by settlers from Launceston in Van Diemen's Land. It was named by governor Richard Bourke in 1837, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb—the 2nd Viscount Melbourne. Melbourne was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847. In 1851, it became the capital city of the newly created colony of Victoria. During the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the world's largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it then served as the interim seat of government of the newly created nation of Australia until 1927.

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Melekeok
Melekeok is a state of the Republic of Palau located on the central east coast of Babeldaob Island. The new capital of the Republic of Palau, Ngerulmud, is also located in this state. The state consists of long beaches, hill, steep ridges, rivers and the largest and only natural freshwater lake in the Republic of Palau and Micronesia, Lake Ngardok.
Melekeok is located on the eastern coast of the largest island in the Palau Archipelago, Babeldaob or Babelthuap in some cases. Melekeok State extends from a lagoon, on the east coast, to the Central Divide or Rael Kedam to the west, and is approximately 11 square miles (28 km²) in total area. The state is bordered by Ngiwal State to the north, Ngchesar State to the south, and Ngaremlengui State to the west. The state's coasts consist of long beaches and mangrove forests; the interior consists of swampy marshes, steep, rolling hills covered with sparse vegetation in the interior, and thick forests along the eastern flanks of the Rael Kedam Divide.

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Nauru
Coordinates: 0°31′38″S 166°56′12″E / 0.527288°S 166.936724°E / -0.527288; 166.936724
Nauru (English ⁱ/nɑːˈuːruː/ nah-OO-roo), officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, 300 kilometres (186 mi) to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi). With just over 9,322 residents, it is the second least-populated country after Vatican City.
Settled by Micronesian and Polynesian people, Nauru was annexed and claimed as a colony by the German Empire in the late 19th century. After World War I, Nauru became a League of Nations mandate administered by Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. During World War II, Nauru was occupied by Japanese troops, who were bypassed by the Allied advance across the Pacific. After the war ended, it entered into trusteeship again. Nauru gained its independence in 1968.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Nauru was a "rentier state". Nauru is a phosphate rock island, with rich deposits close to the surface, which allow for simple strip mining operations; moreover, it has some phosphate reserves which are presently (as of 2011) not economically viable for extraction. Nevertheless, this island was a major exporter of phosphate starting in 1907, when the Pacific Phosphate Company began mining there, through the formation of the British Phosphate Commission in 1919, and continuing after independence. This returned to Nauru full control of its minerals under the Nauru Phosphate Corporation, until the deposits ran out during the 1980s. For this reason, Nauru briefly boasted the highest per-capita income enjoyed by any sovereign state in the world during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

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New Caledonia
Coordinates: 21°15′S 165°18′E / 21.25°S 165.30°E / -21.25; 165.30
New Caledonia (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie) is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) east of Australia and about 20,000 kilometres (12,000 mi) from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands in the Coral Sea are also part of New Caledonia. Locals refer to Grande Terre as "Le Caillou", the rock.
New Caledonia has a land area of 18,576 square kilometres (7,172 sq mi). The population (2011 estimate) is 256,275. The capital of the territory is Nouméa.
The earliest traces of human presence in New Caledonia date back to the Lapita period. The Lapita were highly skilled navigators and agriculturists with influence over a large area of the Pacific.
The British first sighted New Caledonia on September 4, 1774, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook. He named the territory New Caledonia, as the north-east of the island reminded him of Scotland. The west coast of Grande Terre was approached by Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse in 1788, shortly before his disappearance, and the Loyalty Islands were first visited in 1796. From then until 1840, only a few sporadic contacts with the archipelago were recorded. Contacts became more frequent after 1840, because of the interest in sandalwood from New Caledonia.

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New Zealand
New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa) is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses ‒ that of the North and South Islands ‒ as well as numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans.
During its long isolation, New Zealand developed a distinctive biodiversity of both animal and plant life. Most notable are the large number of unique bird species, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and introduced mammals. With a mild maritime climate, the land was mostly covered in forest. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions caused by the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates clashing beneath the earth's surface.

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Ngerulmud
Ngerulmud, a settlement in the State of Melekeok, is where the offices of the government of Palau are. The official capital is Melekeok. On 7 October 2006, government officials moved their offices in the former capital of Koror to Ngerulmud. Ngerulmud is located 20 km (12 mi) northeast of Koror on Babeldaob (Babelthaup) Island and 2 km northwest of the Melekeok village.
Coordinates: 7°30′2″N 134°37′27″E / 7.50056°N 134.62417°E / 7.50056; 134.62417

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Niue
Niue ( /ˈnjuːeɪ/ NEW-ay; Niuean: Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean. It is commonly known as the "Rock of Polynesia", and inhabitants of the island call it "the Rock" for short. Niue is 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) northeast of New Zealand in a triangle between Tonga to the southwest, the Samoas to the northwest, and the Cook Islands to the southeast. The land area is 260 square kilometres (100 sq mi) with about 1,400 people who are predominantly Polynesian.
Though self-governing, Niue is in free association with New Zealand, and lacks full sovereignty. All Niueans are New Zealand citizens and Queen Elizabeth II is Niue's head of state in her capacity as Queen of New Zealand. Most diplomatic relations are conducted by New Zealand on Niue's behalf. 90-95% of Niuean people live in New Zealand, along with about 70% of the speakers of the Niuean language.^{[citation needed]}
In 2003, Niue became the world's first "WiFi nation", in which free wireless Internet access is provided throughout the country by The Internet Users Society-Niue.

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Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (ⁱ/ˈnɔrfək ˈaɪlənd/; Norfuk: Norfuk Ailen) is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia, 1,412 kilometres (877 mi) directly east of mainland Evans Head, and about 600 kilometres (370 mi) from Lord Howe Island. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance. Together with two neighbouring islands, it forms one of Australia's external territories.
Originally colonised by East Polynesians, Norfolk Island was colonised by Britain as part of its settlement in Australia in 1788. It then served as a convict penal settlement until 1794, when it was abandoned until 1856, when permanent residence on the island for civilians began. In 1901, the island became a part of the Commonwealth of Australia which it has remained until this day.
The evergreen Norfolk Island pine is a symbol of the island and thus pictured on its flag (see illustration). Native to the island, the pine is a key export industry for Norfolk Island, being a popular ornamental tree on mainland Australia, where two related species grow, and also in Europe.

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Nouméa
Coordinates: 22°16′33″S 166°27′29″E / 22.2758°S 166.4580°E / -22.2758; 166.4580
Nouméa (French pronunciation: [numeˈa]) is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian (Wallisians, Futunians, Tahitians), Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians, Ni-Vanuatu and Kanaks that work in one of the South Pacific's most industrialised cities. The city lies on a protected deepwater harbour which serves as the chief port for New Caledonia.
The population of the city (commune) at the 2009 census was 97,579 inhabitants (up from 76,293 inhabitants at the 1996 census). Including the suburbs of Nouméa, the population of the Greater Nouméa metropolitan area (French: agglomération du Grand Nouméa) at the 2009 census was 163,723 inhabitants (up from 118,823 inhabitants in 1996, equating to a 2.4% population increase per year). 66.7% of the population of New Caledonia live in Greater Nouméa, which covers the communes of Nouméa, Le Mont-Dore, Dumbéa and Païta.

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Nukunonu
Nukunonu is a group of coral islets within Tokelau in the south Pacific Ocean. Covering 5.5 km², it is the largest of the three islands that constitute Tokelau, and is composed of an atoll surrounding a central lagoon, which itself covers some 90 km². According to the 2006 census 426 people live on Nukunonu, of which more than 95% belong to the Catholic Church.
The main settlement on the atoll is located on Nukunonu Island at the southwestern edge of the lagoon with a concrete bridge joining the two areas of settlement. Other islets in the group include Motuhaga, Te Puka e Mua, Ahua, Motufala, Punalei, Taulagapapa, Niututahi, Saumagalu, Apia, Laulauia, Avakilikili, Fatigauhu, Tokelau, Te Fakanava, Te Puku, and Te Kamu to name a few.
Tokelau has one hotel, the Luana Liki Hotel, and one resort, Falefa Resort, both situated on Nukunonu. Few tourists visit the country and tourism is not widely promoted. There is ambivalence to the idea of tourists with some Tokelauans wanting to keep the country unaffected by the outside world. Despite this, visitors are greeted with traditional Polynesian hospitality. The Luana Liki Hotel functions mainly to accommodate official visitors who have included the New Zealand Prime Minister and Governor General. There is one main shop in Nukunonu which sells a limited range of products. Due to the vagaries of shipping schedules it is at times short of goods.

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Nukuʻalofa
Nukuʻalofa is the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga. It is located on the north coast of the island of Tongatapu, in the southern most island group of Tonga.
In the Tongan myth of the origin of Nukuʻalofa, it was said that the meaning of Nukuʻalofa is: nuku meaning abode, ʻalofa meaning love.
The name is said to have originated when Moʻungatonga, the 6th Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua (King who governs the daily business of Tonga on behalf of the Tuʻi Tonga or Sacred King of Tonga) sent his youngest son, Ngata (later to be 1st Tuʻi Kanokupolu) as governor to Hihifo (Western side of Tongatapu). It was a difficult decision for Ngata as the Tu’i Tonga and Tu’i Ha’atakalaua have been unable to control Hihifo. Ngata had many reasons to fear for his life as his predecessors had been killed by the chiefs and people of Hihifo.
When Ngata left Muʻa, the old capital and residence of the Tuʻi Tonga and Tuʻi Ha'atakalaua, he was escorted by Nuku (an uncle) and Niukapu (an older cousin), chiefly relatives of his father. They sailed their canoes with all their followers from Muʻa and debated abandoning Tonga and sailing directly to Samoa, the homeland of Ngata’s mother. It was decided not to abandon Tonga, but to pull their canoes up into the swamp area halfway between Muʻa and Hihifo in order to plan and prepare for their landing at Hihifo.

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Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.
At 165.2 million square kilometres (64.1 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean – and, in turn, the hydrosphere – covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined. The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft).
The eastern Pacific Ocean was first sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century. Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and named it Mar del Sur (South Sea). The ocean's current name was given by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish expedition of world circumnavigation in 1521, who encountered favourable winds as he reached the ocean and called it Mar Pacifico in Portuguese, meaning "peaceful sea".

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Pago Pago
Pago Pago ( /ˈpɑːŋɡoʊˈpɑːŋɡoʊ/; Samoan: [ˈpaŋo ˈpaŋo]) is the capital of American Samoa. In 2000, its population was 11,500. The city is served by Pago Pago International Airport. Tourism, entertainment, food, and tuna canning are its primary industries.
From 1878 to 1951, the area was the site of a coaling and repair station for the U.S. Navy, known then as United States Naval Station Tutuila.
In January 1942 Pago Pago Harbor was shelled by a Japanese submarine, but this remained the only battle action on the islands during World War II.^{[citation needed]}
On September 29, 2009, an earthquake struck in the South Pacific, near Samoa and American Samoa, sending a tsunami into Pago Pago and surrounding areas. The tsunami caused moderate to severe damage to villages, buildings and vehicles and caused an unknown number of deaths.
The village is located in Pago Pago Harbor, on the island of Tutuila. Pago Pago is one of the several villages in the Urban agglomeration of Pago Pago along the shore of Pago Pago Harbor located at the very eastern part (inside) of the embayment. The area includes a number of villages, among them Fagatogo, the legislative and judicial area, and Utulei, the executive area.

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Palau
Palau (ⁱ/pəˈlaʊ/, sometimes spelled Belau or Pelew), officially the Republic of Palau (Palauan: Beluu ęr a Belau), is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. Geographically part of the larger island group of Micronesia, with the country's population of around 21,000 people spread out over 250 islands forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands. The islands share maritime boundaries with Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Federated States of Micronesia. The most populous island in the group is Koror, with the capital city, Ngerulmud, located on nearby Babeldaob.
The country were originally settled around 3000 years ago by migrants from the Philippines, with a Negrito population sustained until around 900 years ago. The islands were first visited by Europeans in the 18th century, and were made part of the Spanish East Indies in 1885. Following Spain's defeat in the Spanish–American War in 1898, the islands were sold to Imperial Germany in 1899 under the terms of the German–Spanish Treaty, where they were administered as part of German New Guinea. The Imperial Japanese Navy conquered Palau during World War I, and the islands were later made a part of the Japanese-ruled South Pacific Mandate by the League of Nations. During World War II, skirmishes, including the major Battle of Peleliu, were fought between American and Japanese troops as part of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. Along with other Pacific Islands, Palau was made a part of the United States-governed Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1947. Having voted against joining the newly-independent Federated States of Micronesia in 1979, the islands gained full sovereignty in 1994 under a Compact of Free Association with the United States.

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Palikir
Palikir ( /ˈpælɪkər/) is the capital of the Federated States of Micronesia since 1989, when it replaced Kolonia, the other large settlement on the island. It has a population of 4,645 and is located on the island of Pohnpei. It is part of the municipality of Sokehs.

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Papeete
Coordinates: 17°32′06″S 149°34′11″W / 17.535°S 149.5696°W / -17.535; -149.5696
Papeete (pronounced [papeˈʔete]) is the capital of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. The commune (municipality) of Papeete is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands, of which Papeete is the administrative capital. The French High Commissioner also resides in Papeete. It is the primary center of Tahitian and French Polynesian public and private governmental, commercial, industrial and financial services, the hub of French Polynesian tourism and a commonly used port of call. The Windward Islands are themselves part of the Society Islands. The name Papeete means "water from a basket".
The urban area of Papeete had a total population of 131,695 inhabitants at the August 2007 census, 26,017 of whom lived in the commune of Papeete proper.
The growth of the city was boosted by the decision to move the nuclear weapon test range from Algeria to the atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa, some 1,500 km (930 mi) at the east of Tahiti; this originated in particular in the construction of the Faa'a airport next to Pape'ete, the only international airport in French Polynesia. In 1983, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built the Papeete Tahiti Temple here because of the large number of members in the region. On 5 September 1995 the government of Jacques Chirac conducted the first of the last series of nuclear test detonations off the shores of Moruroa. A resulting riot in Papeete lasted for two days and damaged the international airport, injured 40 people, and scared away tourism for some time. (Similar rioting occurred after another French nuclear test in the same area in 1987.)

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Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (PNG; Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua). It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. The capital is Port Moresby.
Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth. According to recent data, 841 different languages are listed for the country, although 11 of these have no known living speakers. . (A detailed series of language maps of Papua New Guinea may be found at Ethnologue) There may be at least as many traditional societies,out of a population of about 6.2 million. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18% of its people live in urban centres. The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.

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Philippines
The Philippines ⁱ/ˈfɪlɨpiːnz/ FI-lə-peenz (Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas) is a sovereign country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest lies between the country and the island of Borneo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its tropical climate make the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons but have also endowed the country with natural resources and made it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising 7,107 islands, the Philippines is categorized broadly into three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila.
With an estimated population of about 98 million people, the Philippines is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12.5 million Filipinos live overseas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade introduced Chinese cultural influences which remain to this day.

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Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands ( /ˈpɪtkɛərn/;Pitkern: Pitkern Ailen), officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory. The four islands—named Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno—are spread over several hundred miles of ocean and have a total land area of about 18 square miles (47 km²). Only Pitcairn, the second largest and measuring about 2 miles (3.2 km) across, is inhabited.
The islands are best known as home of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians (or Polynesians) who accompanied them, an event retold in numerous books and films. This history is still apparent in the surnames of many of the islanders. With only about 48 inhabitants (currently from four main families: Christian, Warren, Young, and Brown), Pitcairn is the least populous jurisdiction in the world. The United Nations Committee on Decolonisation includes the Pitcairn Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

wn.com/Pitcairn_Islands
Port Moresby
Port Moresby ( /ˌpɔərt ˈmɔərzbi/), or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea (PNG). It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 in World War II, as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas. In 2000 it had a population of 254,158. As of 2009 it has a population of 307,643, giving it an annual growth rate of 2.1% over a nine year period.
The place where the city was founded has been inhabited by the Motu-Koitabu people for centuries. The first European to see it was Captain John Moresby in 1873. It was named in honour of his father, Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby.
According to a survey of world cities by the Intelligence Unit of The Economist, Port Moresby is one of the world's least livable cities (ranked 137 of 140 cities rated).
Although Port Moresby is surrounded by Central Province, of which it is also the capital, it is not part of that province, but forms the National Capital District.

wn.com/Port_Moresby
Port Vila
Port Vila /ˌpɔərt ˈviːlə/ is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. Situated on the south coast of the island of Efate, in Shefa Province, the city population at last census (1999) was 29,356, an increase of 55% on the previous census result (1989). This suggests a 2007 population of about 40,000 or around 65% of the province's population. Port Vila is the economic and commercial centre of Vanuatu.
The area occupied by Port Vila has been inhabited by Melanesian people for thousands of years. In 1606, the first Europeans arrived at the island, led by Pedro Fernández de Quirós and Luis Váez de Torres. In the 19th century, French settlers established the municipality of Franceville, which declared independence in 1889 and became the first self-governing nation to practice universal suffrage without distinction of sex or race. Although the population at the time consisted of about 500 native islanders and less than 50 whites, only the latter were permitted to hold office. One of the elected presidents was a U.S. citizen by birth, R.D. Polk.

wn.com/Port_Vila
Saipan
Saipan ( /saɪˈpæn/) is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a chain of fifteen tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean (15°10’51”N, 145°45’21”E) with a total area of 44.55 sq mi (115.4 km²). According to the 2010 United States Census, Saipan's population was 48,220, a drop of 22.7% from the 2000 US Census; the population decrease is largely attributed to working immigrants and their families either returning to their home countries after the collapse of the garment industry or moving to other locations with economic opportunities such as Guam and the United States.
The Commonwealth's center of government is located in the village of Capital Hill on the island. As the entire island is organized as a single municipality, most publications term "Saipan" as the Commonwealth's capital.
Located at latitude of 15.25° north and longitude of 145.75° east, about 120 mi (190 km) north of Guam, Saipan is about 12 mi (19 km) long and 5.6 mi (9.0 km) wide. It is a popular tourist destination in the Pacific.

wn.com/Saipan
Samoa
Samoa (ⁱ/səˈmoʊ.ə/; Samoan: Sāmoa, IPA: [ˌsaːˈmoa]), officially the Independent State of Samoa (Samoan: Malo Sa'oloto Tuto'atasi o Sāmoa), formerly known as Western Samoa, is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in Polynesia, Savai'i. The capital city, Apia, and Faleolo International Airport are situated on the island of Upolu.
Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976. The entire island group, inclusive of American Samoa, was called Navigators Islands by European explorers before the 20th century because of the Samoans' seafaring skills.
The oldest date so far from pre-historic remains in Samoa has been calculated by New Zealand scientists to a likely true age of circa 3,000 years ago from a Lapita site at Mulifanua during the 1970s.
The origins of the Samoans is closely linked to modern research about Polynesia in various scientific disciplines such as genetics, linguistics and anthropology. Scientific research is ongoing although a number of different theories exist; including one proposing that the Samoans originated from Austronesian predecessors during the terminal eastward Lapita expansion period from Southeast Asia and Melanesia between 2,500 and 1,500 BCE. The Samoan origins are currently being reassessed due to new scientific evidence and carbon dating findings from 2003 and onwards.

wn.com/Samoa
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands ⁱ/ˈsɒləmən ˈaɪləndz/ is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi). The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal. The nation of the Solomon Islands is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Solomon Islands are believed to have been inhabited by Melanesian people for many thousands of years. Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to arrive in Solomon Islands in 1568 and named them Islas Salomón. The United Kingdom established a protectorate over the Solomon Islands in 1893. In the Second World War there was fierce fighting between the Americans and the Japanese in the Solomon Islands campaign of 1942–45, including the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Self-government was achieved in 1976 and independence two years later. The Solomon Islands is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of the Solomon Islands, at present Elizabeth II, as the head of state. Gordon Lilo Darcy is the eleventh and current Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands.

wn.com/Solomon_Islands
South Tarawa
South Tarawa (in Gilbertese and English: Teinainano Urban Council or TUC) is the official capital of the Republic of Kiribati on Tarawa Atoll. The meaning of Teinainano is "down of the mast", alluding to the sail-shape of the atoll. As of 2005 its population was of 40,311.
The South Tarawa population center consists of all the small islets between Bairiki (on the west) to Temaiku/Bonriki on the east. All of several once separate islets are joined by causeways, forming one long islet on the reef along the southern side of the Tarawa Lagoon. There is also a relatively new causeway—the Japanese Causeway—that links South Tarawa to Betio, out of South Tarawa.
There is a Kiribati Teacher College and a University of the South Pacific campus on South Tarawa. Bairiki is sometimes considered the capital of Kiribati because at one time both the Parliament and the Presidency (and main administrative offices) were located there. The Parliament meets on Ambo islet; various ministries are scattered between South Tarawa, Betio and Christmas Island (ministry of the Line and Phoenix islands).

wn.com/South_Tarawa
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean (also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean, and the South Polar Ocean) comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions. This ocean zone is where cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer subantarctic waters.
Geographers disagree on the Southern Ocean's northern boundary or even its existence, with many considering the waters part of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans instead. Others regard the Antarctic Convergence, an ocean zone which fluctuates seasonally, as separating the Southern Ocean from other oceans, rather than the 60th parallel.Australian authorities regard the Southern Ocean as lying immediately south of Australia.
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) has not yet ratified its 2000 definition of the ocean as being south of 60°S. Its latest published definition of oceans dates from 1953; this does not include the Southern Ocean. However, the more recent definition is used by the IHO and others.

wn.com/Southern_Ocean
Surabaya
Surabaya (pronounced [surəˈbaja]) (formerly Soerabaja, Soerabaia or Surabaja) is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million (5.6 million in the metropolitan area), and the capital of the province of East Java. It is located on the northern shore of eastern Java at the mouth of the Mas River and along the edge of the Madura Strait.
To Indonesians, it is known as "the city of heroes" due to the importance of the Battle of Surabaya in galvanizing Indonesian and international support for Indonesian independence during the Indonesian National Revolution.
Surabaya is locally believed to derive its name from the words sura or suro (shark) and baya or boyo (crocodile), two creatures which, in a local myth, fought each other in order to gain the title of "the strongest and most powerful animal" in the area according to a Jayabaya prophecy. This prophecy tells of a fight between a giant white shark and a giant white crocodile, which sometimes interpreted as a conflict between Mongol forces and Raden Wijaya's Majapahit forces. Now the two animals are used as the city's logo, the two facing each other while circling, as depicted in a statue appropriately located near the entrance to the city zoo. This folk etymology, though embraced enthusiastically by city leaders, is unverifiable.

wn.com/Surabaya
Suva
Suva is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in the Central Division, Rewa Province. In 1877, it was decided to make Suva the capital of Fiji when the geography of former main European settlement at Levuka on the island of Ovalau proved too restrictive. The administration of the colony was moved from Levuka to Suva in 1882.
Suva is Fiji's political and administrative capital. It's also the largest and the most sophisticated city in the South Pacific (excluding New Zealand) and has become an important regional centre; students from the Pacific region and a growing expatriate community make up a significant portion of the city's population.
At the 2007 census the city of Suva had a population of 85,691. Including independent suburbs, the population of the Greater Suva urban area was 172,399 at the 2007 census.^{[citation needed]} Suva, along with the bordering cities of Lami, Nasinu, and Nausori have a total urban population of around 330,000, over a third of the nation's population. This urban complex is known also as the Suva-Nausori corridor (not including Lami).

wn.com/Suva
Sydney
Sydney ( /sɪdni/) is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is classified as an Alpha+ World City indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world.
Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people. Inhabitants of Sydney are called Sydneysiders, comprising a cosmopolitan and international population.
The site of the first British colony in Australia, Sydney was established in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip, commodore of the First Fleet as a penal colony. The city is built on hills surrounding Port Jackson which is commonly known as Sydney Harbour, where the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge feature prominently. The hinterland of the metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and the coastal regions feature many bays, rivers, inlets and beaches including the famous Bondi Beach and Manly Beach. Within the city are many notable parks, including Hyde Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens.

wn.com/Sydney
Taiwan
Taiwan (ⁱ/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ TY-WAHN; Chinese: 臺灣 or 台灣; pinyin: Táiwān; see below), officially the Republic of China (ROC; Chinese: 中華民國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó), is a state in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China now governs the island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa), which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands. Neighboring states include the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east and northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taipei is the capital city and economic and cultural centre of the country, and New Taipei is the most populous city.
The earliest evidence of inhabitation of Taiwan dates back to the late Paleolithic era. The island of Taiwan was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before being colonized in the 17th century by the Dutch and the Spanish Empire. The first Han Chinese polity on Taiwan began when Koxinga's troops defeated Dutch forces and established the Kingdom of Tungning. The island was subsequently ruled by the Qing Dynasty after the kingdom's defeat in the Battle of Penghu in 1683, a period that lasted for over 200 years. Following Japan's victory over the Qing Dynasty in the first Sino-Japanese war, Taiwan was ceded to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895.

wn.com/Taiwan
Tokelau
Tokelau ( /ˈtoʊkəlaʊ/) is a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls with a combined land area of 10 km² and a population of approximately 1,400. The atolls lie north of the Samoan Islands, east of Tuvalu, south of the Phoenix Islands, southwest of the more distant Line Islands (both island groups belonging to Kiribati) and northwest of the Cook Islands.
The United Nations General Assembly designated Tokelau a Non-Self-Governing Territory. Until 1976 the official name was Tokelau Islands. Tokelau is sometimes referred to by the older, colonial name of The Union Islands.
The name Tokelau is a Polynesian word meaning "North Wind". The islands were named the Union Islands and Union Group by European explorers at an unknown time. Tokelau Islands was adopted as the name in 1946, and was contracted to Tokelau on 9 December 1976.
The change from Tokelau Islands to Tokelau marked a slight shift in emphasis, with consequences in regional diplomacy, in that the term Tokelau Islands clearly and substantially referred to a geographical expression, that is, a range of islands, whatever else it may connote. It is not necessarily controversial to refer by name to a range of islands, even though they may come under two or more political jurisdictions. Tokelau, on the other hand, can be taken to refer more immediately to some concept of nationhood, arguably infusing increased meaning to the draft 2006 independence constitution of Tokelau (which somewhat controversially claims Tokelauan inhabited Olohega (or Swains Island), currently part of American Samoa, as part of its national territory).^{[citation needed]}

wn.com/Tokelau
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga (Tongan: Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a sovereign state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over 700,000 square kilometres (270,000 sq mi) of ocean in the South Pacific. Fifty-two of the islands are inhabited.
The Kingdom stretches over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 mi) in a north-south line located at about a third of the distance from New Zealand to Hawaii.
Tonga also became known as the Friendly Islands because of the friendly reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit there in 1773. He happened to arrive at the time of the ʻinasi festival, the yearly donation of the first fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga, the islands' paramount chief, and received an invitation to the festivities. According to the writer William Mariner, in reality the chiefs had wanted to kill Cook during the gathering, but could not agree on a plan.
Tonga is also the only island nation in the region to have avoided formal colonisation. In 2010, Tonga took a decisive step towards becoming a fully functioning constitutional monarchy after legislative reforms paved the way for its first ever fully representative elections which resulted in the election of Noble Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō as its first democratically elected Prime Minister.

wn.com/Tonga
Tuvalu
Tuvalu (ⁱ/tuːˈvɑːluː/ too-VAH-loo or /ˈtuːvəluː/ TOO-və-loo), formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls spread out from 6° to 10° south. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. Its population of 10,544 makes it the third-least populous sovereign state in the world, with only Vatican City and Nauru having fewer inhabitants. In terms of physical land size, at just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world, larger only than the Vatican City at 0.44 km² (0.17 sq mi), Monaco at 1.98 km² (0.76 sq mi) and Nauru at 21 km² (8.1 sq mi).
The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. In 1568 Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña sailed through the islands and is understood to have sighted Nui during his expedition in search of Terra Australis. In 1819 the island of Funafuti was named Ellice's Island; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay (1812–1876). The islands came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century, when the Ellice Islands were declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson, R. N. of HMS Curaçao between 9th and 16 October 1892. The Ellice Islands were administered as British protectorate by a Resident Commissioner from 1892 to 1916 as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT), and later as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony from 1916 to 1974.

wn.com/Tuvalu
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.

wn.com/United_Kingdom
United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.

wn.com/United_States
Vanuatu
Vanuatu (English ⁱ/ˌvɑːnuːˈɑːtuː/ vah-noo-AH-too or /vænˈwɑːtuː/ van-WAH-too; Bislama IPA: [vanuaˈtu]), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (French: République de Vanuatu, Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres (310 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.
Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were the members of a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós who arrived in Espiritu Santo in 1605. In the 1880s France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through a British–French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.

wn.com/Vanuatu
Wallis and Futuna
Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (French: Wallis et Futuna or Territoire des îles Wallis et Futuna, Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: Uvea mo Futuna), is a Polynesian French island territory in the South Pacific between Tuvalu to the northwest, Rotuma of Fiji to the west, the main part of Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast, Samoa to the east, the New Zealand-associated state of Tokelau to the northeast and to a more distant north the Phoenix Islands (Kiribati). (However, Wallis and Futuna is not part of, nor even contiguous with, French Polynesia. Wallis and Futuna is located at the very opposite western end of Polynesia.)
Its land area is 264 km² with a population of about 15,000. Mata-Utu is the capital and biggest city. The territory is made up of three main volcanic tropical islands along with a number of tiny islets, and is split into two island groups that lie about 260 km apart, namely Wallis Islands (Uvea) in the northeast, and Hoorn Islands (also called the Futuna Islands) in the southwest, including Futuna Island proper and the mostly uninhabited Alofi Island.

wn.com/Wallis_and_Futuna
Wellington
Wellington ( /ˈwɛlɪŋtən/) is the capital city and second most populous urban area of New Zealand. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. It is home to 393,400 residents.
The Wellington urban area is the major population centre of the southern North Island, and is the seat of the Wellington Region – which in addition to the urban area covers the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa. The urban area includes four cities: Wellington, on the peninsula between Cook Strait and Wellington Harbour, contains the central business district and about half of Wellington's population; Porirua on Porirua Harbour to the north is notable for its large Māori and Pacific Island communities; Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt are largely suburban areas to the northeast, together known as the Hutt Valley. Wellington also holds the distinction of being the world's southernmost capital city.
In 2008, Wellington was classified as a Gamma World City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough University. The 2010 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Wellington 12th in the world. In 2011 Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2011 named Wellington as fourth in its Top 10 Cities to Visit in 2011, referring to the New Zealand capital as the "coolest little capital in the world".

wn.com/Wellington
Yaren District
Coordinates: 0°32′52″S 166°55′15″E / 0.5477°S 166.920867°E / -0.5477; 166.920867
Yaren, in earlier times Makwa/Moqua, is a district and constituency of the Pacific nation of Nauru. It is the de facto capital of Nauru.
Yaren is located in the south of the island [1]. Its area is 1.5 km² (0.58 sq mi), and its population was 1,100 in 2003. To the north of Yaren is Buada, to the east is Meneng and to the west is Boe.
The following government offices are located in this district:
Yaren (and sometimes Aiwo) is usually listed as the capital of Nauru though this is incorrect; the republic does not have cities or an official capital. Yaren is accepted by the United Nations as the "main district".
Yaren also constitutes a political constituency. It returns two members to the Parliament of Nauru.

wn.com/Yaren_District

Māori people
The Māori (Māori pronunciation: [ˈmaːɔɾi], English: /ˈmaʊəri/) are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. The Māori originated with settlers from eastern Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages at some time before 1300 CE. Over several centuries in isolation, the Polynesian settlers developed a unique culture that became known as the "Māori", with their own language, a rich mythology, distinctive crafts and performing arts. Early Māori formed tribal groups, based on eastern Polynesian social customs and organisation. Horticulture flourished using plants they introduced, and later a prominent warrior culture emerged.
The arrival of Europeans to New Zealand starting from the 17th century brought enormous change to the Māori way of life. Māori people gradually adopted many aspects of Western society and culture. Initial relations between Māori and Europeans were largely amicable, and with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 the two cultures coexisted as part of a new British colony. Rising tensions over disputed land sales led to conflict in the 1860s. Social upheaval, decades of conflict and epidemics of introduced disease took a devastating toll on the Māori population, which went into a dramatic decline. But by the start of the 20th century the Māori population had begun to recover, and efforts were made to increase their standing in wider New Zealand society. Traditional Māori culture has enjoyed a revival, and a protest movement emerged in the 1960s advocating Māori issues.

wn.com/Māori_people

Oceania

Bjork's Oceania Video...

published: 24 Dec 2005

author: dancedanceToki

The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania: The Celestials

The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania: The Celestials Get it on on itunes: bit.ly...

published: 27 Jun 2012

author: PumpkinsMediaMilitia

The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania: Oceania

The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania: Oceania Get it on on itunes: bit.ly...

published: 27 Jun 2012

author: PumpkinsMediaMilitia

Oceania Cry cry cry Dj Fisun mix

Videoremix...

published: 28 Oct 2009

author: Villam Pears

Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - 10/5/11 - [Mulitcam/Syn] - The Wiltern

From the upcoming album......

published: 19 Oct 2011

author: DrCopperpot

Oceania - Always (Original Mix) [Full Version HD Vapour TRANCE]

One of the best trance that i have ever heard. It simply takes you to a different world wh...

published: 19 Jan 2009

author: vapourlife

The Smashing Pumpkins- Oceania ALBUM REVIEW

Listen: www.smashingpumpkins.com With new sound thanks to some modern production, the Smas...

published: 25 Jun 2012

author: theneedledrop

Bjork - Oceania

This is Bjork performing "Oceania," from her album Medulla, at the 2004 Athens Summer Olym...

published: 27 Nov 2006

author: forgottenkarma

björk - oceania

Oceania Directed by LynnFox. 2004....

published: 01 Jul 2007

author: bjorkdotcom

The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania: Glissandra

The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania: Glissandra Get it on on itunes: bit.ly...

published: 27 Jun 2012

author: PumpkinsMediaMilitia

REVIEW: THE SMASHING PUMPKINS - "OCEANIA"

On today's episode of the Rock it Out! Blog, I review the new album from the Smashing Pump...

published: 20 Jun 2012

author: RockItOutBlog

The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania: Quasar

The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania: Quasar Get it on on itunes: bit.ly...

published: 27 Jun 2012

author: PumpkinsMediaMilitia

Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - Rock in Rio Lisboa 2012

Rock in Rio é o maior evento de música e entretenimento de todos os tempos, contando já co...

published: 28 May 2012

author: rockinrioeuvou

The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania: One Diamond One Heart

The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania: One Diamond One Heart Get it on on itunes: bit.ly...

published: 27 Jun 2012

author: PumpkinsMediaMilitia

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photo: AP / Photo

Villagers view the bodies of suspected attackers from the Pokomo tribe, following tribal clashes in Kipao village in the Tana River Delta region of southeastern Kenya Friday, Dec. 21, 2012.

Neighbors Kill Neighbors in Kenya as Election Tensions Stir Age-Old Grievances

The New York Times

22 Feb 2013

MALINDI, Kenya — In a room by the stairs, Shukrani Malingi, a Pokomo farmer, writhed on a metal cot, the skin on his back burned off. Down the hall, at a safe distance, Rahema Hageyo, an Orma girl, stared blankly out of a window, a long scar above her thimble-like neck. She was nearly decapitated by a machete chop — and she is only 9 months old. Connect With Us on Twitter ... Twitter List. Reporters and Editors ...   ... Op-Ed ... N.Y ... ....(size: 6.3Kb)

photo: AP

Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius , in court Friday Feb. 22, 2013 in Pretoria, South Africa, for his bail hearing charged with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius ’knows jail almost guaranteed’

Canberra Times

22 Feb 2013

Oscar Pistorius appears at the Magistrate Court in Pretoria on day four of his bail hearing. Photo. AFP. The lead lawyer prosecuting Oscar Pistorius on murder charges has told a Pretoria bail hearing the sprinter knows a long spell in jail is ‘‘almost guaranteed’’ and is a flight risk ... ‘‘He must realise that a long term of imprisonment is almost guaranteed ... AFP/AAP . ....(size: 3.0Kb)

photo: AP / Aijaz Rahi

An official of India's National Investigation Agency looks for evidence in the debris at one of the two bomb blast sites, in Hyderabad, India, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013.

Hyderabad bomb investigators examine links with Islamist militant group

The Guardian

22 Feb 2013

Indian Mujahideen group reported to have ties to Pakistan and may be behind dual bomb attack that killed 15. Officials look for evidence in the debris of one of the two bomb blast sites in Hyderabad, India. Photograph. Aijaz Rahi/AP ... India's recent execution of an Islamic militant is being examined as a possible motive for the bombings, he said ... They had also visited various spots in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune ... ....(size: 4.8Kb)

photo: Creative Commons / Strike Eagle

Police investigation at the area of the first blast at Hyderabad-India.

Hyderabad bomb blasts: Five young students among 14 dead

The Times of India

22 Feb 2013

HYDERABAD. A trip to purchase books for the exam of sub-inspector in excise department proved to be the last outing of Vijay Kumar, who was among the five students killed in the twin blasts in the city. Among the other students killed was Rajasekhar, who was pursuing MBA, Harish, an engineering student from Kottapet locality in the city, and Swapna, another MBA student ... ....(size: 2.0Kb)

photo: UN / UNICEF, Marco Domino

File - Children read a cholera prevention poster in Cite L'Eternel a poor neighborhood of Port au Prince, Haiti, where the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is working to contain the cholera outbreak, 16 November, 20110.

UN 'will not pay' for Haiti cholera

Irish Times

22 Feb 2013

The United Nations has said it will not pay hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation claimed by cholera victims in impoverished Haiti, where an epidemic has killed thousands of people and been blamed on UN peacekeepers. Cholera - an infection causing severe diarrhoea that can lead to dehydration and death - has killed some 7,750 Haitians and sickened almost 620,000 since October 2010. It occurs in places with poor sanitation ... ....(size: 3.4Kb)

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Howieson goes on loan (Oceania Football Confederation)

noodls

22 Feb 2013

(Source. Oceania Football Confederation) ... Junior All White Cameron Howieson is on loan at Doncaster. Rovers until the end of the season. Photo ... The 18-year-old will be available for Doncaster's next five games before linking up with the Junior All Whites on March 12, with the Oceania tournament running from March 21-29 ... This noodl was issued by Oceania Football Confederation and was initially posted at www.oceaniafootball.com ... (noodl....(size: 2.1Kb)

Coupe d’Ouverture postponed (Oceania Football Confederation)

noodls

22 Feb 2013

(Source. Oceania Football Confederation). The New Caledonia football season was due to kick off on Wednesday, 20 February but a number of different elements have combined to see the competition postponed until March 2. Mont Dore will be using the tournament in their preparations ... This noodl was issued by Oceania Football Confederation and was initially posted at www.oceaniafootball.com....(size: 1.8Kb)

Tahiti triumph in first friendly (Oceania Football Confederation)

noodls

22 Feb 2013

(Source. Oceania Football Confederation) The Tiki Toa have qualified for the tournament as hosts while the French side failed to qualify - but are currently ranked 11th in Europe ... Ahead of the match Schirinzi said he had spent his time with the squad working on their techniques, tactics and their fitness ... distributed by. This noodl was issued by Oceania Football Confederation and was initially posted at www.oceaniafootball.com ... (noodl....(size: 3.9Kb)

Hewison and Stimpson bid for Oceania sprint triathlon honours (British Triathlon Association)

noodls

22 Feb 2013

(Source. British Triathlon Association) Katie Hewison and Jodie Stimpson continue their winter preparations in Australia by taking part in the Devonport OTU Sprint Triathlon Oceania Championships on Saturday. Ahead of the international triathlon season getting fully underway in New Zealand in early April, the British duo has been training in Australia since early January ... Katie said ... Jodie said ... distributed by ... (noodl. 17642201) ....(size: 2.9Kb)

Embraer Executive Jets to participate in Avalon 2013 (Embraer SA)

noodls

22 Feb 2013

Australia is responsible for 90% of the business jet fleet in Australia and New Zealand (Oceania), accounting for over 200 jets based in the country. In the Asia Pacific/Oceania markets, the Australian business aircraft fleet numbers are second only to China although Australia remains the most mature business aviation market in the Asia-Pacific region....(size: 2.7Kb)

There is nothing disloyal about dual loyalty

Ha'aretz

22 Feb 2013

... national soccer team played preliminary World Cup matches against teams from the Oceania group....(size: 0.6Kb)

Zeal for export in the Pacific (Suffolk Chamber of Commerce)

noodls

22 Feb 2013

(Source. Suffolk Chamber of Commerce). Zeal for export in the Pacific ... Key opportunities are highlighted across the aerospace, automotive, engineering and footwear sectors ... Find out more in UKTI's Doing Business guide. *www.ukti.gov.uk/pt_pt/export/countries/oceania/ ... (noodl....(size: 1.2Kb)

Somdev, Yuki may return; Bhupathi, Bopanna unlikely

Indian Express

22 Feb 2013

In the absence of 11 top players, India had lost the Asia/Oceania Group I first round tie against South Korea 1-4 earlier this month ... The selection committee is unlikely to overlook Somdev although he is fifth-highest ranked Indian player at 354 ... ....(size: 1.3Kb)

Davis Cup: Somdev, Yuki may return; Bhupathi, Bopanna unlikely

Deccan Chronicle

22 Feb 2013

New Delhi ... In the absence of 11 top players, India had lost the Asia/Oceania Group I first round tie against South Korea 1-4 earlier this month ... The selection committee is unlikely to overlook Somdev although he is fifth-highest ranked Indian player at 354 ... ....(size: 1.4Kb)

Yuki, Somdev likely to return to Davis Cup squad

Headlines India

22 Feb 2013

New Delhi, Feb 22. India's top singles player Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri are likely to return to the Davis Cup squad as the selectors meet here Saturday to pick the team for the tie against Indonesia in April ... It hurt the national team as an inexperienced Indian team lost the Asia/Oceania Group I first round tie against South Korea 1-4 earlier this month ... ....(size: 1.9Kb)

FIFO Grand Prix goes to a story of life in the shadow of ‘la bombe’ (ABU - Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)

noodls

22 Feb 2013

(Source. ABU - Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union). A film dedicated to the life of an engineer who worked for the French nuclear programme in Algeria and the Pacific for 30 years and died of throat cancer has won the top prize at the 10th Oceania Film Festival (FIFO) in Tahiti ... Troilus and Cressida ... The Road of the Globe ... distributed by ... (noodl. 17634463) ....(size: 1.9Kb)

Somdev, Yuki may return

Deccan Herald

22 Feb 2013

After weeks of rebellion, leading Indian tennis players will be available for selection for the April 5-7 Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I relegation play-off tie against Indonesia in Bangalore. The selection committee will meet here on Saturday afternoon to decide on the six players who will play the tie. The top 11 players led by Somdev Devvarman boycotted the tie against South Korea earlier this month which India lost 1-4 ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)

Book Review: 'The Food Traveler's Handbook'

Gadling

22 Feb 2013

Full disclosure. I know Jodi Ettenberg, author of "The Food Traveler's Handbook." I've eaten with Jodi and explored cities with her; she's even inspected the spices in my Istanbul sublet apartment ... intrepid, resourceful, curious and (of course) always hungry ... with a strong craving for soup ... [Photo credit ... Food and Drink, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America, Antarctica, Books, Middle East, Central America, Caribbean....(size: 2.5Kb)

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"South West Pacific" redirects here. For the World War II theatre, see South West Pacific theatre of World War II.

For other uses, see Oceania (disambiguation).

An orthographic projection of the Pacific Ocean showing much of Oceania.

Map of Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean.^[1] Opinions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific (ethnologically divided into the subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia^[2]) to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago.^[3] The term is sometimes used more specifically to denote a continent comprising Australia and proximate islands,^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] or biogeographically as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone (Wallacea and Australasia) or the Pacific ecozone (Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia apart either from New Zealand^[8] or from mainland New Guinea^[9]).

1 Etymology
2 Definitions
3 Demographics
4 Religion
5 Sport
6 See also
7 Notes
8 External links

Etymology [link]

The term was coined as Océanie ca. 1812 by geographer Conrad Malte-Brun.^[3] The word Océanie derives from the Greek word ὠκεανός (ōkeanós), ocean.

Definitions [link]

Aoraki / Mount Cook, located on the Southern Island of New Zealand

Oceania

Geopolitical Oceania

Demonym	Oceanic; Oceanian
Area	8,536,716 km² (3,296,044 sq mi)
Population	35,670,000
Countries	14 Australia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
Dependencies	25 American Samoa Ashmore and Cartier Islands Baker Island Clipperton Island Cook Islands Coral Sea Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Juan Fernández Islands Kingman Reef Midway Atoll New Caledonia Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Palmyra Atoll Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wake Island Wallis and Futuna
Languages	28 Official Official languages: Bislama Carolinian Chamorro Cook Islands Maori English Fijian French Futunan Gilbertese Hawaiian Hindi Hiri Motu Māori Marshallese Nauruan Niuean Palauan Pitkern Rotuman Samoan Spanish Tahitian Tokelauan Tongan Tok Pisin Tuvaluan Wallisian
Time Zones	UTC+8 (Australian Western Standard Time) to UTC-6 (Easter Island) (West to East)
Largest Cities	Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Perth Auckland Adelaide

Physiography [link]

Oceania was originally conceived as the lands of the Pacific Ocean, stretching from the Straits of Malacca to the coast of the Americas. It comprised four regions: Polynesia, Micronesia, Malaysia (now called the Malay Archipelago), and Melanesia (now called Australasia).^[10] Included are parts of three geological continents, Eurasia, Australia, and Zealandia, as well the non-continental volcanic islands of the Philippines, Wallacea, and the open Pacific. It extends to Sumatra in the west, the Bonin Islands in the northwest, the Hawaiian Islands in the northeast, Rapa Nui and Sala y Gómez Island in the east, and Macquarie Island in the south, but excludes Taiwan, the Japanese Archipelago (including the Ryukyu Islands), and Aleutian Islands of the margins of Asia.^[11]^[12]

The states that occupy Oceania that are not included in geopolitical Oceania are Indonesia, Malaysia (through Malaysian Borneo), Brunei, the Philippines, and East Timor. The islands of the geographic extremes are politically integral parts of Japan (Bonin), the United States (Hawaii), and Chile (Easter Island). A smaller geographic definition also exists, which excludes the land on the Sunda Plate, but includes Indonesian New Guinea as part of the Australian continent.

Biogeography [link]

Biogeographically, Oceania is used as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone (Wallacea and Australasia) or the Pacific ecozone (Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia apart either from New Zealand^[8] or from mainland New Guinea^[9]).

Ecogeography [link]

Oceania is one of eight terrestrial ecozones, which constitute the major ecological regions of the planet. The Oceania ecozone includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. New Zealand, New Guinea, Melanesia apart from Fiji, and Australia constitute the separate Australasia ecozone. The Malay Archipelago is part of the Indomalaya ecozone. Related to these concepts are Near Oceania, that part of western Island Melanesia which has been inhabited for tens of millennia, and Remote Oceania, which is more recently settled.^[13]

Geopolitics [link]

Economic zones of the Pacific, outlining Oceania

In the geopolitical conception used by the United Nations, International Olympic Committee, and many atlases, Oceania includes Australia and the nations of the Pacific from Papua New Guinea east, but not the Malay Archipelago or Indonesian New Guinea.^[14]^[15]^[16]

Other definitions [link]

The term is often used more specifically than in the geopolitical conception, to denote a continent comprising Australia and proximate islands.^[6]^[7]
New Zealand forms the south-western corner of the Polynesian Triangle. Its indigenous Māori constitute one of the major cultures of Polynesia. It is also, however, considered part of Australasia.^[14]
The widest definition of Oceania includes the entire region between continental Asia and the Americas, thereby including islands in the Pacific Rim such as the Japanese Archipelago, Taiwan, and the Aleutian islands.^[17]

Satellite image of Oceania

Ethno-cultural definition of Oceania

Demographics [link]

Main article: Demographics of Oceania

Oceania

Wider Geographic Oceania.
Little of the South Pacific is apparent at this scale, though Hawaii is just visible near the eastern horizon.

Area	10,975,600 km² (4,237,700 sq mi)
Population	378 million (2010)
Time Zones	UTC+7 (Western Indonesian Time) to UTC-6 (Easter Island)
Largest Cities	Jakarta Manila Sydney Bandung Melbourne Surabaya Medan

Narrower Geographic Oceania.
Narrower Geographic Oceania.
Island Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (apart from New Zealand)

Area	183,000 km² (71,000 sq mi)
Population	5.2 million (2008)
Time Zones	UTC+9 (Palau) to UTC-6 (Easter Island)
Largest Cities	Honolulu Nouméa Suva Papeete Honiara

Geographic map of islands of Oceania

The demographic table below shows the subregions and countries of geopolitical Oceania.^[14] The countries and territories in this table are categorized according to the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations. The information shown follows sources in cross-referenced articles; where sources differ, provisos have been clearly indicated. These territories and regions are subject to various additional categorisations, of course, depending on the source and purpose of each description.

Name of region, followed by countries and their flags^[18]	Area (km²)	Population	Population density (per km²)	Capital	ISO 3166-1
Australasia^[19]
Australia	7,686,850	22,028,000	2.7	Canberra	AU
New Zealand^[20]	268,680	4,108,037	14.5	Wellington	NZ
External territories of Australia:
Ashmore and Cartier Islands	199
Christmas Island^[21]	135	1,493	3.5	Flying Fish Cove	CX
Cocos (Keeling) Islands^[21]	14	628	45.1	West Island	CC
Coral Sea Islands	10	4
Heard Island and McDonald Islands	372				HM
Norfolk Island	35	2,114	53.3	Kingston	NF
Melanesia^[22]
Fiji	18,270	856,346	46.9	Suva	FJ
New Caledonia (France)	19,060	240,390	12.6	Nouméa	NC
Papua New Guinea^[23]	462,840	5,172,033	11.2	Port Moresby	PG
Solomon Islands	28,450	494,786	17.4	Honiara	SB
Vanuatu	12,200	240,000	19.7	Port Vila	VU
Micronesia
Federated States of Micronesia	702	135,869	193.5	Palikir	FM
Guam (USA)	549	160,796	292.9	Hagåtña	GU
Kiribati	811	96,335	118.8	South Tarawa	KI
Marshall Islands	181	73,630	406.8	Majuro	MH
Nauru	21	12,329	587.1	Yaren (de facto)	NR
Northern Mariana Islands (USA)	477	77,311	162.1	Saipan	MP
Palau	458	19,409	42.4	Melekeok^[24]	PW
Wake Island (USA)	2	12		Wake Island	UM
Polynesia
American Samoa (USA)	199	68,688	345.2	Pago Pago, Fagatogo^[25]	AS
Cook Islands (NZ)	240	20,811	86.7	Avarua	CK
Easter Island (Chile)	163.6	3,791	23.1	Hanga Roa	CL
French Polynesia (France)	4,167	257,847	61.9	Papeete	PF
Hawaii (USA)	16,636	1,360,301	81.8	Honolulu	US
Niue (NZ)	260	2,134	8.2	Alofi	NU
Pitcairn Islands (UK)	5	47	10	Adamstown	PN
Samoa	2,944	179,000	63.2	Apia	WS
Tokelau (NZ)	10	1,431	143.1	Nukunonu	TK
Tonga	748	106,137	141.9	Nukuʻalofa	TO
Tuvalu	26	11,146	428.7	Funafuti	TV
Wallis and Futuna (France)	274	15,585	56.9	Mata-Utu	WF
Total	8,536,716	35,669,267	4.2
Total minus mainland Australia	849,866	13,641,267	16.1

North Pacific Ocean South Pacific Ocean Australia New Zealand NZ Hawaii WK Micronesia Palau Papua New Guinea Indonesia Easter Island French Polynesia Cook Islands New Caledonia Fiji Tuvalu Kiribati Solomon Islands Tokelau Marshall Islands Nauru Galápagos Islands Vanuatu Tonga PN Guam NF Northern Mariana WS AS WF Niue CC CX
Map of Nations and territories of Oceania including Australia and New Zealand

Religion [link]

The predominant religion in Oceania is Christianity.^{[citation needed]} Traditional religions are often animist and prevalent among traditional tribes is the belief in evil spirits (masalai in Tok Pisin), which are blamed for "poisoning" people, causing calamity and death. In recent Australian and New Zealand censuses, large proportions of the population say they belong to "No religion" (which includes Humanism, Atheism, Agnosticism, and Rationalism). In Tonga, everyday life is heavily influenced by Polynesian traditions and especially by the Christian faith. The Bahá'í House of Worship in Tiapapata, Samoa is one of seven designations administered in the Baha'i faith.

Sport [link]

Pacific Games [link]

The Pacific Games (formerly known as the South Pacific Games) is a multi-sport event, much like the Olympics, (albeit on a much smaller scale), with participation exclusively from countries around the Pacific. It is held every four years and began in 1963.

Rugby League [link]

Rugby league is a popular sport throughout Oceania, and is the national sport of Papua New Guinea^[26] (the second most populous country in Oceania after Australia) and is very popular in Australia^[27] and attracts significant attention across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.^[28]

Australia and New Zealand are two of the most successful sides in the world.^[29] Australia has won the Rugby League World Cup a record nine times while New Zealand won their first World Cup in 2008. Australia hosted the second tournament in 1957. Australia and New Zealand jointly hosted it in 1968 and 1977. New Zealand hosted the final for the first time in 1985 - 1988 tournament and Australia hosted the last tournament in 2008.

Rugby Union [link]

Fiji playing the Cook Islands at seven-a-side rugby

Rugby union is one of the region's most prominent sports,^[30] and is the national sport of New Zealand,^[31] Samoa,^[31] Fiji and Tonga.^[31] Fiji's sevens team is one of the most successful in the world, as is New Zealand's.

New Zealand and Australia have won the Rugby World Cup a record two times (tied with South Africa who have also won it two times). New Zealand won the inaugural World Cup in 1987. Australia and New Zealand jointly hosted the World Cup in 1987. Australia hosted it in 2003 and New Zealand also hosted it in 2011, which they then went on to win.

Cricket [link]

Fans' welcome to the Australian team after winning 2007 Cricket World Cup

Cricket is a popular summer sport in Australia and New Zealand. Australia had ruled International cricket as the number one team for more than a decade, and have won four Cricket World Cups and have been runner-up for two times, making them the most successful cricket team. New Zealand is also considered a strong competitor in the sport, with the New Zealand Cricket Team, also called the Black Caps, enjoying success in many competitions. Both Australia and New Zealand are Full members of the ICC. Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea are some of the Associate/Affiliate members of the ICC from Oceania that are governed by ICC East Asia-Pacific. Beach Cricket, a greatly simplified variant of cricket played on a sand beach, is also a popular recreational sport in Australia.

Cricket is culturally a significant sport for summer in Oceania. The Boxing Day Test is very popular in Australia, conducted every year on 26 December at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne.

Australian rules football [link]

Main article: Australian rules football in Oceania

Australian rules football is the national sport in Nauru^[32] and is the most popular football code in Australia.^[33] It is also popular in Papua New Guinea.^[34]

Association football (soccer)[link]

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of six association football confederations^[35] under the auspices of FIFA, the international governing body of the sport. The OFC is the only confederation without an automatic qualification to the World Cup Finals. Currently the winner of the OFC qualification tournament must play off against an Asian confederation side to qualify for the World Cup.^[36]^[37]

Currently, Vanuatu is the only country in Oceania to call football (soccer) its national sport.

Oceania has been represented at four World Cup finals tournaments — Australia in 1974, 2006 and 2010, and New Zealand in 1982 and 2010. In 2006, Australia joined the Asian Football Confederation and qualified for the 2010 World cup as an Asian entrant. New Zealand qualified through the Oceania Confederation, winning its playoff against Bahrain. 2010 was the first time two countries from Oceania had qualified at the same time, albeit through different confederations.

Notes [link]

^ For a history of the term, see Douglas & Ballard (2008) Foreign bodies: Oceania and the science of race 1750–1940
^ "Oceania". 2005. The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Oceania". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 3rd ed. 2001.
^ Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings, United Nations Statistics Division. Revised August 28, 2007. Accessed on line October 11, 2007.
^ The Atlas of Canada. Revised Date Modified: August 17, 2004. Accessed on line January 31, 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Encarta Mexico "Oceanía"". Mx.encarta.msn.com. Archived from the original on 2009-11-01. http://www.webcitation.org/query?id=1257053672622272. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
^ ^a ^b Lewis, Martin W.; Kären E. Wigen (1997). The Myth of Continents: a Critique of Metageography. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 32. ISBN 0-520-20742-4, ISBN 0-520-20743-2. "Interestingly enough, the answer [from a scholar who sought to calculate the number of continents] conformed almost precisely to the conventional list: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania (Australia plus New Zealand), Africa, and Antarctica."
^ ^a ^b Udvardy. 1975. A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world
^ ^a ^b Steadman. 2006. Extinction & biogeography of tropical Pacific birds
^ D'Urville, Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont; Isabel Ollivier, Antoine de Biran, and Geoffrey Clark. "On the Islands of the Great Ocean". The Journal of Pacific History (Taylor & Francis, Ltd.) 38 (2). http://www.jstor.org/stable/25169637.
^ MacKay (1864, 1885) Elements of Modern Geography, p 283
^ Douglas & Ballard (2008) Foreign bodies: Oceania and the science of race 1750–1940
^ Ben Finney, The Other One-Third of the Globe, Journal of World History, Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall, 1994.
^ ^a ^b ^c "United Nations Statistics Division - Countries of Oceania". Millenniumindicators.un.org. http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#oceania. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
^ Atlas of Canada Web Master (2004-08-17). "The Atlas of Canada - The World - Continents". Atlas.nrcan.gc.ca. http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/reference/international/world/referencemap_image_view. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
^ Current IOC members.
^ Britannica Online Encyclopedia
^ Regions and constituents as per UN categorisations/map except notes 2-3, 6. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 3, 5-7, 9) may be in one or both of Oceania and Asia or North America.
^ The use and scope of this term varies. The UN designation for this subregion is "Australia and New Zealand."
^ New Zealand is often considered part of Polynesia rather than Australasia.
^ ^a ^b Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia.
^ Excludes parts of Indonesia, island territories in Southeast Asia (UN region) frequently reckoned in this region.
^ Papua New Guinea is often considered part of Australasia and Melanesia. It is sometimes included in the Malay Archipelago of Southeast Asia.
^ On 7 October 2006, government officials moved their offices in the former capital of Koror to Melekeok, located 20 km northeast of Koror on Babelthuap Island.
^ Fagatogo is the seat of government of American Samoa.
^ "MSN Groups Closure Notice". Groups.msn.com. 2008-10-23. http://groups.msn.com/PNGKumuls/history.msnw?pgmarket=en-us. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
^ "Football in Australia - Australia's Culture Portal". Cultureandrecreation.gov.au. 2008-03-28. http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/football/. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
^ "Rugby League Football - 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand". Teara.govt.nz. 1908-06-13. http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/R/RugbyLeagueFootball/RugbyLeagueFootball/en. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
^ Wilson, Andy (2009-11-05). "southern hemisphere sides are a class apart". London: guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/nov/05/england-rugby-league-australia-new-zealand. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
^ "Oceania Rugby Vacations". Real Travel. http://realtravel.com/tag-z3461145-314.html. Retrieved 2009-04-17. ^{[dead link]}
^ ^a ^b ^c "How many national sports are there". WikiAnswers. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_national_sports_are_there. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
^ "Nauru AFL team to play in International Cup". solomonstarnews.com. 2008-04-16. http://solomonstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1023&change=100&changeown=101&Itemid=42. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
^ "Australian rules football (sport) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/44079/Australian-rules-football. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
^ "pure AFL ... purely Papua New Guinea". Afl Png. http://www.afl-png.com/aboutus.html. Retrieved 2009-04-17. ^{[dead link]}
^ "FIFA confederations". Fifa.com. http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/confederations/index.html. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
^ FIFA world cup 2010 - Oceania preliminary competition
^ "FIFA world cup 2010 - qualifying rounds and places available by confederation". Fifa.com. 2009-04-03. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/tournament/index.html. Retrieved 2009-04-17.

External links [link]

Find more about Oceania on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

Oceania at the Open Directory Project
"Australia and Oceania" from National Geographic

Articles related to Oceania

Countries and territories of Oceania

Sovereign states

Australia
Chile
- Easter Island
- Juan Fernández Islands
East Timor (Timor-Leste)
Fiji
Indonesia
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Japan
- Bonin Islands
Nauru
New Zealand
- Cook Islands
- Niue
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
United States
- Hawaii
- Palmyra Atoll
Vanuatu

Dependencies
and
other territories

Australia	Ashmore and Cartier Islands Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Coral Sea Islands Territory Norfolk Island

France	Clipperton Island French Polynesia New Caledonia Wallis and Futuna

New Zealand	Cook Islands Niue Tokelau

United Kingdom	Pitcairn Islands

United States	American Samoa Baker Island Guam Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Midway Atoll Northern Mariana Islands Wake Island

Capitals of Oceania

Capitals of non-sovereign territories shown in SmallCaps

Australasia	Melanesia	Micronesia	Polynesia

Canberra, Australia Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island^1,3 Kingston, Norfolk Island^1,2 Wellington, New Zealand² West Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands^1,3	Dili, East Timor³ Honiara, Solomon Islands Nouméa, New Caledonia⁴ Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea⁵ Port Vila, Vanuatu Suva, Fiji	Hagåtña, Guam⁶ Majuro, Marshall Islands Ngerulmud, Palau Palikir, FS Micronesia Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands⁶ South Tarawa, Kiribati Yaren, Nauru (de facto)	Adamstown, Pitcairn Islands⁷ Alofi, Niue⁸ Apia, Samoa Avarua, Cook Islands⁸ Funafuti, Tuvalu Hanga Roa, Easter Island⁹ Honolulu, Hawaii¹⁰ Mata-Utu, Wallis and Futuna⁴ Nukuʻalofa, Tonga Fakaofo, Tokelau¹¹ Pago Pago, American Samoa⁶ Papeete, French Polynesia⁴

¹ Territory of Australia. ² Often included in Polynesia. ³ Often included in Southeast Asia. ⁴ Overseas collectivity of France. ⁵ Often included in Australasia. ⁶ Insular area of the United States. ⁷ Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.⁸ In free association with New Zealand. ⁹ Territory of Chile. ¹⁰ U.S. state.¹¹ New Zealand dependent territory.

Regions of the World

Africa	Northern Middle East Sub-Saharan Central Southern Western Eastern	Oceania	Australasia Australia Zealandia Melanesia Micronesia Polynesia

America	North Northern Middle Central Caribbean South Southern Northern Western Guianan States Anglo Latin (Hispanic)	Polar regions	Arctic Antarctic
Asia	Central Eastern Northeastern Northern Southeastern Mainland Maritime Southern Indian subcontinent Western Middle East	Oceans	World Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific Southern
Europe	Central Eastern Northern Southeastern Middle East Southern Western	Seas	List of seas

Related: Continents of the world; List of seas; Physical Earth

Oceania

Geological supercontinents	Historical continents

Afro-Eurasia-America Gondwana Laurasia Pangaea Pannotia Rodinia Columbia Kenorland Nena Ur Vaalbara	Arctica Asiamerica Atlantica Avalonia Baltica Cimmeria Congo craton Euramerica Kalaharia Kazakhstania Laurentia North China Siberia South China East Antarctica India

Submerged continents	Possible future supercontinents	Mythical and theorized continents

Kerguelen Plateau Zealandia	Pangaea Ultima Amasia Novopangaea	Atlantis Kumari Kandam Lemuria Meropis Mu Terra Australis

See also Regions of the world

lez:Океания vep:Okeanii

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http://cs.wn.com/Oceánie

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For the Australian rugby league footballer, see Michael Oldfield (rugby league).

Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield, December 2006, at the Night of the Proms
Background information
Birth name	Michael Gordon Oldfield
Born	(1953-05-15) 15 May 1953 (age 59) Reading, Berkshire, England
Genres	Progressive rock, pop, Celtic fusion, world, new age, Neoclassical, Ambient, classical, experimental, minimalist
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer, game designer
Instruments	Guitar, keyboards, Percussion, vocals, bass, glockenspiel, mandolin, banjo, tubular bells, Chapman stick
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Virgin (1972–1991) Warner Bros. (1992–2003) Mercury (2005–present)
Associated acts	Maggie Reilly, Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, David Bedford, Anita Hegerland, Pekka Pohjola
Website	www.mikeoldfieldofficial.com

Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature. He is best known for his hit 1973 album Tubular Bells, which launched Virgin Records, and for his 1983 hit single "Moonlight Shadow".^[1] He is also well known for his hit rendition of the Christmas piece, "In Dulci Jubilo".

1 Biography
2 Discography
- 2.1 Main albums
3 Quotation
4 See also
5 Bibliography
6 References
7 External links

Biography [link]

Oldfield's parents are Raymond Oldfield, a general practitioner, and his wife Maureen Liston, a nurse.^[2] His sister Sally and brother Terry are successful musicians in their own right and have appeared on several of his albums. Mike Oldfield was born in the Battle Hospital, Reading, Berkshire, and he attended St Joseph's Convent School, Highlands Junior School in Tilehurst, St Edward's Preparatory School,^[3] and Presentation College in Reading. When he was 13 he moved with his parents to Harold Wood in northeast London, where he attended Hornchurch Grammar School. He only stayed there long enough to take one GCE examination, in English, as he had already begun his music career.^[3]

Early career [link]

Oldfield's career began fairly early, playing acoustic guitar in local folk clubs. At this time, he already had two fifteen-minute instrumental pieces in which he would "go through all sorts of moods", precursors to his landmark 1970s' compositions. In his early teens, Oldfield was involved in a 'beat group' playing Shadows-style music (he has often cited Hank Marvin as a major influence, and would later cover The Shadows' song "Wonderful Land"). In 1967 he and his sister Sally formed the folk duo The Sallyangie and were signed to Transatlantic Records after exposure in the local folk scene. An album, Children of the Sun, was issued in 1968. After Sallyangie disbanded, he formed another duo with his brother Terry, called Barefoot, which took him back to rock music.^[4]

In 1970 he joined The Whole World – backing group to vocalist Kevin Ayers, formerly of the Soft Machine – playing bass guitar and occasionally lead guitar. The band also included keyboardist and composer David Bedford, who quickly befriended Oldfield, and encouraged him in his composition of an early version of Tubular Bells. Bedford would later arrange and conduct an orchestral version of that album. Oldfield is featured on two Ayers albums, Whatevershebringswesing and Shooting at the Moon.

Having recorded a number of demo pieces of music, which would later turn into Tubular Bells, Oldfield attempted to persuade record labels to take the project on with no success. In September 1971 Oldfield went to the Manor Studio, owned by the young Richard Branson and run by engineers Tom Newman and Simon Heyworth, to record as bass guitarist in the Arthur Louis Band. Branson already had a number of business ventures and was about to start his own record label, Virgin Records. After Newman and Heyworth heard Oldfield's demo they took it to Branson and Simon Draper. They eventually gave Oldfield one week to record at the Manor, during which Oldfield completed "Part One" of Tubular Bells. "Part Two" was then completed over a number of months.^[5]

Virgin years (1973–1991)[link]

Tubular Bells became Oldfield's most famous work. The instrumental composition was recorded in 1972 and launched on 25 May 1973 as the inaugural album of Richard Branson's Virgin Records label. The album was groundbreaking, as Oldfield played more than twenty different instruments in the multi-layered recording made in Branson's Manor Studio, and its style moved through many diverse musical genres. Its 2,630,000 UK sales put it at No.34 on the list of the best selling albums in the UK. In the US, it received attention with the opening theme appearing in the soundtrack to The Exorcist. The title track subsequently became a Top 10 hit single in the US as well and is today considered to be a forerunner of the New Age movement.^[6] In 1974, Oldfield played guitar on the critically acclaimed album Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt. In the autumn of 1974, the follow-up LP, Hergest Ridge, was No.1 in the UK for three weeks before being dethroned by Tubular Bells. Although Hergest Ridge was released over a year after Tubular Bells, it reached No.1 first. Tubular Bells spent 11 weeks (10 of them consecutive) at No.2 before its one week at the top. In 1979, Oldfield's music was used as the musical score for The Space Movie, a Virgin movie that celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.^[7]

Like Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge is a two-movement instrumental piece, this time evoking scenes from Oldfield's Herefordshire country retreat. It was followed in 1975 by the pioneering world music piece Ommadawn, and 1978's Incantations which introduced more diverse choral performances from Sally Oldfield, Maddy Prior, and the Queen's College Girls Choir. In 1975 Oldfield recorded a version of the Christmas piece "In Dulci Jubilo" which charted at number four in the UK. Oldfield's 1976 rendition of "Portsmouth" remains his highest charting single on the UK Singles Chart, reaching number three.^[8]

In 1976 Oldfield and his sister Sally joined his friend and band member Pekka Pohjola to play on his album Mathematician's Air Display, which was released in 1977. The album was recorded and edited at Oldfield's Througham Slad Manor in Gloucestershire by Oldfield and Paul Lindsay.^[9]

Around the time of Incantations, Oldfield underwent a controversial self-assertiveness therapy course known as Exegesis.^[10] Possibly as a result, the formerly reclusive musician staged a major European tour to promote the album, chronicled in his live album Exposed, much of which was recorded at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham.

In 1975, Oldfield received a Grammy award for Best Instrumental Composition in "Tubular Bells – Theme from The Exorcist". In 1979, he recorded a version of the signature tune of the popular British Children's Television programme, Blue Peter, which was used by the show for 10 years.^[11]

The early 1980s saw Oldfield make a transition to mainstream pop music, beginning with the inclusion of shorter instrumental tracks and contemporary cover versions on Platinum and QE2 (the latter named after the ocean liner). Soon afterwards he turned to songwriting, with a string of collaborations featuring various lead vocalists alongside his characteristic searing guitar solos. The best known of these is "Moonlight Shadow", his 1983 hit with Maggie Reilly. The most successful Oldfield composition on the US pop charts during this period was actually a cover version — Hall & Oates's remake of Oldfield's "Family Man" for their 1982 album H₂O. Released as the album's third single, it hit the Top 10 during the spring of 1983 and was a hugely popular MTV music video.

Oldfield later turned to film and video, writing the score for Roland Joffé's acclaimed film The Killing Fields and producing substantial video footage for his album Islands. Islands continued what Oldfield had been doing on the past couple of albums, with an instrumental piece on one side and rock/pop singles on the other. Of these, "Islands", sung by Bonnie Tyler and "Magic Touch", with vocals by Max Bacon (in the U.S. version) and Glasgow vocalist Southside Jimmy (in other versions),^[12] were the major hits. In the U.S., the Virgin America airline promoted the song "Magic Touch" to a large extent, making it a success, reaching the top 10 on the Billboard album rock charts. During the 1980s, Oldfield's then-wife, Norwegian singer Anita Hegerland, contributed vocals to many songs including "Pictures in the Dark".

Earth Moving was released in July 1989, and was a moderate success. The album was the first to exclusively feature rock/pop songs, several of which were released: "Innocent" and "Holy" in Europe, and "Hostage" in the USA for album rock stations. This was, however, a time of much friction with his record label. Virgin Records reportedly insisted that any future instrumental album should be billed as Tubular Bells 2. Oldfield's rebellious response was Amarok, an hour-long work featuring rapidly changing themes (supposedly devised to make cutting a single from the album impossible), unpredictable bursts of noise, and a very cleverly hidden Morse code insult directed at Richard Branson. Although regarded by many fans as his greatest work, it was not a commercial success. His parting shot from the Virgin label was Heaven's Open, which continued the veiled attacks on Branson but was notable for being the first time Oldfield had contributed all the lead vocals himself. It was the only album he released under the name 'Michael Oldfield'.

Warner years (1992–2003)[link]

The very first thing Oldfield did when arriving at his new label, Warner Bros., was to write and release Tubular Bells II, the sequel to his first record on Virgin, as his final insult to his former label. It was premiered at a live concert at Edinburgh Castle. He then continued to embrace new musical styles, with The Songs of Distant Earth (based on Arthur C. Clarke's novel of the same name) exhibiting a softer "New Age" sound. In 1994 he also had an asteroid named after him, 5656 Oldfield.^[13]^[14]

In 1995 Oldfield further continued to embrace new musical styles by producing a Celtic-themed album, Voyager. In 1992 Oldfield met Luar na Lubre, a Galician Celtic-folk band (from A Coruña, Spain). The band's popularity grew after Oldfield covered their song "O son do ar" ("The sound of the air") on his Voyager album.

In 1998 he produced the third Tubular Bells album (also premiered at a concert, this time in Horse Guards Parade, London), drawing from the dance music scene at his then new home on the island of Ibiza. This album was still inspired by themes from Tubular Bells, but differed in lacking a clear two-part layout.

During 1999 Oldfield released two albums. The first, Guitars, used guitars as the source for all the sounds on the album, including percussion. The second, The Millennium Bell, consisted of pastiches of a number of styles of music that represented various historical periods over the past millennium. The work was performed live in Berlin for the city's millennium celebrations in 1999–2000.

He added to his repertoire the MusicVR project, combining his music with a virtual reality-based computer game. His first work on this project is Tr3s Lunas launched in 2002, a virtual game where the player can interact with a world full of new music. This project appeared as a double CD, one with the music, and the other with the game.

In 2003 he released Tubular Bells 2003, a re-recording of the original Tubular Bells, on CD, and DVD-Audio. This was done to "fix" many "imperfections" in the original due to the recording technologies of the early 1970s and limitations in time that he could spend in the recording studio. It celebrated the 30th anniversary of Tubular Bells, Oldfield's 50th birthday and his marriage to Fanny in the same year. At around the same time Virgin released an SACD version containing both the original stereo album and the 1975 quadraphonic mix by Phil Newell. In the 2003 version, the original voice of the 'Master of Ceremonies' (Viv Stanshall) was replaced by the voice of John Cleese, Stanshall having died in the interim.

Mercury years (since 2004)[link]

Mike Oldfield playing a PRS Custom 24 guitar at the Night of the Proms in December 2006.

On 12 April 2004 Oldfield launched his next virtual reality project, Maestro, which contains music from the Tubular Bells 2003 album and also some new chillout melodies. The games have since been made available free of charge on Tubular.net. A double album, Light + Shade, was released on Mercury Records in 2005, with whom Mike had recently signed a three-album deal. The two discs contain music of contrasting moods, one relaxed (Light) and the other more edgy and moody (Shade). Oldfield headlined the German Night of the Proms tour, consisting of 18 concerts in December 2006.^[15]

His autobiography Changeling was published in May 2007 by Virgin Books.^[16] In March 2008 Oldfield released his first classical album, Music of the Spheres; Karl Jenkins assisted with the orchestration.^[17] In the first week of release the album topped the UK Classical chart and reached number 9 on the main UK Album Chart. A single, "Spheres", featuring a demo version of pieces from the album was released digitally. The album was nominated for a Classical Brit Award, the NS&I Best Album of 2009.

In 2008 Oldfield contributed an exclusive song ("Song for Survival") to a charity album called Songs for Survival, in support of the Survival International.^[18] Oldfield's daughter, Molly, played a large part in the project.^[19]

In 2008 when Oldfield's original 35-year deal with Virgin Records ended, the rights to Tubular Bells and his other Virgin releases were returned to him,^[20] and then they were transferred to Mercury Records.^[21] Mercury issued a press release on 15 April 2009, noting that Oldfield's Virgin albums would be re-released, starting 8 June 2009. These releases include special features from the archives.^[22] On 6 June 2009, an International Bell Ringing day took place, to promote the reissue of his first album, Tubular Bells.^[22] The next two albums were reissued in June 2010 along with the launch of a new official web site.^[23] Incantations was reissued in July 2011.^[24]

In March 2010 Music Week reported that publishing company Stage Three Music (now a part of BMG) had acquired a 50% stake in the songs of Oldfield's entire recorded output in a seven-figure deal.^[25]^[26]^[27]

In 2010 lyricist Don Black said in an interview with Music Week that he had been working with Oldfield.^[28] According to German producer Torsten Stenzel, he was in a studio with Oldfield collaborating on a chill-out track for a forthcoming album by Stenzel's York project. In 2012 Oldfield was featured on Terry Oldfield's Journey into Space album.

Personal life [link]

Oldfield and his siblings were raised Roman Catholic, the faith of their Irish mother.^[29] In the late 1970s, Oldfield briefly married Diana D'Aubigny (the sister of the Exegesis group leader), but this lasted just a few weeks.

Mike Oldfield has seven children. In the early 1980s, he had three children with Sally Cooper (Molly, Dougal and Luke). In the late 1980s, he had two children (Greta and Noah) with Norwegian singer Anita Hegerland. In the 2000s, he married Fanny Vandekerckhove (born 1977), whom he met during his time in Ibiza; they have two sons together (Jake and Eugene).^[30]

Oldfield is a motorcycle fan and has five bikes. These include a BMW R1200GS, a Suzuki GSX-R750, a Suzuki GSX-R1000, and a Yamaha R1. He also says that some of his inspiration for composing comes from riding them.^[31] Throughout his life Oldfield has also had a passion for aircraft and building model aircraft.^[2] Since 1980 he has also been a licensed pilot^[32] and has flown fixed wing aircraft, the first of which was a Beechcraft Sierra and helicopters including the Agusta Bell 47G which featured on the sleeve of his cover version of the ABBA song "Arrival" as a parody of their album artwork. He is also interested in cars and has owned a Ferrari and a Bentley which was a gift from Richard Branson as an incentive for him to give his first live performance of Tubular Bells.^[33] He has endorsed the Mercedes-Benz S-Class in the Mercedes UK magazine. Oldfield also considers himself to be a Trekkie (fan of the popular science fiction television series Star Trek).^[34] He also noted in an interview in 2008 that he had two boats.^[34]

In November 2006, musician Noel Gallagher won a Spanish court case against Oldfield. Gallagher had bought an Ibiza villa for £2.5 million from Oldfield in 1999, but quickly discovered that part of the cliff-top property was falling into the sea. According to The Sun, the resulting court case awarded Gallagher a six-figure sum in compensation. Suspicion abounds in the music industry that the law-suit was initiated because of embarrassment that Gallagher brought on himself by not having a proper survey done on the property before buying it. This included making an immediate and noisy complaint about someone's yacht tied up at the villa's jetty before it was pointed out that the yacht came with the villa and was, in fact, his.^[35]

In 2007 Oldfield caused a minor stir in the British press by criticizing Britain for being too controlling and protective, specifically concentrating on the smoking ban which England and Wales had introduced that year. Oldfield then moved from his Gloucestershire home to Palma de Mallorca, Spain.^[36]^[37] He has lived outside the UK in the past, including living in Los Angeles and Ibiza in the 1990s, and Switzerland in the mid-1980s, for tax reasons. He also currently has a home in Monaco. In 2009 he decided to move to the Bahamas, and put his home in Mallorca up for sale; the asking price was around €3.5 million, but has since been lowered, and as of April 2012 is still listed as available for sale by a major international real estate agency.^[38]^[39]

Instruments [link]

Oldfield is a multi-instrumentalist; however he considers himself to be predominantly a guitarist.^[40]

Guitars [link]

Over the years Oldfield has used a various selection of guitars, some of the most noted being:

A 1963 (also quoted as 1961 and 1962) salmon pink (fiesta red) Fender Stratocaster serial no.L08044 – used by Oldfield from 1984 (Discovery album) until 2006 (Night of the Proms, rehearsals in Antwerp) – Sold for £30,000 at Chandler Guitars.
A 1989 amber PRS Artist Custom 24 – used by Oldfield from the late 1980s to the present day.
A 1966 blonde Fender Telecaster serial no. 180728 – the only electric guitar used on Tubular Bells and also previously owned by Marc Bolan.^[41] Oldfield has since sold the guitar and donated the money to the SANE charity. This guitar had been put up for auction a number of times by Bonhams in 2007, 2008 and 2009 with estimates of £25,000 – 35,000, £10,000 – 15,000 and £8,000 – 12,000 respectively.^[42]^[43]^[44]
Various Gibson Les Paul and SGs – used by Oldfield extensively in the 1970s and 80s.

Oldfield used a modified Roland GP8 effects processor in conjunction with his PRS Artist to get many of his heavily overdriven guitar sounds from the Earth Moving album onwards.^[41] Oldfield has also been using Guitar synthesizers since the mid-1980s, using a 1980s Roland GR-300/G-808 type system, then a 1990s Roland GK2 equipped red PRS Custom 24 (sold in 2006) with a Roland VG8,^[41] and most recently a Line 6 Variax.

Oldfield has an unusual playing style, using both fingers and fingernails and several ways of creating vibrato: a "very fast side-to-side vibrato" or "violinist's vibrato".^[45] Oldfield has also stated that his playing style originates from his musical roots playing folk music and the bass guitar.^[3]

Recording [link]

Oldfield has self-recorded and produced many of his albums, and played the majority of the instruments that feature on them, largely at his home studios. In the 1990s and 2000s he has been mainly using DAWs such as Apple Logic, Avid Pro Tools and Steinberg Nuendo as recording suites.^[46] For composing classical music Oldfield has been quoted as using the software notation program, Sibelius,^[16] combined with Apple Macintoshes.^[47] He also used the FL Studio DAW on his 2005 double album Light + Shade.^[48] Among the mixing consoles Oldfield has owned are an AMS Neve Capricorn 33238, a Harrison Series X,^[49] and a Euphonix System 5-MC.^[50]

Keyboards [link]

Over the years Oldfield has owned and used a vast number of synthesizers and other keyboard instruments. In the 1980s he composed the score for the film The Killing Fields on a Fairlight CMI.^[41] Some examples of keyboard and synthesized instruments which Oldfield has made use of includes Sequential Circuits Prophets (notably on Platinum), Roland JV-1080/JV-2080 units (in the 1990s), a Korg M1 (as seen in the "Innocent" video), a Clavia Nord Lead, and Steinway pianos among an almost endless list of others. In recent years Oldfield has also made use of software synthesis, such as Native Instruments products, notably on his Light + Shade album.^[51]

Discography [link]

Main articles: Mike Oldfield discography and Mike Oldfield singles discography

Oldfield has had more than 30 charting albums and 25 charting singles on the British charts, and many more around the world.

Earth Moving (1989)
Amarok (1990)
Heaven's Open (1991)
Tubular Bells II (1992)
The Songs of Distant Earth (1994)
Voyager (1996)
Tubular Bells III (1998)
Guitars (1999)
The Millennium Bell (1999)
Tr3s Lunas (2002)
Tubular Bells 2003 (2003)
Light + Shade (2005)
Music of the Spheres (2008)

Quotation [link]

“

People are very complicated machines – to get them to do what you want, you have to be very careful. You have to behave towards them in a very definite sequence.

”

NME – April 1979^[52]

Bibliography [link]

Moraghan, Sean. A Man and his Music (Biography). BookSurge Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4196-4926-4.
Evans, Peter (1994). Music from the Darkness – Mike Oldfield, 1953–1993. http://www.mikeoldfield.org/info/features/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
Branson, Richard (1998). Losing My Virginity. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-7535-0648-6.
Oldfield, Mike (2007). Changeling. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-1-85227-381-1.

References [link]

^ "Mike Oldfield profile". Decca. http://www.decca.com/artists/mike-oldfield-699. Retrieved 2011-08-23.
^ ^a ^b "Ommadawn". Rob Miles (amarok.ommadawn.net). http://www.amarok.ommadawn.net/mike/discog/extras/ommadawnnotes.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
^ ^a ^b ^c Oldfield, Mike (2007). Changeling. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-1-85227-381-1.
^ "Not Totally Tubular by Dave Thompson". Goldmine. 1997-07-18. http://tubular.net/articles/1997_07. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
^ "The Making of Tubular Bells". Q Magazine. 2001-08. http://tubular.net/articles/2001_08. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
^ Birosik, Patti Jean (1989). The New Age Music Guide. Collier MacMillan. p. 138. ISBN 0-02-041640-7.
^ "The Space Movie website". http://mikeoldfieldspacemoviedvd.com/. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
^ "Mike Oldfield – "Portsmouth"". EveryHit. http://www.everyhit.com. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
^ "Pekka – The Mathematician's Air Display". Discogs. http://www.discogs.com/Pekka-Pohjola-The-Mathematicians-Air-Display/release/617791. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
^ "This is the year of the expanding man...". Karl Dallas – Melody Maker. 1978-11-25. http://tubular.net/articles/1978_11. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
^ "Blue Peter's theme tune". BBC New Talent. 2007-04. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newtalent/under_16/showcase_bp.shtml. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
^ "Southside Jimmy Biography". Southside Jimmy. http://www.southsidejimmy.co.uk/site/pages/biog.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
^ "Oldfield 5656". Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/iau/special/rocknroll/0005656.html. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
^ "Mike Oldfield Interview". BBC Radio 2. 1998-09-09. http://tubular.net/articles/1998_09. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
^ "Nokia Night of the Proms 2006". Night of the Proms. http://www.notp.com/?country=de&menuitem=2. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
^ ^a ^b "Craft: Mike Oldfield". Resolution Magazine. 2007-03. http://tubular.net/articles/2007_03. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
^ "Mike Oldfield artist details". Universal Classics and Jazz. https://www.classicsandjazz.co.uk/tssite/homepage.do?ruleset=artist&id=51402037. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
^ "Coldplay and A-ha team up". Teletext. http://www.teletext.co.uk/planetsound/news/3374790848323d90a6c099afcc851183/Coldplay+and+A-ha+team+up.aspx. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
^ "Survival Project – Album Track listing". Kensaltown Records. http://www.kensaltownrecords.com/tracklisting.html. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
^ Jackson, Alan (2008-03-01). "Mike Oldfield regains control of Tubular Bells". London: The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3431337.ece. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
^ "News Archives". Tubular.net. 2005-06-03. http://tubular.net/archives/. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
^ ^a ^b "Universal press release – Tubular Bells". Mike Oldfield Information Service. 2009-04-15. http://www.mikeoldfield.org/news/150409.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
^ "Universal press release – Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn". The Official Mike Oldfield Information Service / Universal Music. http://www.mikeoldfield.org/news/100427.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
^ "The next wave of Mike Oldfield Deluxe Editions is coming...". Mike Oldfield Official. 2011-02-15. http://www.mikeoldfieldofficial.com/news.php?item=6. Retrieved 2011-03-14.
^ "Seven-figure deal ties Oldfield to Stage Three". Music Week. 2010-03-01. http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storyCode=1040228&sectioncode=1. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
^ "News". Stage Three Music. 2010-03-09. http://www.stagethreemusic.com/news.html. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
^ "Roster". Stage Three Music. http://www.stagethreemusic.com/roster.html. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
^ "Masterclass: Black's Magic". California Chronicle (Music Week). 2010. http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/yb/151031234. Retrieved 2010-10-30. "I've just written with Mike Oldfield and he sent me Tubular Bells and I thought, "What goes with that.""
^ "Interview with Mike Oldfield". BBC 1's Heaven and Earth programme. 2002-08-25. http://tubular.net/articles/2002_08d. Retrieved 2008-04-02. "My mother being Irish, she was a Roman Catholic. They put me on the first stages of educating me to be a Catholic"
^ Jackson, Alan (2008-03-01). "Mike Oldfield regains control of Tubular Bells". London: The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3431337.ece. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
^ "Mike Oldfield Motorcycle News 23 may". Motor Cycle News. 2007-05-25. http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/mcn/2007/May/may21-27/may2307oldfieldbikesvideo/. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
^ "Mike Oldfield Biography 1". Amadian. http://www.amadian.net/biography1.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
^ Branson, Richard. Losing My Virginity. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-7535-0648-6.
^ ^a ^b "The 5-minute Interview: Mike Oldfield, Musician". London: The Independent. 2008-04-07. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/the-5minute-interview-mike-oldfield-musician-805480.html. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
^ "Noel gets home win over Mike". The Sun. 2006-11-10. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,4-2006520333,00.html. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
^ Barrell, Tony (2007-20-28). "Ringing the changes". London: The Times. http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article2737168.ece. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
^ "Mike Oldfield quits 'prep school Britain' over smoking ban". This is London. 2007-10-21. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23417490-details/Mike%20Oldfield%20quits%20'prep%20school%20Britain'%20over%20smoking%20ban/article.do. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
^ Tyzack, Anna (2009-03-26). "Mike Oldfield's house for sale". London: The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/overseasproperty/5049511/Property-on-Majorca-New-modesty-can-wait.html. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
^ "Bunyola, Mallorca Ref:6641". Savills. 2009. http://www.savills.co.uk/abroad/PropertyDetails.aspx?id=00000000000019F1&currency=EUR. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
^ "Mike Oldfield video interview". RecordProduction.com. http://www.recordproduction.com/mike-oldfield-interview.html. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Interview with Mike Oldfield". Roland PowerOn magazine (Issue 4),. 1999-06-06. http://tubular.net/articles/1999_06. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
^ "Lot 391 Mike Oldfield's Fender Telecaster, used to record the album 'Tubular Bells', Film and Rock & Roll Memorabilia Auction 15242". Bonhams. 2007-06-20. http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/15242/lot/391/. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
^ "Lot 361 Mike Oldfield's Fender Telecaster, used to record the album 'Tubular Bells', Entertainment Memorabilia Auction 15765". Bonhams. 2008-01-15. http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/15765/lot/361/. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
^ "Lot 277 Mike Oldfield's Fender Telecaster, used to record the album 'Tubular Bells', Entertainment Memorabilia Auction 16905". Bonhams. 2009-12-16. http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16905/lot/277/. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
^ "Gareth Randall Interviews Mike Oldfield". 1995-06-01. http://tubular.net/articles/1995_06. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
^ "Tubular Worlds". Sound On Sound. 1995-02. http://tubular.net/articles/1995_02. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
^ "I use my Mac for... Composing music". MacFormat. 2008-04. http://tubular.eu.org/mike_mac_format0408.jpg. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
^ "Interview of Mike Oldfield by Image-Line". Image-Line. http://www.flstudio.com/documents/mikeoldfield.html. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
^ "Interview with Mike Oldfield". Home & Studio Recording Magazine. 1991-03. http://tubular.net/articles/91_03.shtml. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
^ "Mike Oldfield Chooses Euphonix System 5-MC Integrated DAW Controller with Apple’s Logic Pro". Euphonix. 2006-07-17. Archived from the original on 2006-08-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20060816053423/http://www.euphonix.com/news/news2006/071706_mike_oldfield.htm.
^ "Light & Shade". Tubular.net. http://tubular.net/discography/LightAndShade.shtml. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 325. CN 5585.

External links [link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mike Oldfield

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mike Oldfield

Official sites

MikeOldfieldOfficial.com – The official Mike Oldfield website
- Mike Oldfield official Universal store
MikeOldfield.org – The official Mike Oldfield information service

Fan-based sites

Tubular.net – The largest and most well-established Mike Oldfield website, for news and information.

Other sites

Mike Oldfield at the Internet Movie Database
Mike Oldfield at Allmusic
Mike Oldfield on Myspace

Mike Oldfield

Albums

Studio albums	Tubular Bells Hergest Ridge Ommadawn Incantations Platinum QE2 Five Miles Out Crises Discovery The Killing Fields Islands Earth Moving Amarok Heaven's Open Tubular Bells II The Songs of Distant Earth Voyager Tubular Bells III Guitars The Millennium Bell Tr3s Lunas Tubular Bells 2003 Light + Shade

Orchestral albums	The Orchestral Tubular Bells Music of the Spheres

Live albums	Exposed

Singles

EPs and other songs

Video albums

Compilation albums

Other media

Tours

Persondata
Name	Oldfield, Mike
Alternative names	Oldfield, Michael Gordon
Short description	Musician
Date of birth	1953-05-15
Place of birth	Reading, Berkshire, UK
Date of death
Place of death

http://wn.com/Mike_Oldfield

http://it.wn.com/Mike Oldfield

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http://id.wn.com/Mike Oldfield

http://es.wn.com/Mike Oldfield

http://ru.wn.com/Олдфилд, Майк

http://nl.wn.com/Mike Oldfield

http://pt.wn.com/Mike Oldfield

http://pl.wn.com/Mike Oldfield

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http://de.wn.com/Mike Oldfield

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Oldfield

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

For other people named Mary Hart, see Mary Hart (disambiguation).

Mary Hart
Hart modeling for The Heart Truth charity fashion show 2007
Born	Mary Johanna Harum (1950-11-08) November 8, 1950 (age 61) Madison, South Dakota, U.S.^[1]
Occupation	Television personality
Years active	1976–present
Spouse	Terry Hart (1972–1979) (divorced) Burt Sugarman (1989-present)

Mary Hart (born November 8, 1950^[1]) is an American television personality and was the long-running host of the syndicated gossip and entertainment round-up program Entertainment Tonight from 1982 to 2011, which is the longest running entertainment magazine show of all time.^{[citation needed]}

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 References
5 External links

Early life [link]

Mary Hart was born Mary Johanna Harum in Madison, South Dakota^[1] and lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as well as in Denmark, as a child and teenager.^[2] She speaks both Danish and Swedish fluently. Hart competed in the Miss America pageant in 1970 as Miss South Dakota, and finished in the top ten.^[3] Two years later, Hart graduated from Augustana College in Sioux Falls and while teaching English at school she also produced and anchored her own talk show on KSFY-TV, the local ABC affiliate.^[2] Also as a young adult Mary worked at JayCee Camp for the Exceptional (Handicapped, at that time) during the summer.

Career [link]

Hart began her full-time television career at KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1976, she went to KTVY (now KFOR-TV) in Oklahoma City, where she co-hosted a show with Danny Williams called Dannysday. She also was a sales representative for a school yearbook company. Determined to leave journalism behind, she moved to the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood in 1979 with $10,000 in the bank.^[4] Hart landed a small role on the soap opera Days of our Lives, as well as some TV commercials. Almost broke, she became a co-host on the Los Angeles version of the syndicated PM Magazine. That led to a job in 1981 as co-host of Regis Philbin's first national talk show on NBC. When that show was canceled four months later, Entertainment Tonight interviewed her about what it felt like to be canceled. The day after the interview, she was hired as an ET correspondent. Thirteen weeks later, she was named the show's co-host, along with Ron Hendren.^[5]

In 1984, Hendren was replaced by Robb Weller, who was replaced by John Tesh in 1986, who was replaced by Bob Goen in 1996. Hart has co-hosted ET with Mark Steines since 2004.^[4]^[6] Soon after her hiring by ET, Hart chose Jay Bernstein as her manager. Hart is known for her shapely legs, leading to an endorsement contract with Hanes for that company's line of pantyhose in 1987. Jay Bernstein had her legs insured with Lloyd's of London for $1 million each.^[7]^[8] Executive Producer Linda Bell Blue described Hart as "the face of ET"^[6]

During the summer of 1988, Hart appeared in Las Vegas with comedian David Brenner at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino, which realized another of her childhood dreams, singing and dancing on stage. She continued her work on Entertainment Tonight while performing in Las Vegas, flying between the cities after two shows in Vegas, the last at 11:00PM, to film ET the following morning at 8:00AM.^[9] In 1991, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that Hart's voice had triggered seizures in an epileptic woman.^[10] This was later referenced in an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures^[11] and the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, where Kramer (Michael Richards) suffers from convulsions whenever he hears Hart's voice. Hart has been parodied in Animaniacs in the character "Mary Heartless". She had also voiced a cartoon character named "Fairy Hart" in an episode of The Fairly OddParents where Bob Goen voiced "Bob Glimmer", and in The Fairly Oddparents TV movie, Fairly OddBaby.

Hart at the 81st Academy Awards in February 2009.

In May 2009, Hart suffered a broken left wrist^[12] due to an accident at home (not due to any exotic activity, despite her jokes about it). While her wrist was healing, she wore various brightly colored slings designed to match or complement her wardrobe for each show. On August 5, 2010, Hart announced that she was leaving the show at the end of the upcoming 30th season, citing that she was ready for a change.^[13] On May 11, 2011, Hart appeared on The View, where it was mentioned her last show would air May 20. It was also referenced on ET on Monday, May 9, when co-host Mark Steines referenced 10 shows left with her. On May 12, 2011, Regis Philbin appeared on ET to say goodbye to Hart. There it was announced she broke a Guinness World Record for the "longest serving entertainment news host". On May 20, 2011, after 29 years with ET, Hart exited the show.

Personal life [link]

Hart lives in Los Angeles, California with her film-producer husband, Burt Sugarman. They married in a private ceremony aboard a yacht in 1989^[14] and have one son, Alec J "AJ" Sugarman. She is a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers and has performed the national anthem prior to games on several occasions.^[15]^[16]

As Cochair of the New Hospital Building Campaign Committee for Children's Hospital Los Angeles she helped pave the way for the opening of the new hospital building in July 2011. She has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2003.^[17]

On August 17, 2011, Mary was announced as the Official Spokeswoman of Edith Sanford Breast Cancer Initiative, which will focus on research and care to decode the genetic make-up of every woman who volunteers to take part, in the hope to end breast cancer.

References [link]

^ ^a ^b ^c Riggs, Thomas (2002). Contemporary theatre, film, and television. Gale Cengage. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-7876-6360-5.
^ ^a ^b N.E.A. (1984-06-01). "Hart goes from beauty queen to TV screen". Gadsden Times. p. B2.
^ "The original 'E.T.' has found its way to rating success". The Miami News. 1983-03-11. p. 7A.
^ ^a ^b New York Times News Service (2002-07-14). "Famous for watching the famous". Toledo Blade. p. C1-2.
^ N.E.A. (1984-06-14). "Beauty queen finds success on TV screen". Bowling Green Daily News. p. 5B.
^ ^a ^b Benson, Jim (2006-10-08). "Mary Hart Re-Ups at ET". Broadcastingcable.com. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/106069-Mary_Hart_Re_Ups_at_ET.php. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
^ "Mary Hart to wed producer". Chicago Sun-Times. February 16, 1989.
^ Brioux, Bill (22,January 2009). Truth and Rumors. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-275-99247-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=voIe7XkFvEsC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&dq=Mary+Hart+legs+insured&source=web&ots=YRd40nWZsS&sig=CTZ5MPRQm0y6LyZ1rEUG_bmMdmk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result.
^ Associated Press (1988-06-01). "'Entertainment Tonight' hostess becomes showgirl". Kentucky New Era. p. 9B.
^ "Kill Your Television!". The AFU & Urban Legends Archive. http://tafkac.org/faq2k/television_307.html.
^ "THE HUGE PAGE OF TINY TOONS/ANIMANIACS FACTS, VERSION 2.0". Platypuscomix.net. 1992-06-08. http://www.platypuscomix.net/onlyme/toonfax.html. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
^ [1]^{[dead link]}
^ DiNunno, Gina (2010-08-05). "Mary Hart Exiting Entertainment Tonight". tvguide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Mary-Hart-Leaving-ET-1021498.aspx. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
^ Associated Press (1980-04-12). "Mary Hart weds". Lexington Dispatch. p. 2.
^ "Stars grabbing the attention at playoff games". Yuma Sun. 2009-10-19.
^ Associated Press (1988-06-01). "Mary Hart adds showgirl to resume". Lakeland Ledger. p. 1C.
^ "Mary Hart - Childrens Hospital Los Angeles". Chla.org. http://www.chla.org/site/c.ipINKTOAJsG/b.5264241/. Retrieved 2011-11-18.

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mary Hart

Mary Hart at the Internet Movie Database
Mary Hart on Twitter
Mary Hart's bio courtesy of ET Online

Preceded by Dixie Whatley	Co-host of Entertainment Tonight 1982–2011	Succeeded by Nancy O'Dell

v t e South Dakota Pageant Winners

Miss South Dakota	Mary Harum (1970) Alexandra Hoffman (2008) Morgan Peck (2009)

Miss South Dakota USA	Jessica Fjerstad (2005) Alexis LeVan (2006) Suzie Heffernan (2007) Charlie Buhler (2008)

Miss South Dakota Teen USA	Jessica Fjerstad (2002) Alexandra Hoffman (2006)

AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY

Persondata
Name	Hart, Mary
Alternative names
Short description	American journalist
Date of birth	1950-11-08
Place of birth	Madison, South Dakota
Date of death
Place of death

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hart

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

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