The world is divided into geographic regions and one of them is Oceania. This region extends in both hemispheres and it is inhabited by about 41 million people. But, how many countries are there, what tourist destinations does it hide, what cultures have developed there?
Oceania is a small and varied region, in that it contains highly developed economies and other very poor ones. Then Austria or New Zealand coexist with Vanuatu, Fiji or Tonga, for example. 14 are the nations that make up Oceania and today we are going to know what they offer us.
Oceania
Originally the population of Oceania arrived in the area 60 thousand years ago, and Europeans only did it in the XNUMXth century, as explorers and navigators. The first white settlers settled in the following centuries.
Oceania includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Within Micronesia are the Mariana Islands, the Carolinas, the Marshall Islands, and the Kiribati Islands. Within Melanesia are New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and New Caledonia. Polynesia runs from Hawaii to New Zealand and includes Tuvalu, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, the Kermadec Islands, the Cook Islands, the Society Islands, the Austral, the Marquesas, Tuamotu, Mangareva, and Easter Island.
Most the islands that make up Oceania belong to the Pacific plate, an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. For its part, Australia is part of the Indo-Australian plate, one of the oldest land masses on the planet, but since it is in the middle of the plate it has no volcanic activity. That corresponds to New Zealand and other islands, known for their volcanoes.
What is the flora of Oceania like? Very diverse, but this diversity is generally in Australia, not in the whole area. Australia has rainforests, mountains, beaches, deserts with the vegetation typical of these landscapes. The same is the fauna.
How is the weather in Oceania? Well, in the Pacific islands it is rather tropicsl, with monsoons, regular rains and cyclones. In other parts, as a certain part of the Australian territory it is rather desert, with a temperate, oceanic and Mediterranean climate. It even snows in the mountains.
It should be borne in mind that most of the Pacific islands, with the exception of New Zealand and Easter Island, are located in the area in the middle of the tropics and the equator. This means that there is a uniform climate, with few differences in temperature depending on the season.
Oceania countries
At the beginning we said that in Oceania there are developed countries and others developing. A) Yes, Australia and New Zealand are the only developed nations But Australia has a bigger and stronger economy than its neighbor. Entry per capita This country is on a par with that of Canada or France, for example, and its stock market is the most important in the South Pacific region.
Meanwhile New Zealand has a very global economy and it depends largely on international trade. The populations of both nations live, for the most part, from the electrical industry, manufacturing and mining. But what about pacific islands? Here most of the people work in the area of services, particularly financial and tourism.
The islands They mostly produce coconut, wood, meat, palm oil, cocoa, sugar, ginger, among other products, and obviously maintains close commercial ties with Australia and New Zealand and the nations of the Asia Pacific region.
But we said that tourism is the star around here and so it is. Most of the tourists in Oceania come from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. The most visited countriess according to the WTO, World Tourism Organization in Spanish, they are Australia, New Zealand and Guam.
Australia is a major international tourism destination, with almost 8 million visitors a year who come to see Sydney Harbor and its Opera House, the Gold Coast, Tasmania, the Great Barrier Reef or the Victoria coast or Ayers Rock, For example.
New Zealand is a popular destination too, especially since its landscapes were the setting for the popular Lord of the Rings trilogy. The islands of Hawaii are popular throughout the year, for their beaches, their volcanoes, their national parks.
The truth is that if the region contains 14 countries, it is impossible to travel all of them in a single trip. But if you want to explore a destination very different from Europe, you have to go and know that you will find many cultures, many landscapes, many languages, many cuisines. With money it will be easy to pay for a cruise in a particular area and visit various destinations, without money and with a backpack on your shoulder, destinations are getting smaller and we need to better program movements.
But basically nowadays Oceania is a popular destination for couples, friends and family looking for beaches, places to dive or snorkel, various water activities, seeing marine animals, corals ... in short, it is always a relaxed vacation, easy going as they say around here.
The destinations most frequented by tourism are French Polynesia, with more than a hundred islands, and Fiji, a country that in turn contains 200 more islands. Here nothing is cheap, but boy are they beautiful places, with Maui, Bora Bora… You can start your trip in Australia and from there jump to other destinations, or focus on Australia and New Zealand, or just the larger Pacific islands. You have to take a map and plan well where you want to go because, as I said, it is impossible to cover all of Oceania in a single trip.
Do you want modern cities? Australia or New Zealand is the destination. Do you want the best coral reef in the world? The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is on your route. Do you want dream beaches in the middle of a quiet and ancient island culture? Well, Polynesia and Fiji. Do you want to feel good away from the madding crowd? Kiribati, Samoa and the list goes on. Good trip!