OCEANIA READING:

The regions of Oceania In Oceania, four large geographic areas are recognized: Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, which are grouped into arcs or alignments.

Australasia

It is the first arch or alignment of islands and receives this name due to its location close to insular Asia. The group of islands that make up Australasia are Australia, New Zealand and
Tasmania. Australia is the largest island in Australasia and the continent, with an area of 7.6 million km2. New Zealand follows, with 270,467 km2. Australia and New Zealand share common
characteristics: • Both countries are islands, have a small population, and are located in the southern hemisphere. Likewise, they share a past of isolation from other cultures. • They share the
British origin of a large part of their population, which is explained because both societies are former British colonies. In contrast, the native population represents a small percentage of the
population. On the other hand, Asian migration is controlled by both States. • Both societies have livestock farming as their main productive activity, but they have also developed an
important industrial process in recent decades. The fields of the chemical industry and heavy machinery stand out.

Melanesia

Some of the archipelagos that make up the arc of Melanesia are Papua New Guinea (which is divided between Asia and Oceania), Vanuatu, Fiji, New Hebrides and New Caledonia.

Micronesia

This arc is located in the western Pacific and is made up of islands such as the following: Marianas, Carolinas, Marshall, Kiribati, Palau and Guam, among many others; all of them sparsely
populated.

Polynesia

The Polynesian arc is made up of a series of very small and dispersed islands. They are located in the western Pacific, whose population is very scarce. The most important are Hawaii, Samoa,
Phoenix, Marquesas, Tonga, Tuvalu, Salas and Gómez.

Political division

The political division of Oceania has its origins in the 17th century, when various European expeditions, especially French and British, explored the archipelagos of the continent. The reasons
for colonization were mainly exploration and obtaining natural resources. During the 18th and 19th centuries, massive migration and the installation of European government models were
consolidated. Thus, Australia and New Zealand were quickly incorporated by England into the international market as wool producers, and the rest of the islands were occupied for the
purpose of exploiting their natural resources or establishing military bases. After the two world wars, Oceania was divided between France, Great Britain, the United States and even Australia
and New Zealand, which had already obtained their independence at the beginning of the 20th century. Starting in 1960, the decolonization process began and the independence of most of
the islands occurred, which formed micro-States. These new countries had to face many difficulties. On the one hand, the problems derived from the isolation that keeps the islands away
from each other and from the outside world; and on the other, the consequences of having been subjected for a long time to the imposition of a colonial model based exclusively on the
exploitation of resources, which left aside the development of other economic activities and the needs of the aboriginal population.
WE RESPOND:

1. Review the Text page Then, develop what is indicated in the following map and respond. • Write the names of the regions of Oceania, the countries
that make up the continent, the oceans that surround it, and the landforms of Australia and New Zealand.

Marshal Islands

Federated States of
PALAU Micronesia

Nauru KIMBATI
Papua New Guinea
TUVALU

SAMOA
FIJI TONGA

AUSTRALIA

PACIFIC OCEAN

NEW ZEALAND
INDIAN OCEAN
• What is the predominant type of relief in Oceania?

Mountains, plateaus, deserts and plains. Oceania has a strong relationship with tectonic plates, its islands are located on plates that have a relief of volcanic
origin and capricious shapes, Oceania has many archipelagos (group of islands).

• How has the island configuration of Oceania influenced the living conditions of its population?

Well, you can say that it has influenced their lives directly since they live on islands and “therefore” their population is very small and indirectly that is why
many people want to go to a much more populated place.

• What factors do you think have influenced Australia and New Zealand to stand out as the most developed countries on the continent?

Well, it can be said that its varied natural resources, the work in education, the development of technology, with all this, Australia and New Zealand
developed much more, these two stand out in livestock farming and the development of industries. chemistry and heavy machinery.

2. Read the following fragment. Then, answer the questions:

• What motivations do you think led the Polynesians to this island?
Their motivations were to develop their culture, building altars and sculptures called moai, these were megalithic expressions used as a symbol of
political and religious power that embodied the spirit of the founders of the lineages and projecting their power over their
S descendants
entities
• What was the link that the first civilizations of the island developed with their territory?
Their link was their languages and their ceremonial writing, in addition to building altars and sculptures called moai. It has its origin in the first Maori
ethnic groups that settled in Polynesia, who began to migrate to the island.