Australasia
Australasia is a term variably used to describe a
region of
Oceania â€" namely
Australia,
New Zealand, and neighbouring
islands in the
Pacific Ocean.
The term was coined by
Charles de Brosses in
Histoire des navigations aux terres australes (
1756). He derived it from the
Latin for "south of
Asia" and differentiated the area from
Polynesia (to the east) and the southeast Pacific (
Magellanica); it is also distinct from
Micronesia (to the northeast).
Physiographically, Australasia includes the Australian landmass (including
Tasmania), New Zealand, and
Melanesia:
New Guinea and neighbouring islands north and east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. The designation is sometimes applied to all the lands and islands of the Pacific Ocean lying between the
equator and
latitude 47° south.
Most of Australasia lies on the southern portion of the
Indo-Australian Plate, flanked by the
Indian Ocean to the west and the
Southern Ocean to the south. Peripheral territories lie on the
Eurasian Plate to the northwest, the
Philippine Plate to the north, and in the Pacific Ocean â€" including numerous
marginal seas â€" atop the
Pacific Plate to the north and east.
Geopolitically, Australasia is sometimes used as a term for Australia and New Zealand together, in the absence of another word limited to those two countries. There are many organizations whose names are prefixed with "Australasian Society for" which are limited to just Australia and New Zealand.
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Australasian Olympic Flag |
In the past, Australasia has been used as a name for combined Australia/New Zealand
sporting teams. Examples include
tennis between
1905 and
1913, when Australia and New Zealand combined its best players to compete in the
Davis Cup international tournament (and in fact won it in the years 1907, 1908, 1909 and 1911), and at the
Olympic Games of
1908 and
1912.
Anthropologists, although disagreeing on details, generally support theories that call for a
Southeastern Asian origin of indigenous island peoples in Australasia and neighbouring
subregions.
From an
ecological perspective, however, the
Australasia ecozone is a distinct region with a common evolutionary history and a great many unique
flora and
fauna. In this context, Australasia is limited to Australia, New Guinea, and neighbouring islands, including the
Indonesian islands from
Lombok and
Sulawesi.
The biological dividing line from
Asia is the
Wallace line:
Borneo and
Bali lie on the western, Asian side.
*
Sundaland*
Oceania*
Australia (continent)*
New Zealand*
Eurasia
