Desi Wonders

Oceania is not a continent but is generally used to refer to the numerous islands in the Pacific Ocean along with the world’s smallest continent Australia. Oceania mainly consists of bigger nations like Australia, New Zealand, a part of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea plus a lot of tiny islands that are located in the Pacific Ocean. There is no fixed definition of Oceania that is universally accepted and can vary widely.
The region of Oceania is generally divided into these four sub-divisions :

a. Australasia – Includes the continent country of Australia along with New Zealand (although New Zealand is also considered part of Melanesia).
b. Melanesia – It is the region south of the equator and located in the western Pacific Ocean. Melanesia means the islands of dark skinned people who can be found in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and other islands.
c. Micronesia - This name suggests that it is a region comprising of ‘tiny islands’. Most of the Micronesia region is north of the equator just above the New Guinea island and just to the east of Philippines.
d. Polynesia - Polynesia is the region lying in a virtual triangle that is drawn from New Zealand in the southern hemisphere to Hawaii (a State of the United States of America that lies in Central Pacific Ocean) in the Northern hemisphere to the volcanic Easter Island (also called Rapa Nui and is a special territory of Chile) which is located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.
Below is the list of countries and dependencies or overseas territories (in bold) that are part of Oceania with their Capitals:

Australasia

1. Australia – Canberra
2. New Zealand – Wellington
3. Norfolk Island (an overseas territory of Australia) – Kingston

Melanesia

1. East Timor – Dili
2. Fiji – Suva
3. Indonesia – Jakarta
4. New Caledonia (an overseas territory of France) – Nouméa
5. Papua New Guinea – Port Moresby
6. Solomon Islands – Honiara
7. Vanuatu – Port Vila

Micronesia

1. Federated States of Micronesia – Palikir
2. Guam (an overseas territory of USA) – Hagåtña
3. Kiribati – South Tarawa
4. Marshall Islands – Majuro
5. Nauru – Yaren (not official)
6. Northern Mariana Islands (an overseas territory of USA) – Saipan
7. Palau – Melekeok
8. Wake Island (an overseas territory of USA) – Wake Island

Polynesia

1. American Samoa (an overseas territory of USA) – Pago Pago
2. Chatham Islands (an overseas territory of New Zealand) – Waitangi
3. Cook Islands (an overseas territory of New Zealand) – Waitangi
4. Easter Island (an overseas territory of Chile) – Hanga Roa
5. French Polynesia (an overseas territory of France) – Papeete
6. Hawaii (an overseas territory of USA) – Honolulu
7. Loyalty Islands (an overseas territory of France) – Wé
8. Niue (an overseas territory of New Zealand) – Alofi
9. Pitcairn Islands (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom) – Adamstown
10. Samoa – Apia
11. Tokelau (an overseas territory of New Zealand) – N/A, there is no capital for Tokelau
12. Tonga – Nuku’alofa
13. Tuvalu – Funafuti
14. Wallis and Futuna (an overseas territory of France) – Mata-Utu

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