Most of Oceania, including Australia, is under the Pacific, a vast body of water that is larger than all Earth's continental landmasses and islands combined. The name "Oceania" justly establishes the Pacific Ocean as the defining characteristic of the region. Oceania is dominated by the nation of Australia.
In many countries of Europe, Oceania is the continent. Calling the continent Australia is pretty much considered "English-centric". The reasoning for calling it Oceania is that Australia is only part of the continent. The extend of the mainland during the ice ages included part of today's Indonesia and Papua-New Guinea.ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY Australia and Oceania: Resources Oceania's natural resources support both subsistence and export-based economies. Grades 6 - 12+ Subjects Health, Earth Science, Meteorology, Geography, Human Geography, Physical Geography, Social Studies, Economics Photograph Merino Sheep The Hawaiian Islands and even Antarctica have been included under the heading "Australasia," but more often the region is treated as coterminous with Oceania. This article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray . qdgPPud.