Australasia comprises Australia, New Zealand, and some neighbouring islands (see the section Derivations). It is used in a number of different contexts including geopolitically, physiogeographically, and ecologically where the term covers several slightly different but related regions.
Derivations
Charles de Brosses coined the term (as French Australasie) in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes[1] (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).[2]
In Australia "Australasia" is considered to be Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the neighbouring islands of the Pacific, while in New Zealand it means Australia, New Zealand[3] and former New Zealand dependencies.
See also
Notes
- ^ de Brosses, Charles (1756). Histoire des navigations aux terres Australes. Contenant ce que l'on sçait des moeurs & des productions des contrées découvertes jusqu'à ce jour; & où il est traité de l'utilité d'y faire de plus amples découvertes, & des moyens d'y former un établissement [History of voyages to the Southern Lands. Containing what is known concerning the customes and products...] (in French). Paris: Durand. Retrieved .
- ^ Douglas, Bronwen (2014). Science, Voyages, and Encounters in Oceania, 1511-1850. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 6.
- ^ "Australasia". New Zealand Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2005. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195584516.001.0001. ISBN 9780195584516.
References
- Richards, Kel (2006). "Australasia". Wordwatch. ABC News Radio. Retrieved .
External links
Media related to Australasia at Wikimedia Commons
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