Oceania- (sometimes
Oceanica) is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of
numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity.
Papua
New Guinea -Papua New
Guinea is a island country
in the southwestern Pacific
Ocean. It encompasses the
eastern half of the island
of New Guinea (the western
half, Irian Jaya, belonging
to Indonesia) and its offshore
islands as well as the islands
of the Bismarck Archipelago
(New Britain, New Ireland,
and the Admiralty Islands)
and those of Bougainville
and Buka.[5]
Geography
Land area: 462,840 sq. km.; about
the size of California.
Cities: Capital--Port Moresby (254,158).
Other cities--Lae (78,038), Mt. Hagen
(27,789).
Terrain: Mostly mountains with coastal
lowlands and rolling foothills. The
largest portion of the population
lives in fertile highlands valleys
that were unknown to the outside world
until the 1930s, but that supported
agriculture some 10,000 years ago,
possibly before agriculture was developed
elsewhere.
Climate: Tropical. NW monsoon, Dec.-Mar.;
SE monsoon, May-Oct.
Sepik
River, East Sepik / Sanduan,
Papua, New Guinea - The Sepik
River is the longest river on
the island of New Guinea. The
majority of the river flows through
the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces
of Sandaun and East Sepik, with
a small section flowing through
the Indonesian province of Papua.[3]
Bougainville,
North Solomons, Papua, New Guinea
- The Autonomous
Region of Bougainville, also known
as North Solomons, is an autonomous
region in Papua New Guinea. The
largest island is Bougainville
Island (also the largest of the
Solomon Islands group) [3]
Trobriand
Islands, Milne Bay, Papua, New
Guinea - The Trobriands consist
of four main islands, the largest
being Kiriwina island, and the
others being Kaileuna, Vakuta
and Kitava. Kiriwina is 25 miles
long, and varies in width from
2 to 8 miles. In the 1980s, there
was around sixty villages upon
the island, containing around
12,000 people, whilst the other
islands were restricted to a population
of hundreds. [3]
New
Caledonia, Melanesia, Pacific
Ocean - New Caledonia is made
up of a main island, the Grande
Terre, and several smaller islands,
the Belep
archipelago to the north of the
Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands
to the east of the Grande Terre,
the Île des Pins (Isle of
Pines) to the south of the Grande
Terre, the Chesterfield Islands
and Bellona Reefs further
to the west. [3]
