Australasia
The Australasia is part of Oceania whose definition is not fixed, but generally includes the Australia and New Zealand - have even presented all athletes at the Olympic Games under the name.
Some authors add the island of New Guinea and some surrounding islands, including the definition of the Australasian ecozone (en).
History of the appellation
Etymologically, Australasia means "South Asia". The term was first used by Charles Brush in 1756 in his book entitled History of Austral land sailing on the Terra Australis Incognita , imaginary continent whose knowledge of the day postulated the existence somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere.
In 1843, Charles Hector Jacquinot , proposed a new definition: "I think it would have been more consistent with the nature, geological reports the Pacific Islands, to understand the division in the Polynesian Micronesia and Polynesia itself, without excepting the islands Viti or Olympic Games 1908 and 1912 ( Australia and New Zealand ).
More recently, some geographers English decided to assign the term a group comprising Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and other islands adjacent, echoing almost exactly the definition of Jacquinot for delimiting the Ecozone Australasian.
References
- Journey to the South Pole and Oceania on the corvettes Astrolabe and Zealous', Volume 1, p. 258
- Australia , New Zealand and New Guinea. Source: Encyclopedia Universalis 2005
See also
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