Western New Guinea in the context of "Transmigration program"

Oceania (UK: /ˌoʊsiˈɑːniə, ˌoʊʃi-, -ˈeɪn-/ OH-s(h)ee-AH-nee-ə, -⁠AY-, US: /ˌoʊʃiˈæniə, -ˈɑːn-/ OH-shee-A(H)N-ee-ə) is a geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its continental landmass. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, at the centre of the water hemisphere, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of about 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi) and a population of around 46.3 million as of 2024. Oceania is the smallest continent in land area and the second-least populated after Antarctica.

Oceania has a diverse mix of economies from the highly developed and globally competitive financial markets of Australia, French Polynesia, Hawaii, New Caledonia, and New Zealand, which rank high in quality of life and Human Development Index, to the much less developed economies of Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Western New Guinea. The largest and most populous country in Oceania is Australia, and the largest city is Sydney. Puncak Jaya in Indonesia is the highest peak in Oceania at 4,884 m (16,024 ft).

The continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts as Sahul (/səˈhuːl/), Australia-New Guinea, Australinea, or Meganesia to distinguish it from the country of Australia, is located within the Southern and Eastern hemispheres, near the Maritime Southeast Asia. The continent includes mainland Australia, Tasmania, the island of New Guinea (Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea), the Aru Islands, the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, most of the Coral Sea Islands, and some other nearby islands. Situated in the geographical region of Oceania, more specifically in the subregion of Australasia, Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents.

The continent includes a continental shelf overlain by shallow seas which divide it into several landmasses—the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait between mainland Australia and New Guinea, and Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania. When sea levels were lower during the Pleistocene ice age, including the Last Glacial Maximum about 18,000 BC, they were connected by dry land into the combined landmass of Sahul. The name "Sahul" derives from the Sahul Shelf, which is a part of the continental shelf of the Australian continent. During the past 18,000 to 10,000 years, rising sea levels overflowed the lowlands and separated the continent into today's low-lying arid to semi-arid mainland and the two mountainous islands of New Guinea and Tasmania. With a total land area of 8.56 million square kilometres (3,310,000 sq mi), the Australian continent is the smallest, lowest, flattest, and second-driest continent (after Antarctica) on Earth. As the country of Australia is mostly on a single landmass, and comprises most of the continent, it is sometimes informally referred to as an island continent, surrounded by oceans.

The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies broadly referred to various lands in the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around the Indian Ocean by Portuguese explorers, soon after the Cape Route was discovered. In a narrow sense, the term was used to refer to the Malay Archipelago, which today comprises the Philippine Archipelago, Indonesian Archipelago, Borneo, and New Guinea. Historically, the term was used in the Age of Discovery to refer to the coasts of the landmasses comprising the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese Peninsula along with the Malay Archipelago.

Puncak Jaya (Indonesian: [ˈpuntʃak ˈdʒaja]; literally "Victorious Peak", Amungme: Nemangkawi Ninggok) or Carstensz Pyramid (/ˈkɑːrstəns/, Indonesian: Piramida Carstensz, Dutch: Carstenszpiramide) on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of 4,884 m (16,024 ft), is the highest mountain peak of an island on Earth, and the highest peak in Indonesia and within Oceania. The mountain is located in the Sudirman Range of the highlands of Mimika Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia. Puncak Jaya is ranked 5th in the world by topographic isolation.

When regarding New Guinea as part of the Australian continent in a biogeographical sense, Puncak Jaya can be considered the highest peak in all of Oceania, with its elevation exceeding those of the highest peaks in the nearby nations of Papua New Guinea (Mount Wilhelm), New Zealand (Aoraki / Mount Cook) and Australia (Mount Kosciuszko). Puncak Jaya is therefore often listed as one of the Seven Summits. However, since Puncak Jaya is in Western New Guinea, an area administered by Indonesia and therefore geopolitically part of Southeast Asia, the peak can also be considered the 8th highest mountain in this region, after Hkakabo Razi and six others in Kachin State, Myanmar.

New Guinea (Tok Pisin: Niugini; Hiri Motu: Niu Gini; Indonesian: Papua, fossilized Nugini, also known as Papua or historically Irian) is the world's second-largest island, with an area of 785,753 km (303,381 sq mi). It has the third-largest remaining rainforest globally, and the highest plant biodiversity of any island. Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the 150-kilometre (81-nautical-mile; 93-mile) wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf, and were united during episodes of low sea level in the Pleistocene glaciations as the combined landmass of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The island's name was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 because of the perceived resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the African region of Guinea.

The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the nation of Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea, forms a part of Indonesia and is organized as the provinces of Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua. The two major cities on the island are Port Moresby and Jayapura.

The Arafura Sea, also known as the Arafuru Sea, lies west of the Pacific Ocean, overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea (also called Papua), which is the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea.

The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (Dutch: Nederlands(ch)-Indië; Indonesian: Hindia Belanda), was a Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which declared independence on 17 August 1945. Following the Indonesian War of Independence, Indonesia and the Netherlands made peace in 1949. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, the Dutch ceded the governorate of Dutch Malacca to Britain, leading to its eventual incorporation into Malacca (state) of modern Malaysia.

The Dutch East Indies was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Dutch government in 1800. During the 19th century, the Dutch fought many wars against indigenous rulers and peoples, which caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. Dutch rule reached its greatest territorial extent in the early 20th century with the occupation of Western New Guinea. The Dutch East Indies was one of the most valuable colonies under European rule, though its profits depended on exploitative labor.

The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Australia to the west (129th meridian east), South Australia to the south (26th parallel south), and Queensland to the east (138th meridian east). To the north, the Northern Territory looks out to the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea, and the Gulf of Carpentaria, including Western New Guinea and various other islands of the Indonesian archipelago.

The NT covers 1,347,791 square kilometres (520,385 sq mi), making it the third-largest Australian federal division, and the 11th-largest country subdivision in the world. It is sparsely populated, with a population of only 260,400 as of March 2025 – fewer than half the population of Tasmania. The largest population centre is the capital city of Darwin, having about 52.6% of the Territory's population. The largest inland settlement is Alice Springs with a population of about 25,000 people.

Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oceania (Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia) or any other island located in the Pacific Ocean.

Melanesians include the Fijians (Fiji), Kanaks (New Caledonia), Ni-Vanuatu (Vanuatu), Papua New Guineans (Papua New Guinea), Solomon Islanders (Solomon Islands), West Papuans (Indonesia's West Papua) and Moluccans (Indonesia's Maluku Islands).