Oceania

====United Nations interpretation====
{{Main|United Nations geoscheme for Oceania}}

[[File:Oceania UN Geoscheme Regions.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Oceania and its four subregions]]

The [[United Nations]] (UN) has used its own geopolitical definition of Oceania since its foundation in 1947, which utilizes four of the five subregions from the 19th century; Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. This definition consists of discrete political entities, and so excludes the Bonin Islands, Hawaii, Clipperton Island and the Juan Fernández Islands, along with Easter Island — which was annexed by Chile in 1888.<ref name="stats">{{cite web |title=Countries or areas / geographical regions |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |access-date=25 April 2019 |publisher=United Nations |archive-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830170949/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is used in statistical reports, by the [[International Olympic Committee]], and by many atlases.<ref name="Lewis 1997 32" /> The UN categorizes Oceania, and by extension the Pacific area, as one of the major continental divisions of the world, along with Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Their definition includes [[American Samoa]], Australia and their [[States and territories of Australia|external territories]], the [[Cook Islands]], [[Federated States of Micronesia]], [[French Polynesia]], Fiji, [[Guam]], [[Kiribati]], the Marshall Islands, [[Nauru]], New Caledonia, New Zealand, [[Niue]], the [[Northern Mariana Islands]], [[Palau]], Papua New Guinea, [[Pitcairn Islands]], [[Samoa]], the Solomon Islands, [[Tokelau]], [[Tonga]], [[Tuvalu]], [[Vanuatu]], [[Wallis and Futuna]], and the [[United States Minor Outlying Islands]] ([[Baker Island]], [[Howland Island]], [[Jarvis Island]], [[Midway Atoll]], [[Palmyra Atoll]], and [[Wake Island]]).<ref name="stats"/> The original UN definition of Oceania from 1947 included these same countries and semi-independent territories, which were mostly still [[Colony|colonies]] at that point.<ref>{{cite book |title=Status of the 1950 Census Program in the United States: A Preliminary Report |date=1951 |publisher=United States. Bureau of the Census |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h3v502REqhUC&dq=United+Nations+%22oceania%22&pg=PA58 |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref> Hawaii had not yet become a U.S. state in 1947, and as such was part of the original UN definition of Oceania. The island states of Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, [[Singapore]] and Taiwan, all located within the bounds of the Pacific or associated marginal seas, are excluded from the UN definition. The states of [[Hong Kong]] and [[Malaysia]], located in both mainland Asia and marginal seas of the Pacific, are also excluded, as is the nation of [[Brunei]], which shares the island of [[Borneo]] with Indonesia and Malaysia. Further excluded are [[East Timor]] and [[Western New Guinea|Indonesian New Guinea/Western New Guinea]], areas which are biogeographically or geologically associated with the Australian landmass.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbd.int/doc/world/tl/tl-nr-04-en.pdf|title=Timor-Leste's Fourth National Report to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity|work=Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste|access-date=12 March 2023|date=October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Westaway |first1=J. |last2=Quintao |first2=V. |last3=de Jesus Marcal |first3=S. |title=Preliminary checklist of the naturalised and pest plants of Timor-Leste |journal=Blumea - Biodiversity, Evolution and Biogeography of Plants |date=30 November 2018 |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=157–166 |doi=10.3767/blumea.2018.63.02.13 |s2cid=89935772 |doi-access=free }}</ref> [[The World Factbook|The CIA World Factbook]] also categorizes Oceania as one of the major continental divisions of the world, but the name "Australia and Oceania" is used. Their definition does not include all of Australia's external territories, but is otherwise the same as the UN's definition, and is also used for statistical purposes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/australia-and-oceania/|title=Australia and Oceania - The World Factbook|website=www.cia.gov|access-date=2022-07-30|archive-date=2022-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730064857/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/australia-and-oceania/|url-status=live}}</ref> In a 2008 article for the ''[[India Quarterly]]'' journal titled ''Oceania and Security: A Perspective from New Zealand'', author Peter Cozens stated, "the region of Oceania is characterised by vast distances across the sea between continental land masses [...] It is difficult to be precise about the term Oceania and its exact delimitation", adding that "the principal regional political grouping is contained within the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) - the 16 states making up the Forum are: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu - in general terms this is the area referred to as Oceania by the United Nations and similar agencies."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cozens |first1=Peter |title=Oceania and Security: A Perspective from new Zealand |journal=India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs |date=January 2008 |volume=64 |issue=1–3 |pages=154–170 |doi=10.1177/097492840806400112 |s2cid=151289753 }}</ref> The Pacific Islands Forum expanded during the early 2010s, and areas that were already included in the UN definition of Oceania, such as French Polynesia, gained membership.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/02/how-the-pacific-islands-forum-fell-apart/|title=How the Pacific Islands Forum Fell Apart|website=thediplomat.com}}</ref>
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