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Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is the area that includes Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the many smaller islands in the vicinity, most of which are the eastern part of Indonesia. The name was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes (1756). He derived it from the Latin for "south of Asia" and differentiated the area from Polynesia and the south east Pacific (Magellanica). Australasia is sometimes used as a term for Australia and New Zealand alone, in the absence of another word limited to those two countries. From political and cultural perspectives, the word has little utility, as although Australia and New Zealand are both relatively wealthy, predominantly English-speaking countries and alike in many ways, they share little in common with the other nations in the area. The term is unpopular in New Zealand because it is seen to emphasize Australia and seemingly implies the region is part of Asia; instead, the term Oceania is preferred, although this has a rather different meaning, and Australia is often thought of as not being part of Oceania by New Zealanders. From a biological point of view, however, Australasia is a distinct region with a common evolutionary history and a great many unique plants and animals, some of them common to the entire area, others specific to particular parts but sharing a common ancestry. The biological dividing line from Asia is the Wallace line, which represents the boundary between the two continental plates. Sulawesi and Lombok lie on the eastern, Australasian side of the line and Borneo and Bali lie on the western, Asian side. In the past, Australasia has been used as a name for a combined Australia and New Zealand team. Examples include in 1905, when Australia and New Zealand combined its best tennis players to compete in the Davis Cup international tournament, and at the Olympic Games of 1908 and 1912.

See also


- Oceania
- Australia-New Guinea
- Australasia ecozone Category:Oceania ko:오스트랄라시아

Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the world's smallest continent and a number of islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia's neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast, and New Zealand to the southeast. The continent of Australia has been inhabited for over 40,000 years by Indigenous Australians. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and by European explorers and merchants starting in the 17th century, the eastern half of the continent was claimed by the British in 1770 and officially settled as the penal colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were successively established over the course of the 19th century. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth Realm. The current population of around 20.4 million is concentrated mainly in the large coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Origin and history of the name

The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning southern. Legends of an "unknown southern land" (terra australis incognita) date back to the Roman times and were commonplace in mediæval geography, but they were not based on any actual knowledge of the continent. The Dutch adjectival form Australische ("Australian," in the sense of "southern") was used by Dutch officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered land to the south as early as 1638. The first English language writer to use the word "Australia" was Alexander Dalrymple in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, published in 1771. He used the term to refer to the entire South Pacific region, not specifically to the Australian continent. In 1793, George Shaw and Sir James Smith published Zoology and Botany of New Holland, in which they wrote of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland." New Holland was established on this site.]] The name "Australia" was popularised by the 1814 work A Voyage to Terra Australis by the navigator Matthew Flinders. Despite its title, which reflected the view of the Admiralty, Flinders used the word "Australia" in the book, which was widely read and gave the term general currency. Governor Lachlan Macquarie of New South Wales subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England. In 1817 he recommended that it be officially adopted. In 1824, the British Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia.

History

England, claiming the land for Britain in 1770. This replica was built in Fremantle in 1988 for Australia's bicentenary.]] The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. The first Australians were the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day India or Southeast Asia. Most of these people were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; they possess distinct cultural practices and practised subsistence agriculture. The first undisputed recorded European sighting of the Australian continent was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Jansz, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there following the loss of the American colonies that had previously filled that role. penal colony was Australia's largest penal colony.]] The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. Britain formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1829. Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory (NT) was founded in 1863 as part of the Province of South Australia. Victoria and South Australia were founded as "free colonies"—that is, they were never penal colonies, although the former did receive some convicts from Tasmania. Western Australia was also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts due to an acute labour shortage. The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868. The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at about 350,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly because of infectious disease, and forced migration, the removal of children and other colonial government policies, that some historians and Indigenous Australians have argued could be considered to constitute genocide by today's understanding. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons. Following the 1967 referendum, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines. Traditional ownership of land—native title—was not recognised until the High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius at the time of European occupation. terra nullius ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria, 25 April 2005. Ceremonies such as this are held in virtually every suburb and town in Australia.]] A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Stockade rebellion in 1854 was an early expression of nationalist sentiment. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence and international shipping. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation and voting, and the Commonwealth of Australia was born, as a Dominion of the British Empire. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was formed from New South Wales in 1911 to provide a location for the proposed new federal capital of Canberra (Melbourne was the capital from 1901 to 1927). The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia willingly participated in World War I; many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation—its first major military action. Much like Gallipoli the Kokoda Track Campaign is regarded by many as a nation defining battle from World War II. The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and Britain, but Australia did not adopt the Statute until 1942. The shock of Britain's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US under the auspices of the ANZUS treaty. After World War II, Australia encouraged mass immigration from Europe; since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and other parts of the world was also encouraged. As a result, Australia's demography, culture and image of itself were radically transformed. The final constitutional ties between Australia and Britain ended in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the Australian States, and ending judicial appeals to the UK Privy Council. Although Australian voters rejected a move to become a republic in 1999 by a 55% majority, Australia's links to its British past are increasingly tenuous. Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus on the nation's future as a part of the Asia-Pacific region.

Politics

Whitlam Government was opened in 1988 replacing the provisional Parliament House building opened in 1927.]] The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy and has a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The Queen is nominally represented by the Governor-General; although the Constitution gives extensive executive powers to the Governor-General, these are normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975. There are three branches of government.
- The legislature: the Commonwealth Parliament, comprising the Queen, the Senate (the Red house), and the House of Representatives (the Green house); the Queen is represented by the Governor-General, who in practice exercises little or no power over the Parliament.
- The executive: the Federal Executive Council (the Governor-General as advised by the executive councillors); in practice, the councillors are the prime minister and ministers of state, whose advice the Governor-General accepts, with rare exceptions.
- The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts. The State courts became formally independent from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council when the Australia Act was passed in 1986. The bicameral Commonwealth Parliament consists of the Queen, the Senate (the upper house) of 76 senators, and a House of Representatives (the lower house) of 150 members. Members of the lower house are elected from single-member constituencies, commonly known as 'electorates' or 'seats'. Seats in the House of Representatives are allocated to states on the basis of population. In the Senate, each state, regardless of population, is represented by 12 senators, with the ACT and the NT each electing two. Elections for both chambers are held every three years; typically only half of the Senate seats are put to each election, because senators have overlapping six-year terms. The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms Government, with its leader becoming Prime Minister. There are three major political parties: the Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the National Party. Independent members and several minor parties—including the Greens, Family First and the Australian Democrats—have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses, although their influence has been marginal. Since the 1996 election, the Liberal/National Coalition led by the Prime Minister, John Howard, has been in power in Canberra. In the 2004 election, the Coalition won control of the Senate, the first time that a party (or coalition of governing parties) has done so while in government in more than 20 years. The Labor Party is in power in every state and territory. Voting is compulsory in each state and territory and at the federal level.

States and territories

Voting is compulsory Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. In most respects, the territories function similarly to the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation overrides state legislation only with respect to certain areas as set out in Section 51 of the Constitution; all residual legislative powers are retained by the state parliaments, including powers over hospitals, education, police, the judiciary, roads, public transport and local government. Each state and territory has its own legislature (unicameral in the case of the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland, and bicameral in the remaining states). The lower house is known as the Legislative Assembly (House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania) and the upper house the Legislative Council. The heads of the governments in each state and territory are called premiers and chief ministers, respectively. The Queen is represented in each state by a governor; an administrator in the Northern Territory, and the Governor-General in the ACT, have analogous roles. Australia also has several minor territories; the federal government administers a separate area within New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, as a naval base and sea port for the national capital. In addition Australia has the following, inhabited, external territories: Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and several largely uninhabited external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Foreign relations and military

Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States, through the ANZUS pact and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum. In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for co-operation. Much of Australia's diplomatic energy is focused on international trade liberalisation. Australia led the formation of the Cairns Group and APEC, and is a member of the OECD and the WTO. Australia has pursued several major bilateral free trade agreements, most recently the US–Australia Free Trade Agreement. Australia is a founding member of the United Nations, and maintains an international aid program under which some 60 countries receive assistance. The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5bn for development assistance; as a percentage of GDP, this contribution is less than that of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Australia's armed forces—the Australian Defence Force (ADF)—comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). All branches of the ADF have been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping (most recently in East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Sudan), disaster relief, and armed conflict, including the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The government appoints the chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services; the current chief is Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston. In 2005–06, the defence budget is A$17.5bn.

Geography and climate

Angus Houston Australia's 7,686,850 km² (2,967,909 mi²) landmass is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas. Australia has a total 25,760 km (16,007 mi) of coastline and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 km² or 3,146,057 mi² (excluding the Australian Antarctic Territory). Climate is highly influenced by ocean currents, including the El Niño southern oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid. Australia is the driest inhabited continent, the flattest, and has the oldest and least fertile soils. Only the south-east and south-west corners of the continent have a temperate climate. The northern part of the country, with a tropical climate, has a vegetation consisting of rainforest, woodland, grassland and desert. The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 km (1,250 mi). The world's two largest monoliths are located in Australia, Mount Augustus in Western Australia is the largest and Uluru in central Australia is the second largest. At 2,228 m (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko on the Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland, although Mawson Peak on the remote Australian territory of Heard Island is taller at 2,745 m (9,006 ft).

Flora and fauna

Heard Island of the wallaby is currently being sequenced; when the sequencing is completed, it will be a major contribution to marsupial biology.]] Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it covers a diverse range of habitats, from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests. Because of the great age and consequent low levels of fertility of the continent, its extremely variable weather patterns, and its long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic. Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced plant and animal species. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is a legal framework used for the protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created to protect and preserve Australia's unique ecosystems, 64 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention, and 16 World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 13th in the World on the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index. Environmental Sustainability Index.]] Most Australian plant species are evergreen and many are adapted to fire and drought, including the eucalypts and acacias. Australia has a rich variety of endemic legume species that thrive in nutrient-poor soils because of their symbiosis with Rhizobia bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Well-known Australian fauna include monotremes (the platypus and echidna), and a host of marsupials, including the koala, kangaroo, wombat, and birds such as the emu, cockatoo, and kookaburra. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people that traded with Indigenous Australians around 4000 BCE. Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after human settlement, including the Australian megafauna; many more have become extinct since European settlement, among them the Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger).

Economy

Thylacine Australia has a prosperous, Western-style mixed economy, with a per capita GDP slightly higher than those of the UK, Germany and France. The country was ranked third in the United Nations' 2005 Human Development Index and sixth in The Economist worldwide quality-of-life index 2005. In recent years, the Australian economy has been resilient in the face of global economic downturn. Rising output in the domestic economy has been offsetting the global slump, and business and consumer confidence remains robust. Australia's emphasis on reform is another key factor behind the economy's strength. In the 1980s, the Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating, started the process of modernising the Australian economy by floating the Australian dollar in 1983, and deregulating the financial system. Since 1996, the Howard government has continued the process of micro-economic reform, including the partial deregulation of the labour market and the privatisation of state-owned businesses, most notably in the telecommunications industry. Substantial reform of the indirect tax system was achieved in July 2000 with the introduction of a 10% Goods and Services Tax, which has slightly reduced the heavy reliance on personal and company income tax that still characterises Australia's tax system. The Australian economy has not suffered a recession since the early 1990s. As of July 2005, unemployment was 5.0% with 10,030,300 persons employed. The service sector of the economy, including tourism, education, and financial services, comprises 69% of GDP. Agriculture and natural-resources represent only 3% and 5% of GDP, respectively, but contribute substantially to Australia's export performance. Australia's largest export markets include Japan, China, the United States, South Korea and New Zealand. Areas of concern to some economists include the chronically high current account deficit and also high levels of net foreign debt.

Demographics

current account deficit Most of the estimated 20.4 million Australians are descended from 19th- and 20th-century immigrants, the majority from Britain and Ireland. Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I , spurred by an ambitious immigration program. In 2001, the five largest groups of the 27.4% of Australians who were born overseas were from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam and China. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism. Australia’s population has increased by about 60 times since European settlement. The self-declared indigenous population—including Torres Strait Islanders, who are of Melanesian descent—was 410,003 (2.2% of the total population) in 2001, a significant increase from the 1977 census, which showed an indigenous population of 115,953. Indigenous Australians have higher rates of imprisonment and unemployment, lower levels of education and life expectancies for males and females that are 17 years lower than those of other Australians. Perceived racial inequality is an ongoing political and human rights issue for Australians. human rights.]] In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. A large number of Australians (759,849 for the period 2002–03) live outside their home country. Australia has maintained one of the most active immigration programs in the world to boost population growth. Most immigrants are skilled; the quota includes categories for family members and refugees. English is the official language, and is spoken and written in a distinct variety known as Australian English. According to the 2001 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%) and Greek (1.4%). A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. It is believed that there were between 200 and 300 Australian Aboriginal languages at the time of first European contact. Only about 70 of these languages have survived, and all but 20 of these are now endangered. An indigenous language remains the main language for about 50,000 (0.02%) people. Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 6,500 deaf people. The Australian Constitution guarantees the separation of church and state; there is no state religion. The 2001 census identified that 68% of Australians call themselves Christian: 27% identifying themselves as Roman Catholic and 21% as Anglican. Five per cent of Australians identify themselves as followers of non-Christian religions, and 26% as non-religious. Like many Western countries, the level of active participation in church worship is much lower than this; weekly attendance at church services is about 1.5 million, about 7.5% of the population. School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia between the ages of 6–15 years (16 years in South Australia and Tasmania), contributing to an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99%. Government grants have supported the establishment of Australia's 38 universities, and although several private universities have been established, the majority receive government funding. There is a state-based system of vocational training colleges, known as TAFE Institutes, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople. Approximately 58% of Australians between the ages of 25 and 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications.

Culture

apprenticeship.]] The primary basis of Australian culture up until the mid-20th century was Anglo-Celtic, although distinctive Australian features had been evolving from the environment and indigenous culture. Over the past 50 years, Australian culture has been strongly influenced by American popular culture (particularly television and cinema), large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking countries, and Australia's Asian neighbours. Australia has a long history of visual arts, starting with the cave and bark paintings of its indigenous peoples. From the time of European settlement, a common theme in Australian art has been the Australian landscape, seen in the works of Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd and Albert Namatjira, among others. The traditions of indigenous Australians are largely transmitted orally and are closely tied to ceremony and the telling of the stories of the Dreamtime. Australian Aboriginal music, dance and art have a palpable influence on contemporary Australian visual and performing arts. Australia has an active tradition of music, ballet and theatre; many of its performing arts companies receive public funding through the federal government's Australia Council. There is a symphony orchestra in each capital city, and a national opera company, Opera Australia, first made prominent by the renowned diva Dame Joan Sutherland; Australian music includes classical, jazz, and many popular music genres. Australian literature has also been influenced by the landscape; the works of writers such as Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson captured the experience of the Australian bush. The character of colonial Australia, as embodied in early literature, resonates with modern Australia and its perceived emphasis on egalitarianism, mateship, and anti-authoritarianism. In 1973, Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the only Australian to have achieved this; he is recognised as one of the great English-language writers of the 20th century. Australian English is a major variety of the language; its grammar and spelling are largely based on those of British English, overlaid with a rich vernacular of unique lexical items and phrases, some of which have found their way into standard English. Australia has two public broadcasters (the ABC and SBS), three commercial television networks, three pay TV services, and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Australia's film industry has achieved critical and commercial successes. Each major city has daily newspapers, and there are two national daily newspapers, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review. According to Reporters Without Borders in 2005, Australia is in 31st position on a list of countries ranked by press freedom, behind New Zealand (9th) and the United Kingdom (28th) but ahead of the United States. This ranking is primarily due to the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia. Most Australian print media in particular is under the control of either News Corporation or John Fairfax Holdings. John Fairfax Holdings Sport is an important part of Australian culture, assisted by a climate that favours outdoor activities; 23.5% Australians over the age of 15 regularly participate in organised sporting activities. At an international level, Australia has particularly strong teams in cricket, field hockey, netball, rugby league, rugby union, and performs well in cycling and swimming. Australia has participated in every summer Olympic Games of the modern era, and every Commonwealth Games. Australia has hosted the 1956 and 2000 Summer Olympics, and has ranked among the top five medal-takers since 2000. It has also hosted the 1938, 1962 and 1982 Commonwealth Games, and will host the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Australian rules football is one of the most popular national sports, albeit it, one that is only played in Australia; players gain some international prominence through International Rules which is an annual meeting between the Australian code and Irish Gaelic Football. Corporate and government sponsorship of many sports and élite athletes is common in Australia. Televised sport is popular; some of the highest rating television programs include the summer Olympic Games and the grand finals of local and international football competitions.

Related topics

References

Gillespie, R. (2002). Dating the first Australians. Radiocarbon 44:455-472
Smith, L. (1980), The Aboriginal Population of Australia, Australian National University Press, Canberra
Tatz, C. (1999). [http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/rsrch/rsrch_dp/genocide.htm Genocide in Australia], AIATSIS Research Discussion Papers No 8, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra
Windschuttle, K. (2001). [http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/20/sept01/keith.htm# The Fabrication of Aboriginal History], The New Criterion Vol. 20, No. 1, September 20.
Bean, C. Ed. (1941). [http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/ww1/1/index.asp Volume I - The Story of Anzac: the first phase], First World War Official Histories 11th Edition.
Australian Electoral Commission (2000). [http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/when/referendums/1999_report/index.htm 1999 Referendum Reports and Statistics]
Parliamentary Library (1997). [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/1997-98/98rn25.htm The Reserve Powers of the Governor-General]
Australian Government. (2005). [http://www.budget.gov.au/ Budget 2005-2006]
Department of the Environment and Heritage. [http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/about-biodiversity.html About Biodiversity]
Macfarlane, I. J. (1998). [http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Bulletin/bu_oct98/bu_1098_2.pdf Australian Monetary Policy in the Last Quarter of the Twentieth Century]. Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin, October
Parham, D. (2002). [http://www.pc.gov.au/research/confproc/mrrag/mrrag.pdf Microeconomic reforms and the revival in Australia’s growth in productivity and living standards]. Conference of Economists, Adelaide, 1 October
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Labour Force Australia. Cat#6202
Australian Bureau of Statistics. [http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/1a79e7ae231704f8ca256f720082feb9!OpenDocument Year Book Australia 2005]
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2003). Advancing the National Interest, [http://www.dfat.gov.au/ani/appendix_one.pdf Appenidix 1]
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2001 Census, [http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@census.nsf/ddc9b4f92657325cca256c3e000bdbaf/7dd97c937216e32fca256bbe008371f0!OpenDocument A Snapshot of Australia]
Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affiars. (2005). [http://www.immi.gov.au/facts/06evolution.htm The Evolution of Australia's Multicultural Policy]
Parliament of Australia, Senate (2005). [http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/legcon_ctte/expats03/ Inquiry into Australian Expatriates]
[http://www.ncls.org.au/default.aspx?docid=2250&track=82083 NCLS releases latest estimates of church attendance], National Church Life Survey, Media release, 28 February 2004
Australian Film Commission. What are Australians Watching?, [http://www.afc.gov.au/gtp/freetv.html Free-to-Air, 1999-2004 TV]
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External links


- [http://wikitravel.org/en/Australia Wikitravel guide to Australia]
- [http://www.gov.au/ Australian Government Entry Portal]
- [http://www.australia.gov.au/ Commonwealth Government Online]
- [http://www.immi.gov.au/ Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA)]
- [http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/australia/index.html DFAT: Country Information]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-27.000000,133.000000&spn=38.871300,61.703613&t=h&hl=en Satellite images of Australia] (Google Maps)
- [http://www.nla.gov.au/ National Library of Australia]
- [http://www.nma.gov.au/ National Museum of Australia]
- [http://www.australia.com/ Official Australia Tourism Website]
- [http://www.bom.gov.au/ Bureau of Meteorology]
- [http://www.m2006.com.au/ Official website of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games] A Category:Continents Category:Island nations Category:Members of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Monarchies Category:Oceanic countries zh-min-nan:Ò-tāi-lī-a ko:오스트레일리아 ms:Australia ja:オーストラリア simple:Australia th:ประเทศออสเตรเลีย

New Guinea

right New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded around 5000 BC. The name papua has also been long-associated with the island: this is discussed further under History, below.

Political divisions

The island is divided politically along east-west lines, roughly into equal halves:
- The portions of the island of New Guinea (Irian in Bahasa Indonesia) located west of 141°E longitude (see [http://www.papuaweb.org/goi/pp/peta-hr.gif map]) are incorporated into Indonesia as the provinces:
  - West Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya Barat) with Manokwari as its capital
  - Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) with the city of Jayapura as its capital. A proposal to split this into Central Papua (Papua Tengah) and East Papua (Papua Timur) has not been implemented.Jayapura] :Papuans actively have supported a broad-based independence movement, the Organisasi Papua Merdeka or OPM, against Indonesia since 1962. Its military arm is the TPN, or the Liberation Army of Free Papua. The Indonesian authorities view this as a separatist and a terrorist movement, the members of which are guilty of high treason. The OPM has charged the Indonesian government with racism, genocide, political assassination, torture and terrorism. Amnesty International has estimated more than 100,000 Papuans have died as a result of government-sponsored violence against Papuans, while others have set the number at more than 200,000.
- The eastern part forms the primary part of the nation of Papua New Guinea, which has been an independent country since 1975.

People

Populated by very nearly a thousand different Papua Melanesian tribal groups since 45,000 BC, New Guinea is the home of the world's oldest independent societies and a staggering number of separate languages, the Papuan languages. The separation was not merely linguistic; warfare among societies was a factor in the evolution of the men's house: separate housing of groups of adult men, from the single-family houses of the women and children, for mutual protection against the other groups. Pig-based trade between the groups and pig-based feasts are a common theme with the other peoples of Southeast Asia and Oceania. Most societies practice agriculture, supplemented by hunting and gathering. The island's population is comprised of roughly two indigenous ethnic groups: Papuans and Austronesians. Current evidence (archaeological, linguistic and biological) indicates that the Papuans are the oldest human residents of New Guinea, and that they constitute the majority of the population of New Guinea. Austronesians are a group who originated in Taiwan and spread from there through the Philippines and Indonesia and on into the Pacific. These seafaring peoples reached New Guinea many thousands of years after the arrival of the Papuans. They have colonised many offshore islands in the north and east of New Guinea, and in some places have settled on the mainland. The many thousands of years of human occupation of New Guinea has led to a great deal of ethnic diversity, which has been increased by the arrival of the Austronesians and the more recent history of European and Asian colonization. The Indonesian government which controls the western half of New Guinea has instituted an aggressive transmigration program designed to bring chiefly Sumatran and Javanese immigrants to Indonesian New Guinea to tip the largely black population toward a more Asian "balance." To date, more than 1 million Asian immigrants have settled in western New Guinea as part of the transmigration program.

Ecology

With some 786,000 km² of tropical land, New Guinea has an immense ecological value: 11,000 plant species; nearly 600 unique bird species, including the birds of paradise, cassowaries; over 400 amphibians; 455 butterfly species; marsupials including bondegezou, Goodfellow's tree kangaroo, Huon tree kangaroo, long-beaked echidna, tenkile, agile wallaby, alpine wallaby, cuscus and possums; and various other mammal species. Most of these species are shared, at least in their origin, with the continent of Australia, which was until fairly recent geological times, part of the same landmass. See Australia-New Guinea for an overview.

History

See also: History of Papua New Guinea The first inhabitants of New Guinea arrived at least 60,000 years ago, having travelled through the south-east Asian peninsula. These first inhabitants, from whom the Papuan people are probably descended, adapted to the range of ecologies and in time developed one of the earliest known agricultures. Remains of this agricultural system, in the form of ancient irrigation systems in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, are being studied by archaeologists. This work is still in its early stages so there is still uncertainty as to precisely what crop was being grown, or when/where agriculture arose. The gardens of the New Guinea highlands are ancient, intensive permacultures, adapted to high population densities, very high rainfalls (as high as 10,000 mm/yr (400 in/yr)), earthquakes, hilly land, and occasional frost. Complex mulches, crop rotations and tillages are used in rotation on terraces with complex irrigation systems. Western agronomists still do not understand all practices, and native gardeners are notably more successful than most scientific farmers. Some authorities believe that New Guinea gardeners invented crop rotation well before western europeans. A unique feature of New Guinea permaculture is the silviculture of Casuarina oligodon, a tall, sturdy native ironwood tree, suited to use for timber and fuel, with root nodules that fix nitrogen. Pollen studies show that it was adopted during an ancient period of extreme deforestation. In more recent millennia another wave of people arrived on the shores of New Guinea. These were the Austronesian people, who had spread down from Taiwan, through the south-east Asian archipelago, colonising many of the islands on the way. The Austronesian people had technology and skills extremely well adapted to ocean voyaging and Austronesian language speaking people are present along much of the coastal areas and islands of New Guinea. The first European contact with New Guinea was by Portuguese and/or Spanish sailors in the 16th century. In 1526-27 Don Jorge de Meneses saw the western tip of New Guinea and named it ilhas dos Papuas. The word papua is often said to derive from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning ‘frizzly-haired’, referring to the frizzled hair of the inhabitants of these areas. Another possibility, (put forward by Sollewijn Gelpke in 1993) is that it comes from the Biak phrase sup i papwa which means ‘the land below [the sunset]’ and refers to the islands west of the Bird’s Head, as far as Halmahera. Whatever the origin of the name Papua, it came to be associated with this area, and more especially with Halmahera, which was known to the Portuguese by this name during the era of their colonisation in this part of the world. In 1545 the Spaniard Yñigo Ortiz de Retez sailed along the north coast of New Guinea as far as the Mamberamo River near which he landed, naming the island 'Nueva Guinea'. The first map showing the whole island (as an island) was published in 1600 and shows it as 'Nova Guinea'. The first European claim occurred in 1828, when the Netherlands formally claimed the western half of the island. In 1883, following a short-lived French annexation of New Ireland, the British colony of Queensland annexed south-eastern New Guinea. However, the Queensland government's superiors in the United Kingdom revoked the claim, and (formally) assumed direct responsibility in 1884, when Germany claimed north-eastern New Guinea as a protectorate. The first Dutch government posts were established in 1898 and in 1902 Manokwari on the North coast, Fak-Fak in the West and Merauke in the South at the border with British New Guinea (later renamed Papua). Both the Dutch and the British tried to suppress warfare and headhunting once common between the villages of the populace. In 1906 the British government transferred total responsibility for south-east New Guinea to Australia. During World War I, Australian forces seized German New Guinea, which in 1920 became a League of Nations mandated territory of Australia. The Australian territories became collectively known as The Territories of Papua and New Guinea (until February 1942). Before about 1930, most European maps showed the highlands as uninhabited forests. When first flown over by aircraft, numerous settlements with agricultural terraces and stockades were observed. Netherlands New Guinea and the Australian territories were invaded in 1942 by the Japanese. The Australian territories were put under military administration and were known simply as New Guinea. The highlands, northern and eastern parts of the island became key battlefields in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. Papuans often gave vital assistance to the Allies, fighting alongside Australian and US troops, and carrying equipment and injured men across New Guinea. Following the return to civil administration, the Australian section was known as the Territory of Papua-New Guinea (1945-49) and then as Papua and New Guinea. Although the rest of the Dutch East Indies achieved independence as Indonesia on December 27, 1949, the Netherlands regained control of western New Guinea. During the 1950s the Dutch government began to prepare Netherlands New Guinea for full independence and allowed elections in 1959; an elected Papuan Council, the New Guinea Council (Nieuw Guinea Raad) took office on April 5, 1961. The Council decided on the name of West Papua, a national emblem, a flag called the Morning Star or Bintang Kejora, and a national anthem; the flag was first raised — next to the Dutch flag — on December 1, 1961. However, Indonesia threatened with an invasion, after full mobilisation of its army, by August 15, 1962. It had received with military help from the Soviet Union. Under strong pressure of the Kennedy administration the Dutch, who were prepared to resist an Indonesian attack, had to go to the conference table. On October 1, 1962, the Dutch handed over the territory to a temporary UN administration (UNTEA). On May 1, 1963, Indonesia took control. The territory was renamed West Irian and then Irian Jaya. In 1969 Indonesia, under the 1962 New York Agreement, had to organize a plebiscite to seek the consent of the Papuans for Indonesian rule. This so called Act of Free Choice (Pepera) resulted under strong threats and intimidations of the Indonesian army in a 100% vote for continued Indonesian rule. From 1971, the name Papua New Guinea was used for the Australian territory. In 1975, Australia granted full independence to Papua New Guinea. In 2000, amid increasing discontent and opposition to Indonesian rule, Irian Jaya was formally renamed "The Province of Papua" and a large measure of "special autonomy" was granted in 2001. This law on special autonomy, however, was never implemented. On the contrary, beginning of 2003 President Megawati Sukarnoputri announced the division of the province into three parts, while the name "Papua" for the province would again revert to Irian. With strong public protest by Papuans only the province of West Irian Jaya, with Manokwari as its capital, covering the Bird's Head peninsula was split from Papua Province. In 2005 a new proposal came from Jakarta to split the province into five provinces, with the clear purpose to eliminate all anti-Indonesian and pro-independence action.

External links


- [http://natzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2001/2/intoxnewguineabirds.cfm The Intoxicating Birds of New Guinea by John Tidwell]
- [http://www.fpcn-global.org/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=1 Online documentaries re OPM sponsored by West German-based Friends of Peoples Close to Nature]
- [http://www.papuaweb.org/gb/peta/sejarah/collingridge/ Facsimile of material from "The Discovery of New Guinea" by George Collingridge] Category:Islands Category:Melanesia Category:New Guinea zh-min-nan:Sin Guinea ko:뉴기니 섬 ja:ニューギニア島

Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia is located in the Malay Archipelago, the world's largest archipelago, between Indochina and Australia, between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world and the fourth most populous overall. It has had free elections since the 1998 Revolution which led to the resignation of President Suharto, who came to power in 1965.

History

Under the influences of Hinduism and Buddhism, several kingdoms formed on the islands of Sumatra and Java from the 7th to 14th century. The arrival of Arab traders from Gujarat, India, later brought Islam, which became the dominant religion in many parts of the archipelago after the collapse of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms. When the Portuguese came in the early 16th century, they found a multitude of small states. These states were vulnerable to the Portuguese, and later other Europeans, who were in pursuit of dominating the spice trade. In the 17th century, the Dutch emerged as the most powerful of the Europeans, ousting the Spanish and Portuguese (except for their colony of Portuguese Timor on the island of Timor). The Dutch influence started with trading by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), a private enterprise, which gradually expanded its region of influence and its grip on political matters. Following the dissolution of the VOC in 1799, as well as the political instability from the Napoleonic Wars, the East Indies were awarded to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. From this time onward, the East Indies were officially ruled as colonies of the Dutch crown. Under the nineteenth-century Cultivation System (Cultuurstelsel), large plantations and forced cultivation were established on Java, finally creating the profit for the Netherlands that the VOC was unable to produce. In a more liberal period of colonial rule after 1870 the Cultivation System was abolished, and after 1901 the Dutch introduced the Ethical Policy, which included limited political reform and increased investment in the colony. During World War II, with the Netherlands under German occupation, in December 1941 Japan began a five prong campaign towards Java and the vital fuel supplies of the Dutch East Indies. Though Japan captured Java by March 1942, it was unable to find any national leader willing to cooperate with the Japanese government against the Dutch, eventually the Japanese commander ordered that Sukarno be released from his prison island and in July 1942 Sukarno arrived in Jakarta. Sukarno, with colleagues, cooperated with the Japanese occupiers. In 1945, with the war drawing to a close, Sukarno was made aware of an opportunity to declare an independence. Upon lobbying, Japan agreed that Sukarno established a committee to plan for independence. Sukarno, and Mohammad Hatta, declared independence on 17 August. In an effort to regain control of their previously occupied colonies, the Allies sent in their armies, together with the Netherlands' Army. Indonesia's war for independence lasted from 1945 until 27 December, 1949, when, under heavy international pressure, the Netherlands acknowledged Indonesia's independence. Sukarno became the country's first president, with Mohammad Hatta as the first vice president. See Indonesian National Revolution. It was not until 16 august 2005 that the Dutch government recognised 1945 as the country's year of independence and expressed its regrets over the Indonesian deaths caused by the Netherlands' Army. The 1950s and 1960s saw Sukarno's government aligning itself first with the emerging non-aligned movement and later with the socialist bloc. The 1960s saw Indonesia in a military confrontation against neighboring Malaysia, and increasing frustration over domestic economic difficulties. Army general Suharto became president in 1967 with the excuse of securing the country against an alleged Communist coup attempt against a weakening Sukarno. In the aftermath of Suharto's rise, hundreds of thousands people were killed or imprisoned in a backlash against alleged Communist supporters. Suharto's administration is commonly called the New Order era. Suharto invited major foreign investment into the country, which produced substantial, if uneven, economic growth. However, Suharto enriched himself and his family through widespread corruption and he was forced to step down amid massive popular demonstrations and a faltering economy by the Indonesian Revolution of 1998. In the period of 1998 to 2001, the country had three presidents: Bacharuddin Jusuf (BJ) Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri. In 2004 the largest one-day election in the world and Indonesia's first direct Presidential election was held and was won by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Parts of northern Sumatra, particularly Aceh, were devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami on 26 December 2004. See Impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on Indonesia

Politics

The highest legislative body is the Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat (MPR, head: Hidayat Nur Wahid) or 'People's Consultative Assembly', consisting of the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR, head: Agung Laksono) or People's Representative Council, elected for a five-year term, and the Dewan Perwakilan Daerah (DPD, head: Ginandjar Kartasasmita) or Regional Representatives Council. Following elections in 2004, the MPR became a bicameral parliament, with the creation of the DPD as its second chamber.

Provinces

Currently, Indonesia has 33 provinces (of those, 2 are special territories and 1 capital city territory). The provinces are subdivided in districts, which are in turn split up in sub-districts and municipalities. The provinces are: Bali, Bangka-Belitung, Banten, Bengkulu, Central Java, Central Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, East Java, East Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, South Sumatra, Gorontalo, Jambi, Lampung, Maluku, North Maluku, North Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Papua (Irian Jaya), Riau, Riau Kepulauan, South East Sulawesi, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, West Irian Jaya, West Java, West Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, West Sulawesi, West Sumatra The special territories (daerah istimewa) are Aceh (or Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam) and Yogyakarta. Special territories have more autonomy from the central government than other territories, and as a result they have unique legislative privileges: the Acehnese government has the right to create an independent legal system and instituted a form of sharia (Islamic Law) in 2003; Yogyakarta remains a sultanate whose sultan (currently the wildly popular Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X) is the territory's de facto governor for life. The capital city territory is Jakarta. Though Jakarta is a single city, it is administered much as any other Indonesian province. For example, Jakarta has a governor (instead of a mayor), and is divided into several sub-regions with their own administrative systems. East Timor was a province of Indonesia from its annexation in 1976 until Indonesia relinquished sovereignty in 1999. Following a period of transitional administration by the UN, it became an independent state in 2002.

Geography

2002 Indonesia's 18,108 islands, of which about 6,000 are inhabited, are scattered around the equator, giving the country a tropical climate. The largest populated islands are Java, one of the most densely populated regions on Earth, where about half of the population lives, Sumatra, Borneo (shared with Malaysia and Brunei), New Guinea (shared with Papua New Guinea) and Sulawesi. The country borders Malaysia on the island of Borneo (Indonesian: Kalimantan), Papua New Guinea on the island of New Guinea and East Timor on the island of Timor. In addition to the capital city of Jakarta, principal Indonesian cities of high population include Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, Palembang, and Semarang. Its location on the edges of tectonic plates, specifically the Pacific, Eurasian, and Australian, means Indonesia is frequently hit by earthquakes and the resulting tsunamis. Indonesia is also rich in volcanoes, the most famous being the now vanished Krakatau (Krakatoa), which was located between Sumatra and Java. Flora and fauna differ markedly between Kalimantan, Bali, and western islands on the one hand and Sulawesi, Lombok, and islands further to the east on the other hand. This ecological boundary has been called the Wallace line after its discoverer. The line is often given as the boundary between Asia and Australasia, as such making Indonesia a bicontinental country. See also: Map of Asia

Economy

Indonesia's economy suffered greatly in the late 1990s, in part as a result of the financial crisis that struck most of Asia at the time. The economy has stabilized somewhat since then. The country has extensive natural resources outside of Java, including crude oil, natural gas, tin, copper and gold. Indonesia is the world's second largest exporter of natural gas, though it has recently become a net importer of crude oil. Major agricultural products include rice, tea, coffee, spices and rubber. Indonesia's major trading partners are Japan, the United States and the surrounding nations of Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. The central bank of Indonesia is Bank Indonesia [http://www.bi.go.id] The economy is now undergoing a process of rebuilding after the tsunami that struck in December of 2004.

Demographics

Indonesia's population can be roughly divided into two groups. The west of the country is Asian and the people are mostly Malay, while the east is more Pacific and people on New Guinea are Papuan, with roots in the islands of Melanesia. There are, however, many more subdivisions, which is logical given the fact that Indonesia spans an area the size of Europe or the USA and that it consists of many islands that to a large degree had their own separate development. Many Indonesians identify with a more specific ethnic group that is often linked to language and regional origins; examples of these are Javanese, Sundanese, or Batak. But there are also quite different groups within many islands, such as Borneo, with its Dayak and Punan, who have different lifestyles and skintones. Most Indonesians speak a local language (bahasa daerah) as their first tongue, but the official national language, Indonesian (locally called Bahasa Indonesia or simply Bahasa, meaning language) is almost universally taught in schools and is spoken by nearly every Indonesian. Originally a lingua franca for most of the region, including present-day Malaysia (and thus closely related to Malay), it was accepted by the Dutch as the de facto language for the colony and declared the official language after independence. The formerly large, influential Eurasian community (locally known as Indos) has largely left the country for the Netherlands, California and Australia, although a few still remain in Indonesia and are highly esteemed models and soap opera stars. There are also serious ethnic tensions in Indonesia, predominately between Indonesians of Chinese ethnicity and the Pribumi peoples, who are natives of Indonesia. The riotings in Jakarta in 1997 and 1998 highlight this recurring tension. Ethnic relations are strained mostly due to the high level of economic power that the Chinese-Indonesians have relative to the Pribumi peoples, which in turn propels anti-Chinese sentiment. Positions of power and influence in the business sphere are consistently held by ethnic Chinese Indonesians. The Indonesian government is attempting to remedy this problem, but due to widespread corruption and discontent experienced by the poorer citizens of Indonesia ethnic harmony is slow in coming. Corruption, collusion, and nepotism which characterized Suharto's presidency clearly define the origins of Indonesia’s ethnic tensions today. Islam is Indonesia's main religion, with almost 88% of all Indonesians declared as Muslim according to the 2000 religious census, making Indonesia the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world. Prior to the arrival of the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity and Islam in the Malay Archipelago, the popular beliefs in region had been thoroughly influenced by Indic religious philosophy through Hinduism and Buddhism. After independence syncretism and intermarriage has decreased somewhat and religious divides sharpened, leading to communal violence in many of the eastern islands as well as in Java. Although Islam was once mainly practiced in Java and parts of Sumatra, the transmigration program has increased the number of Muslims living in Bali, Borneo, the Celebes, the Moluccas, and Papua. The remaining population is 8% Christian (of which roughly three quarters are Protestant, with the remainder mainly Catholic, and a substantial charismatic minority), 3% Hindu and 1% Buddhist with small communities of Jews. Indonesians are required to declare themselves as one of these official religions. As a result, many Indonesian "Muslims" are non-practicing, follow Indonesia's animist traditions (a fact that the government strenuously denies), or are entirely secular.

Culture

Art forms in Indonesia have been influenced by several cultures. The famous Javanese and Balinese dances, for example, contain aspects of Hindu culture and mythology. Also well-known are the Javanese and Balinese wayang kulit shadow theatre shows, displaying several mythological events. Several islands are famous for their batik and ikat cloth. Silat is a unique martial art originating from the archipelago.

Miscellaneous topics


- Agama Hindu Dharma
- Communications in Indonesia
- Foreign relations of Indonesia
- Hinduism in Southeast Asia
- Indonesian calendars
- Indonesian car number plates
- Indonesian Chinese
- Islam in Indonesia
- Islands of Indonesia
- List of famous Indonesians
- Military of Indonesia
- Music of Indonesia
- Public holidays in Indonesia
- Transportation in Indonesia
- Indonesian Civil War
- History of Indonesia

Further reading


- Theodore Friend, Indonesian Destinies, [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/ Harvard University Press], 2003, hardcover, 544 pages, ISBN 0674011376
- Steven Drakeley: The history of Indonesia, Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood, 2005, 201 S., ISBN 0-313-33114-6

See also


- 2002 Bali bombing
- 2005 Bali bombings

External links

Official sites (owned and operated by the government of Indonesia and its agencies)
- [http://www.antara.co.id/ Antara] — National News Agency
- [http://www.bi.go.id/ Bank Indonesia] — Indonesian Central Bank
- [http://www.info-ri.com/ Info-RI] — National Information Portal (in Indonesian)
- [http://www.deplu.go.id/?language=en&embassy=1& List of Indonesian embassies and consulates worldwide] (Department of Foreign Affairs)
- [http://www.indonesia.go.id/ National Portal of Republic of Indonesia] (in Indonesian)
- [http://www.rri-online.com/ RRI] — National Radio Network
- [http://www.tvri.co.id/ TVRI] — National Television Network (in Indonesian) Other sites (not owned nor operated by the government of Indonesia and its agencies)
-
- [http://www.business-indonesia.com/ Business Indonesia]
- [http://www.kompas.com/ Kompas] - Indonesia's most widely circulated Newspaper (in Indonesian)
- [http://www2.iisg.nl/indoc/ INDOC Database on Indonesian Labour]
- [http://www.indonesia-house.org/ Indonesia House] (in English and in Dutch)
- [http://www.insideindonesia.org/ Inside Indonesia Journal]
- [http://www.aseannewsnetwork.com/indonesia.html News from Indonesia] (in English and in Indonesian) Category:ASEAN member states Category:Island nations Category:Republics Category:Southeast Asian countries Category:Bicontinental countries zh-min-nan:Ìn-nî ko:인도네시아 ms:Indonesia ja:インドネシア simple:Indonesia th:ประเทศอินโดนีเซีย

1756

1756 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).

Events


- March 17 - St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern).
- April 12 - The French invade Minorca, then under British control.
- May 17 - The Seven Years' War formally begins when England declares war on France.
- May 20 - Battle of Minorca. The English fleet under John Byng is defeated by the French under Augustin de la Gallisonnière.
- May 28 - The British garrison in Minorca surrenders to the French.
- August 29 - Frederick the Great invades Saxony, beginning the war on the continent.
- October 1 - Battle of Lobositz. Frederick defeats an Austrian army under Marshal Maximilian von Browne.
- Frederick II of Prussia forces his country's peasants to grow the unpopular and obscure potato

Ongoing events


- French and Indian War (1754-1763)

Births


- January 27 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1791)
- February 6 - Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
- March 3 - William Godwin, English writer (d. 1836)
- May 27 - Maximilian I of Bavaria (d. 1825)
- June 6 - John Trumbull, American painter (d. 1843)
- June 20 - Joseph Martin Kraus, German-Swedish composer (d. 1792)
- August 1 - Pierre Louis Prieur, French politician (d. 1827)
- August 29 - Heinrich Graf von Bellegarde, Austrian field marshal and statesman (d. 1845)
- September 7 - Willem Bilderdijk, Dutch author (d. 1831)
- November 3 - Pierre Laromiguière, French philosopher (d. 1837)
- Abdullah bin Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler (d. 1814)
- Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm, Swedish statesman (d. 1813)

Deaths


- February 25 - Eliza Haywood, English actress and writer (b. 1693)
- April 10 - Giacomo Antonio Perti, Italian composer (b. 1661)
- April 18 - Jacques Cassini, French astronomer (b. 1677)
- July 24 - George Vertue, English engraver and antiquary (b. 1684)
- December 8 - William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington, English statesman and diplomat
- Bernard Accama, Dutch painter (b. 1697) Category:1756 ko:1756년 simple:1756

Asia

Asia is the central and eastern part of Eurasia, and the world's largest continent. Defined by subtracting Europe from Eurasia, Asia is either regarded as a landmass of its own, or as part of Eurasia. The demarcation between Asia and Africa is the isthmus of Suez (although the Sinai Peninsula, being a part of Egypt east of the canal, is often geopolitically considered a part of Africa). The boundary between Asia and Europe runs via the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, to the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Ural River to its source, and the Ural Mountains to the Kara Sea at Kara, Russia. About 60 percent of the world's human population lives in Asia. Asia as a political division consists of the eastern part of Eurasia and nearby islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, often excluding Russia. Pacific Ocean

Etymology

The word Asia entered English, via Latin, from Ancient Greek Ασία (Asia; see also List of traditional Greek place names). This name is first attested in Herodotus (c. 440 BC), where it refers to Asia Minor; or, for the purposes of describing the Persian Wars, to the Persian Empire, as opposed to Greece and Egypt. Even before Herodotus, Homer knew of a Trojan ally named Asios, son of Hyrtacus, a ruler over several towns, and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). The Greek term may be derived from from Assuwa, a 14th century BC confederation of states in Western Anatolia. Hittite assu- "good" is probably an element in that name. Alternatively, the ultimate etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word (w)aṣû(m), cognate of Hebrew יצא, which means "to go out", referring to the direction of the sun at sunset in the Middle East. This may be compared to a similar etymology proposed for Europe, as being from Semitic erēbu "to enter" or "set" (of the sun). These etymologies presuppose an originally Mesopotamian or Middle Eastern perspective, which would explain how the term "Asia" first came to be associated with Anatolia as lying west of the Semitic speaking area.

Geographical Regions

See also Geography of Asia. As already mentioned, Asia is a subregion of Eurasia. For further subdivisions based on that term, see North Eurasia and Central Eurasia. Some Asian countries stretch beyond Asia. See Bicontinental country for details about the borderline cases between Asia and Europe, Asia and Africa and Asia and Oceania. Asia itself is often divided in the following subregions:
- North Asia
- Central Asia
- East Asia (or Far East)
- Southeast Asia
- South Asia (or Indian Subcontinent)
- Southwest Asia (or West Asia)

North Asia

This term is rarely used by geographers, but usually it refers to the bigger Asian part of Russia, also known as Siberia. Sometimes the northern parts of other Asian nations, such as Kazakhstan are also included in Northern Asia.

Central Asia

There is no absolute consensus in the usage of this term. Usually, Central Asia includes:
- the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan (excluding its small European territory), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
- Afghanistan, Mongolia, and the western regions of China are also sometimes included.
- Former Soviet states in the Caucasus region. Central Asia is currently geopolitically important because international disputes and conflicts over oil pipelines, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Chechnya, as well as the presence of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan.

East Asia (or Far East)

This area includes:
- The Pacific Ocean islands of Taiwan and Japan.
- North and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula.
- China, but sometimes only the eastern regions Sometimes the nations of Mongolia and Vietnam are also included in East Asia. More informally, Southeast Asia is included in East Asia on some occasions.

Southeast Asia

This region contains the Malay Peninsula, Indochina and islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The countries it contains are:
- In mainland Southeast Asia, the countries Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
- In Maritime Southeast Asia, the countries of Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia (some of the Indonesian islands also lie in the Melanesia region of Oceania). East Timor (also Melanesian) is sometimes included too. The country of Malaysia is divided in two by the South China Sea, and thus has both a mainland and island part.

South Asia (or Indian Subcontinent)

South Asia is also referred to as the Indian Subcontinent. It includes:
- the Himalayan States of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
- the Indian Ocean nations of Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Southwest Asia (or West Asia)

This can also be called by the Western term Middle East, which is commonly used by Europeans and Americans. Middle East (to some interpretations) is often used to also refer to some countries in North Africa. Southwest Asia can be further divided into:
- Anatolia (i.e. Asia Minor), constituting the Asian part of Turkey.
- The island nation of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.
- The Levant or Near East, which includes Syria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and the Asian portion of Egypt.
- The Arabian peninsula, including