Oceania

The term “Oceania” generally means the region of the tropical Pacific that includes Australia, Micronesia, Melanesia (which includes Papua New Guinea and Fiji), and Polynesia (which includes Aotearoa/New Zealand). People settled the Australian continent more than 45,000 years ago, making the Australian Aboriginal population the second-oldest population on Earth. Geneticists believe the Australians began migrating from Africa through Asia about 75,000 years ago and split off from Eurasian people before Europeans and Asians split off from each other. Papuans settled the islands of Oceania 3,500–4,000 years ago. Polynesians settled Aotearoa/New Zealand in the thirteenth century ce , and waves of European immigrants began coming to the area in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Today, the diverse cultures and the colonial history are woven into ancient traditions in the art, music, and theatre of Oceania.