Australasia
Australasia ( south of Asia ) refers in the broadest sense to the region around Australia , New Zealand , New Guinea and the surrounding islands of Melanesia , and occasionally parts of Indonesia . The term was coined in 1756 by Charles de Brosses to distinguish it from Polynesia and Magellanica .
Politically and culturally, the name is rather unfavorable, as Australia and New Zealand are similar from a sociological point of view, but the other states in the region have completely different conditions. From a geographical point of view, the term makes more sense, as the region has a lot in common, for example marsupials . In this sense, the Wallace Line forms the border with Asia, to the west are the islands of Bali and Borneo , which belong to Asia , to the east, Lombok and Sulawesi are already part of Australasia.
In biogeographical terms, the term Australasia is more narrowly defined: Here it includes the areas that were connected to Australia via land bridges during the last ice ages , i.e. Tasmania , New Guinea and some smaller islands off Australia, but not New Zealand and New Caledonia .
Australasian Bioregion
The Malesian flora region
Sports
In sport, the term Australasia was used for the two states Australia and New Zealand, which are politically and culturally closely related. At the Olympic Games in 1908 and 1912 and in the Davis Cup from 1905 to 1912 , the two countries competed with joint teams under this name.
See also
- Australasian Mediterranean in the area of the Malay Archipelago
Individual evidence
- ^ MD Fox: Present environmental influences on the Australian flora . In AE Orchard (Ed.): Flora of Australia. Volume 1. Introduction . 2nd edition, ABRS / CSIRO Australia, Melbourne 1999, p. 207. ISBN 0-643-05965-2