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My 7-year-old came home recently with several maps with a continent on them marked, variously, either as "Australia" or "Oceania". My wife and I were both conf
by bshimmin 5y ago
My 7-year-old came home recently with several maps with a continent on them marked, variously, either as "Australia" or "Oceania". My wife and I were both confused since we had been taught that this was called "Australasia". Apparently people don't call it that nowadays!
- soneca 5y agoNever heard of Australasia. It was always Oceania for me. I am 42 yo
- kmlx 5y agoAustralasia is still a thing today: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasia
- have_faith 5y agoI don't think I've thought of the name Oceania outside of references to 1984 (the book). I knew the word didn't originate from there but it's all I think of when I hear the term used.
- coldtea 5y agoA lot of these divisions and names are country or culture-specific. Asian countries call those one way, European another, the US a different, some countries prefer their own, etc. As the Wikipedia entry below says e.g.: "Australasia is a region which comprises Australia, New Zealand, and some neighbouring islands. The term is used in a number of different contexts including geopolitically, physiogeographically, and ecologically where the term covers several slightly different but related regions." This include continents, which, depending on the context, country, etc can be seen as being anywhere from 4 to 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Separation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Separation