The Land “Down Under”

The Land “Down Under”

The “Outback”

• Dry and barren (empty)• Little resources to promote economic activities• Extreme temperatures– Summers: well above 100°F– Winters: 20-30°F

• Densely populated cities located on the coast

• Sydney: 3.7 million people

• Melbourne: 3.5 million people

New Zealand

North Island

• Mild climate• More populated than South Island– Auckland:

South Island

• Mountainous• Highland climate

High Islands and Low Islands

• High islands: volcanic islands that rise high above sea level and are mountainous

• Low islands: generally small and consist of built up sand

Oceania

Pacific Island Subregions

• Melanesia– Mountainous islands with many volcanoes– Stretches from New Guinea east to Fiji

• Micronesia– East of the Philippines (contains Guam)– Mix of high islands and low islands

• Polynesia– Largest subregion (from New Zealand to the

Hawaiian Islands and Easter Island)

Current Status of the Pacific Islands

• After WWII, many islands have moved away from colonialism – some have become fully independent

• Some islands are still colonies or are associated with other countries– Guam, Wake Island, American Samoa – U.S. territories– Northern Mariana Islands – commonwealth with the U.S.

(similar to Puerto Rico)– Federated States of Micronesia – free association with

the U.S. – Deal: status allows citizens to work in the U.S. freely and

in return the U.S. can keep military bases on the islands

Biogeography

• A sub-field of geography that studies the spatial distribution of flora and fauna around the world

• Australia has unique biogeography since the flora and fauna have historically been isolated from other landmasses

Australian History

First Inhabitants

• Aborigines – Resemble “primitive” people from Asia and South

Pacific Islands– Hunting and gathering group

Aboriginal Culture

“Walkabout”

• Present day term for nomadic wandering• Rite of passage in which a male Aborigine

undergoes a journey during adolescence to live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months

Age of Exploration• 16th century – Abel Tasman (Dutch explorer) first

landed on Australia

Age of Exploration• Captain James Cook (British) – first to survey

Australia’s coast in 1770

Colonial Australia• Founded as a prison colony – debtors were shipped

as convicts to work out their sentence on Australia

Early Settlement

• Difficult because of the rough terrain• Europeans were wary of the native plants

• Prediction: What effect do you think that settlement will have on the Aborigines?

Homework

• Read “The Secret of Dreaming”, an indigenous Australian folktale