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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, [17] is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. [18] Australia has a total area of 7,688,287 km 2 (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania .
Australasia on a map. The term Down Under is a colloquialism differently construed to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or the Pacific island countries collectively. [1] [2] The term originally referred solely to Australia and gradually expanded in scope.
The name Australia has been applied to two continents. Originally, it was applied to the south polar continent, or sixth continent, now known as Antarctica.The name is a shortened form of Terra Australis which was one of the names given to the imagined (but undiscovered) land mass that was thought to surround the south pole.
Australia has the third-largest exclusive economic zone of 8,148,250 km 2 (3,146,060 sq mi). This EEZ does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory (an additional 5,896,500 km 2 (2,276,700 sq mi)). Australia has the largest area of ocean jurisdiction of any country on Earth. [5] It has no land borders.
Australia is the only First World country on the Australia-New Guinea continent, although the economy of Australia is by far the largest and most dominant economy in the region and one of the largest in the world. Australia's per-capita GDP is higher than that of the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and France in terms of purchasing power ...
Mainland Australia is the main landmass of the Australian continent, excluding the Aru Islands, New Guinea, Tasmania, and other Australian offshore islands.The landmass also constitutes the mainland of the territory governed by the Commonwealth of Australia, and the term, along with continental Australia, can be used in a geographic sense to exclude surrounding continental islands and external ...
This outline of Australia is an overview of and topical guide to various aspects of the country of Australia: Australia refers to both the continent of Australia and to the Commonwealth of Australia , the sovereign country .
The world's smallest continent, Australia is also the sixth-largest country by land area and sometimes considered the world's largest island. Australia has a mainland coastline of 32,994 kilometres (20,502 mi) [ 14 ] and claims an exclusive economic zone of about 8,200,000 square kilometres (3,200,000 sq mi).