part_of oceania
Micronesia ( from , " mikrós ", " small " + , " nêsos ", " island ") is a subregion of Oceania , comprising thousands of small ___MASK99___ in the western ___MASK23___ . It has a shared cultural ___MASK96___ with two other island regions , Polynesia to the east and Melanesia to the south . A subregion is a ___MASK52___ of a larger region or continent and is usually based on location . Cardinal directions , such as south or southern , are commonly used to define a subregion . Modern humans (" Homo sapiens ", primarily ssp . " Homo sapiens sapiens ") are the only extant members of Hominina tribe ( or ___MASK69___ tribe ), a branch of the tribe Hominini belonging to the ___MASK55___ of great apes . They are characterized by erect posture and bipedal locomotion ; manual dexterity and increased tool use , compared to other animals ; and a general trend toward larger , more complex brains and societies . Latin ( Latin : ) is a classical ___MASK33___ belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo - European languages . The ___MASK64___ is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets . The Western Hemisphere is a geographical term for the half of the ___MASK48___ that lies west of the Prime meridian ( which crosses Greenwich , UK ) and east of the antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere . Fiji ((), officially ___MASK19___ of Fiji , is an island ___MASK56___ in Melanesia in the South ___MASK23___ about northeast of New Zealand ' s North Island . Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west , New Caledonia to the southwest , New Zealand ' s Kermadec Islands to the southeast , Tonga to the east , the Samoas and ___MASK38___ ' s Wallis and Futuna to the northeast , and Tuvalu to the north . South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere , mostly in the southern hemisphere , with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere . It is also considered a subcontinent of ___MASK6___ , which is the model used in nations that speak ___MASK49___ . The reference to South America instead of other regions ( like Latin America or the Southern Cone ) has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical ___MASK93___ ( in particular , the rise of Brazil ). ___MASK79___ is a continent that comprises the westernmost ___MASK52___ of Eurasia . ___MASK79___ is bordered by the ___MASK91___ to the north , the Atlantic Ocean to the west , and the Mediterranean ___MASK62___ to the south . To the east and southeast , ___MASK79___ is generally considered as separated from ___MASK32___ by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains , the Ural River , the Caspian and Black Seas , and the waterways of the Turkish Straits . Yet the non - oceanic borders of ___MASK79___  a concept dating back to classical antiquity  are arbitrary . The primarily physiographic term " continent " as applied to ___MASK79___ also incorporates cultural and political elements whose discontinuities are not always reflected by the continent ' s current overland boundaries . The Indo - Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes the continent of ___MASK86___ and surrounding ocean , and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and adjacent waters . It was formed by the fusion of Indian and Australian plates 43 million years ago . Recent studies , and seismic events such as the 2012 Indian Ocean earthquakes , suggest that the Indo - Australian Plate may have broken up into two or three separate plates due primarily to stresses induced by the collision of the Indo - Australian Plate with Eurasia along the Himalayas , and that the Indian Plate and Australian Plate have been separate since at least . Oceania ( UK / oni , os - / or US / oiæni / ) , also known as Oceanica , is a region centered on the ___MASK99___ of the tropical ___MASK23___ . Opinions of what constitutes Oceania range from its three subregions of Melanesia , Micronesia , and Polynesia to , more broadly , the entire insular region between Southeast ___MASK32___ and the Americas , including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago . The term is often used more specifically to denote a continent comprising Australia and proximate ___MASK99___ or biogeographically as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone ( Wallacea and Australasia ) or the Pacific ecozone ( Melanesia , Polynesia , and Micronesia apart either from New Zealand or from mainland New Guinea ) . The ___MASK23___ is the largest of the ___MASK48___ ' s oceanic divisions . It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean ( or , depending on definition , to Antarctica ) in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east . Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania ( and occasionally ___MASK13___ ) extending from the western end of the ___MASK23___ to the Arafura ___MASK62___ , and eastward to Fiji . The New World is one of the names used for the ___MASK48___ ' s Western Hemisphere , specifically the Americas ( including nearby islands such as those of the Caribbean and Bermuda ). An island or isle is any piece of sub - continental land that is surrounded by water . Very small ___MASK99___ such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets , skerries , cays or keys . An island in a river or a lake island ___MASK26___ be called an eyot or ait , and a small island off the coast ___MASK26___ be called a holm . A grouping of geographically or geologically related ___MASK99___ is called an archipelago , e . g . the Philippines . ___MASK36___ ( from Greek , " geographia ", literally " ___MASK48___ description ") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands , the features , the inhabitants , and the phenomena of ___MASK48___ . The first person to use the word "  " was Eratosthenes ( 276  194 BC ). ___MASK36___ is an all - encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of the ___MASK48___ and its human and natural complexities  not merely where objects are , but how they have changed and come to be . It is often defined in terms of the two branches of human geography and physical geography . The four historical traditions in geographical research are : spatial analyses of natural and the human phenomena , area studies of places and regions , studies of human - land relationships , and the ___MASK48___ sciences . ___MASK36___ has been called " the world discipline " and " the bridge between the human and the physical sciences ". ___MASK69___ ___MASK36___ is the branch of the social sciences that deals with the study of people and their communities , cultures , economies and interaction with the environment by noticing their relations with and across space and place . As an intellectual discipline , ___MASK36___ is divided into the sub - fields of physical ___MASK36___ and human ___MASK36___ , the latter concentrating upon the study of human activities , by the application of qualitative and quantitative research methods . An archipelago , sometimes called an island group or island chain , is a chain , cluster or collection of ___MASK99___ . The ___MASK65___ " archipelago " is derived from the Greek "  -  arkhi -" (" chief ") and "   pélagos " (" ___MASK62___ ") through the Italian " arcipelago ". In Italian , possibly following a tradition of antiquity , the Archipelago ( from medieval Greek "*  " and Latin " archipelagus ") was the proper name for the ___MASK44___ and , later , usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands ( since the ___MASK62___ is remarkable for its large number of ___MASK99___ ). It is now used to refer to any island group or , sometimes , to a ___MASK62___ containing a small number of scattered ___MASK99___ . The concept of a ___MASK78___ race was originally proposed by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach ( 1752  1840 ), and classified as a brown race . " ___MASK78___ " is a loose term used in the late ___MASK94___ and early ___MASK37___ to describe the Austronesian peoples / categorize Austronesian speakers into a race . Malaysia is a federal constitutional ___MASK76___ located in Southeast ___MASK32___ . It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of separated by the South ___MASK95___ Sea into two similarly sized regions , Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia ( Malaysian Borneo ). Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore , Vietnam , and Indonesia . East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur , while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government . With a population of over 30 million , Malaysia is the 44th most populous country . The southernmost point of continental Eurasia , Tanjung Piai , is in Malaysia . Located in the tropics , Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries on ___MASK48___ , with large numbers of endemic species . Polynesia ( from " poly " " many " + " nsos " " island ") is a subregion of Oceania , made up of over 1 , 000 ___MASK99___ scattered over the central and southern ___MASK23___ . The indigenous people who inhabit the ___MASK99___ of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including ___MASK33___ ___MASK55___ , culture , and beliefs . Historically , they were experienced sailors and used stars to navigate during the night . ___MASK86___ , officially the Commonwealth of ___MASK86___ , is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent , the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands . It is the world ' s sixth - largest country by total area . The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea , Indonesia and East Timor to the north ; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north - east ; and New Zealand to the south - east . ___MASK86___ ' s capital is Canberra , and its largest urban area is Sydney . A star is a luminous sphere of ___MASK100___ held together by its own ___MASK87___ . The nearest star to ___MASK48___ is the Sun . Many other stars are visible to the naked eye from ___MASK48___ during the night , appearing as a multitude of fixed luminous points in the sky due to their immense distance from ___MASK48___ . Historically , the most prominent stars were grouped into constellations and asterisms , the brightest of which gained proper names . Astronomers have assembled star catalogues that identify the known stars and provide standardized stellar designations . However , most of the stars in the Universe , including all stars outside our galaxy , the Milky Way , are invisible to the naked eye from ___MASK48___ . Indeed , most are invisible from ___MASK48___ even through the most powerful telescopes . ___MASK6___ , also collectively called America , encompass the totality of the continents of North America and South America . Together they make up most of ___MASK48___ ' s western hemisphere and comprise the " New World ". ___MASK13___ , a region of Oceania , comprises ___MASK86___ , New Zealand , the island of New Guinea , and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean . Charles de Brosses coined the term ( as French " Australasie ") in " Histoire des navigations aux terres australes " ( 1756 ). He derived it from the Latin for " south of ___MASK32___ " and differentiated the area from Polynesia ( to the east ) and the southeast Pacific ( Magellanica ). The bulk of ___MASK13___ sits on the Indo - Australian Plate , together with India . ___MASK48___ , otherwise known as the world , is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life . It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets . The Arafura ___MASK62___ lies west of the Pacific Ocean overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Indonesian New Guinea . Southeast ___MASK32___ or Southeastern ___MASK32___ is a subregion of ___MASK32___ , consisting of the countries that are geographically south of ___MASK95___ , east of India , west of New Guinea and north of Australia . The region lies near the intersection of geological plates , with heavy seismic and volcanic activity . Southeast ___MASK32___ consists of two geographic regions : ___MASK47___ , officially the Republic of ___MASK47___ (" Bhrat Gaarjya "), is a country in South ___MASK32___ . It is the seventh - largest country by area , the second - most populous country ( with over 1 . 2 billion people ), and the most populous democracy in the world . It is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south , the Arabian Sea on the southwest , and the ___MASK43___ of Bengal on the southeast . It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west ; China , Nepal , and Bhutan to the northeast ; and Myanmar ( Burma ) and Bangladesh to the east . In the Indian Ocean , ___MASK47___ is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives . ___MASK47___ ' s Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia . Its capital is New Delhi ; other metropolises include Mumbai , Kolkata , Chennai , Bangalore , Hyderabad and Ahmedabad . The ___MASK78___ Archipelago ( Malaysian : " Kepulauan Melayu ", , , Visayan : " Kapupud - ang ___MASK78___ ") is the archipelago between mainland Indochina and ___MASK86___ . It has also been called the ___MASK78___ World , Indo - Australian Archipelago , East Indies , Nusantara , Spices Archipelago , and other names over time . The name was taken from the 19th - century European concept of a ___MASK78___ race . ___MASK95___ , officially the People ' s Republic of ___MASK95___ ( PRC ), is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia . With a population of over 1 . 381 billion , it is the world ' s most populous country . The state is governed by the Communist Party of ___MASK95___ , and its capital is Beijing . It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces , five autonomous regions , four direct - controlled municipalities ( Beijing , Tianjin , Shanghai , and Chongqing ), and two mostly self - governing special administrative regions ( Hong Kong and Macau ), and claims sovereignty over Taiwan . The country ' s major urban areas include Shanghai , Guangzhou , Beijing , Chongqing , Shenzhen , Tianjin and Hong Kong . ___MASK95___ is a great power and a major regional power within Asia , and has been characterized as a potential superpower . ___MASK80___ is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere . It can also be considered a northern subcontinent of ___MASK6___ . It is bordered to the north by the ___MASK91___ , to the east by the ___MASK24___ , to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean , and to the southeast by South America and the ___MASK5___ ___MASK62___ . ___MASK32___ is ___MASK48___ ' s largest and most populous continent , located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres and sharing the continental landmass of Eurasia with the continent of Europe . ___MASK32___ covers an area of , about 30 % of ___MASK48___ ' s total land area and 8 . 7 % of the ___MASK48___ ' s total surface area . The continent , which has long been home to the majority of the human population , was the site of many of the first civilizations . ___MASK32___ is notable for not only its overall large size and population , but also dense and large settlements as well as vast barely populated regions within the continent of 4 . 4 billion people . Physical ___MASK36___ ( also known as geosystems or physiography ) is one of the two major sub - fields of ___MASK36___ . Physical ___MASK36___ is that branch of natural science which deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere , hydrosphere , biosphere , and geosphere , as opposed to the cultural or built environment , the domain of human ___MASK36___ . In ___MASK36___ , regions are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical ___MASK36___ ), human impact characteristics ( human ___MASK36___ ), and the interaction of humanity and the environment ( environmental ___MASK36___ ). Geographic regions and sub - regions are mostly described by their imprecisely defined , and sometimes transitory boundaries , except in human ___MASK36___ , where jurisdiction areas such as national borders are defined in law . New Zealand is an island nation in the southwestern ___MASK23___ . The country geographically comprises two main landmasses  that of the North Island , or Te Ika - a - Mui , and the South Island , or Te Waipounamu  and numerous smaller islands . New Zealand is situated some east of ___MASK86___ across the Tasman ___MASK62___ and roughly south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia , Fiji , and Tonga . Because of its remoteness , it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans . During its long period of isolation , New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal , fungal and plant life . The country ' s varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks , such as the Southern Alps , owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions . New Zealand ' s capital city is Wellington , while its most populous city is Auckland . Charles de Brosses , comte de Tournay , baron de Montfalcon , seigneur de Vezins et de Prevessin ( 7 ___MASK25___ 1709  7 May 1777 ), was a French writer of the ___MASK2___ . Nusantara is a contemporary Indonesian term for the Indonesian archipelago . It originated in Old Javanese and literally means " archipelago ". In ___MASK78___ , " Nusantara " means the ___MASK78___ world .