Australia :: essays research papers

AustraliaAustralia is the worlds smallest continent and sixth-largest country. Withproportionately more desert trim back than any other continent, Australia has a lowpopulation density. Lying completely in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia isbounded by the Indian Ocean on the west and south and by the Pacific Ocean onthe east. These oceans merge on the northerly in the Arafura Sea between Australiaand Indonesia and New Guinea, and on the south in the Bass Strait. Thecoastline length, estimated at 19,200 km (12,000 mi), is remarkably short for solarge an area, a result of the relative lack of indentation. Major inlets otherthan the Gulf of CARPENTARIA and the GREAT AUSTRALIAN BIGHT are few.A self-governing member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Australia storied itsbicentennial in 1988z. It is a federation of five mainland states (NEW SOUTHWALES, QUEENSLAND, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA) and one islandstate (TASMANIA), as well as two territories (AUSTRALIAN crown TERRITORY,NORTHERN TERRITORY). The countrys name derives from the Latin terra australisincognita, meaning "unknown southern land," which resulted from a confusionbetween Australia and Antarctica on early world maps.In many shipway Australia is unusual among continents. It lacks major relieffeatures and has a high proportion of dry land. The continents isolation fromother landmasses accounts for its unique varieties of vegetation and animal life,and for the existence of a palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) culture among theAborigines. Except for Antarctica, Australia was probably the last continent tobe inhabited by humans and the last to be explored and settled by Europeans. Itis the wholly continent comprising a single nation-state.Dutch explorers first sighted Australia in the early 17th century. Capt. JamesCOOK explored the east coast in 1770 and claimed the land for Great Britain. In1778 the first settlement (SYDNEY) was founded at an excellent harbor on the