Talk:Countries and regions

The continent where New Zealand is

According to Wikipedia, New Zealand is on a continent called "Australia". I haven't looked into in which authorities agree or disagree, but I suspect this is an outdated nomenclature which isn't used by the average person on that continent (or at least, not by people in the countries other than the Commonwealth of Australia). Since I don't live there, I'm obviously open to correction. For now I've used the name "Oceania" for that continent. Yes, I know that "Oceania" has other meanings, but if there's no perfect answer, then I'll opt for the name the least likely to cause confusion/annoyance. Ciaran 05:41, 13 August 2009 (EDT)

I could not find a reference to New Zealand as a part of Australia. Wikipedia does seem inconsistent though. It says that:

• Australia is both a country and a continent.
• New Zealand is part of Zealandia, a continent nearly half the size of Australia that is otherwise almost completely submerged (I'd suggest Zealandia is a continental plate rather than a continent).
• Oceania is treated as a continent.
• Australasia is a region of Oceania and comprises Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea (implying that Australia is part of the continent of Oceania).
• "Continent" includes Australia, but not Zealandia or Oceania.

I'll bet the standard reference works are equally confused too. So I guess we can group things pretty much as we like. Given that Tuvalu hosts so many .tv domains, I wonder whether it's patent laws might be significant enough to be covered by ESP Wiki? If so, then "Oceania" is our best choice. If we are content to confine our Pacific coverage to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea then the other possible choice is "Australasia". steelpillow 08:01, 14 August 2009 (EDT)