There are 13 independent countries in Oceania: Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
Several other islands are territories of other countries, including the U.S. state of Hawaii.
Australia is sometimes considered part of Oceania, but not always. All these nations consist of large groups of beautiful Pacific islands.
Some geographers estimate that, in all, there may be 20,000 to 30,000 islands.
Some are no more than rocks jutting out in the ocean, while others are home to thousands of people.
If you were to add up all the land area of the islands in Oceania, the amount would come to less than the state of Alaska.
In fact, the land area of Papua New Guinea and the two large islands of New Zealand account for 80 percent of all the land area in Oceania.
