Short answers, pulled from the story.
Oceania has a land area of about 8.5 million square kilometers and a population of around 46.3 million as of 2024. It is the smallest continent in land area and the second-least populated after Antarctica.
The first settlers of Australia, New Guinea, and the large islands just to the east arrived more than 60,000 years ago. Indigenous Australians migrated from Africa to Asia 70,000 years ago and arrived in Australia 50,000 years ago.
Oceania was first explored by Europeans from the 16th century onward. Portuguese explorers between 1512 and 1526 reached the Tanimbar Islands, some of the Caroline Islands, and west New Guinea.
Puncak Jaya in Indonesia is the highest peak in Oceania at 4,884 meters. It is located within the geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.
On the 23rd of April 1770, British explorer James Cook made his first recorded direct observation of Aboriginal Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point. On the 29th of April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula.
On the 1st of May 1979, in recognition of the evolving political status of the Marshall Islands, the United States recognised the constitution of the Marshall Islands and the establishment of the government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.