Continent
Australia
Also Known As New Holland Historical name only: applied by Dutch cartographers from 1644, used on most European maps into the early 19th century, and effectively out of use by the 1850s after Matthew Flinders' proposal of Australia was adopted (Admiralty, 1824). Not a name in current use.
The smallest of the seven continents and the only one occupied by a single nation, lying entirely within the Southern Hemisphere between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its interior is dominated by arid and semi-arid terrain known collectively as the outback, ringed by a narrower band of fertile coastal land where most of the population lives. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Area (sq km)Country-level figure (this atlas's convention for the continent of Australia excludes New Guinea; see open question is-australia-alone-or-oceania-the-seventh-continent). The Sahul-inclusive figure on the australia-continent-wikipedia page (8,600,000 km2) is a different, wider definition. PopulationDecember 2025 estimate, country-level figure (see area-sq-km note on this atlas's continent convention). Highest PointThe highest point of the Australian mainland under the Bass list convention. Reinhold Messner's rival list instead names Puncak Jaya in New Guinea (4,884 m) as Australia/Oceania's representative summit; see the recorded dissent on this fact. Highest Elevation (m) Lowest Point Country CountCounts the continent's own resident sovereign state, Australia, only. When Oceania rather than the Australian mainland is treated as the seventh continent, the region covers many more sovereign Pacific island states; see the recorded open question on this entity. Tectonic Plate Context Australia
Countries
Territories
Regions
Connections
Associated With
Antarctica, Continents Australia and Antarctica were joined within the supercontinent Gondwana. Rifting between them began around 85 million years ago and progressed from west to east; the two continents finally separated south of Tasmania by about 45 million years ago, opening the Tasman Seaway between them.
Source United States Geological Survey
Source Australia (continent) (Wikipedia)
This source names both oceans directly: Australia lies between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Source Geography of Australia (Wikipedia)
This source names Australia directly: "Ocean, and bounded by Asia and Australia to the west and the Americas to the east."
Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
This source names both oceans directly: Australia lies between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Source Geography of Australia (Wikipedia)
Demonstrates
Source El Nino-Southern Oscillation (Wikipedia)
Open Questions
Source Continent (Wikipedia)
Source Zealandia (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Australia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead paragraph, land area sentence
It has a land area of 7,688,287 km2 (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world
Infobox, Population (December 2025 estimate)
27,801,023 (2025 (December) estimate)
- Home To: Australia
View the Source 2. Seven Summits (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationBass list descriptionQuote, Bass list description
the highest mountain of mainland Australia, Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m or 7,310 ft)
3. Lake Eyre (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
the lowest natural point in Australia, at approximately 15 m (49 ft) below sea level
4. Australia (continent) (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationopening paragraph, continent size ranking
Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents.
Geography section, plate description
The continent primarily sits on the Indo-Australian Plate.
Introduction, continent overview
The continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts as Sahul, Australia-New Guinea, Australinea, or Meganesia, to distinguish it from the country of Australia, is located within the Southern and Eastern hemispheres.
Lead paragraph, seven-continent classification
Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents.
Associated With: Oceania, Introduction section
Situated in the geographical region of Oceania, more specifically in the subregion of Australasia, Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents.
View the Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.britannica.com/place/Australia, main article body (Land section, extent and neighbouring seas paragraph)
The Australian mainland extends from west to east for nearly 2,500 miles (4,000 km) and from Cape York Peninsula in the northeast to Wilsons Promontory in the southeast for nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km). To the south, Australian jurisdiction extends a further 310 miles (500 km) to the southern extremity of the island of Tasmania, and in the north it extends to the southern shores of Papua New Guinea. Australia is separated from Indonesia to the northwest by the Timor and Arafura seas, from Papua New Guinea to the northeast by the Coral Sea and the Torres Strait, from the Coral Sea Islands Territory by the Great Barrier Reef, from New Zealand to the southeast by the Tasman Sea, and from Antarctica in the far south by the Indian Ocean.
- Home To: Uluru, Uluru/Ayers Rock
View the Source The World Factbook
National Geographic Atlas of the World
National Geographic Society, 2019World continents area table
Dutch Australian Cultural Centre
Dutch Australian Cultural CentreNew Holland to Australia: The Name ChangeQuote, New Holland to Australia: The Name Change
The name New Holland (Hollandia Novae) appeared on maps depicting the continent of Australia after the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman charted the west coast of the continent in 1644. The name Australia gradually replaced New Holland in official and popular usage and had totally disappeared by the 1850s.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationHome To: The Great Barrier ReefView the Source United States Geological Survey
Micronesia (Wikipedia)
Geography of Australia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: The Pacific Ocean, Lead section
Located in the Southern Hemisphere between the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia's jurisdiction spreads across thousands of kilometres beyond the main landmass
Associated With: The Indian Ocean, Lead section
Located in the Southern Hemisphere between the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia's jurisdiction spreads across thousands of kilometres beyond the main landmass
View the Source El Nino-Southern Oscillation (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationDemonstrates: El Nino-Southern Oscillation, Australia sectionQuote, Demonstrates: El Nino-Southern Oscillation, Australia section
During El Nino events, the shift in rainfall away from the Western Pacific may mean that rainfall across Australia is reduced.
Pacific Ocean (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: The Pacific Ocean, Lead section, continents bounding the ocean
is bounded by the continents of Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east
Home To: The Pacific Ocean, Lead section, separates passage
The Pacific separates Asia and Australia from the Americas.
View the Source The Twelve Apostles (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: The Twelve Apostles, Lead sectionQuote, Home To: The Twelve Apostles, Lead section
The Twelve Apostles are a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia.
Murray River (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Murray River, Lead sectionQuote, Home To: Murray River, Lead section
a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river, spanning 2,508 km (1,558 mi).
American Samoa (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: American Samoa, Lead sectionQuote, Home To: American Samoa, Lead section
American Samoa ... is an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States in the South Pacific Ocean
Cook Islands (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Cook Islands, Lead sectionQuote, Home To: Cook Islands, Lead section
in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand
French Polynesia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: French Polynesia, Lead sectionQuote, Home To: French Polynesia, Lead section
islands and atolls stretching over more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) in the South Pacific Ocean
Guam (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Guam, Lead sectionQuote, Home To: Guam, Lead section
Guam ... is an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean
New Caledonia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: New Caledonia, Lead sectionQuote, Home To: New Caledonia, Lead section
in the southwest Pacific Ocean, ... 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia
Niue (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Niue, Geography sectionQuote, Home To: Niue, Geography section
raised coral atoll in the southern Pacific Ocean
Northern Mariana Islands (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Northern Mariana Islands, Geography sectionQuote, Home To: Northern Mariana Islands, Geography section
an archipelago ... in the northwestern Pacific Ocean
Wallis and Futuna (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Wallis and Futuna, Geography and climate sectionQuote, Home To: Wallis and Futuna, Geography and climate section
in the South Pacific Ocean
Open Questions (2 open questions)
Is Australia alone, or the wider region of Oceania, the seventh continent?
Geographers use the term Oceania for a region that includes the continent of Australia together with most of the Pacific island countries and territories, and the seven-continent model's own seventh slot is written by some sources as "Australia/Oceania", treating the two labels as interchangeable. Continents themselves are identified by convention rather than by any strict criterion, so whether the seventh continent is the single-nation Australian landmass or the wider multi-nation Oceania region is a live difference in convention, not a factual dispute with a settled answer.
What would resolve this A single, universally adopted convention for what counts as a continent, which does not currently exist; different countries' school curricula and different atlases already choose differently (a six-continent "Australia/Oceania" model is taught in parts of Europe, a seven-continent model naming Australia alone elsewhere).
Continent (Wikipedia)
Is Zealandia, the largely submerged landmass in the southwest Pacific, an eighth continent?
In 2017 a team of eleven geologists from New Zealand, New Caledonia and Australia concluded that Zealandia, a roughly 4.9 million square kilometre mass of continental crust of which about 94 percent lies underwater, meets every geological criterion for a continent, a case geologist Nick Mortimer argued would have been settled long ago if the crust were not submerged. The idea was first proposed by Bruce Luyendyk in 1995. It has been described variously as a submerged continent, a continental fragment and a microcontinent, and has not been adopted as a standard eighth continent in the conventional lists this atlas otherwise follows.
What would resolve this A shift in the standard continent count that the world's atlases, geography curricula and geological bodies converge on adopting; the underlying geology is not seriously disputed, only whether the classification "continent" is extended to a landmass this submerged.
Zealandia (Wikipedia)
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Highest Point
Messner's own list of the Seven Summits replaces Mount Kosciuszko, the highest point of the Australian mainland alone, with Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) in New Guinea at 4,884 m, arguing that the Australian continent is properly understood to include New Guinea, which shares the same Sahul continental shelf. Kosciuszko remains the standard Bass-list answer and the figure this entity records as its primary highest-point fact; Messner's reading is a real, named rival position, not an error.
A dissenting reading, from Reinhold MessnerSeven Summits (Wikipedia), Wikimedia Foundation
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the smallest continent?
Australia, the smallest of the seven traditional continents.
Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents and the only one occupied by a single sovereign nation. Its area of roughly 7.69 million square kilometres is smaller than every other continent, including Europe. When the wider region of Oceania is treated as the seventh continent instead of the Australian mainland alone, a different and much larger area is being measured; see the open question recorded on this entity.
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