Ah...Oceania. The often-forgotten region of the world. Cruelly split apart and chucked to the
corners of the world map. What? There’s nothing here? Look closer. Closer...There! The majority
of the countries here are so small that they don’t even appear on most maps. But not to worry,
as promised, we’re going to explore every single country in Oceania, starting with Australia,
the first country alphabetically. It’s obvious that Australia is the largest country in Oceania.
What’s impressive is that Australia is only one out of 14 countries in Oceania, yet it takes up a
whopping 90% of Oceania’s land area. An even more mind-boggling fact is that Australia is so big,
you can fit 50 out of 51 European countries inside it and still have space leftover. Besides having
lots of land, Australia also has lots of goals. Back in 2001, Australia set the world record
for the largest victory in an international football match, beating American Samoa 31-0.
American Samoa, however, isn’t a country. It is an overseas territory of the U.S.
If you’re looking for a country, the nearest one would be the Independent State of Samoa,
a country where, December 30th, 2011, does not exist. Seriously, there is no such date
in the history of Samoa. In 2011, while the rest of the world woke up on December 30th,
Samoa went from December 29th to December 31st. Now, before you start believing that time machines
exist, here’s what actually happened. You see, Samoa’s biggest trading partner is New Zealand,
and prior to 2011, they were not located on the same side of the international date line.
The 23-hour time difference made it really hard for Samoa to conduct business with New Zealand,
so because of that, the Samoan government decided to push the country 24 hours ahead, completely
skipping December 30th, 2011, putting the country just one hour ahead of New Zealand. American
Samoa, however, did not change its time, which means American Samoa and Samoa have a 24-hour time
difference despite being only being 70 kilometers apart. If you take a thirty-minute flight from
Samoa to American Samoa, you will depart today and arrive yesterday! An even weirder time zone can
be found in the country of Kiribati. Because the international date line passes through Kiribati,
the country has two different days at any given time. This was so problematic that the country
moved the international date line and introduced UTC+13 and 14. UTC+14 is the earliest time zone,
making Kiribati the first country in the world to see the new day every day. UTC+13 and 14
also overlap the UTC-10 and -11 time zones. This means that if you were to take a boat from Hawaii
on a Monday and head south, you would end up on Tuesday. And if you keep going, you’ll go back
in time to Monday. Also, for two hours every day, there are three days happening at the same time.
When it’s 10:30 A.M on a Thursday in the UK, it’s 11:30 P.M. on a Wednesday in American Samoa, and
it’s 12:30 A.M. on a Friday in Kiribati. Another country with the UTC+13 time zone is Tonga. Tonga
is the only monarchy in Oceania. In other words, this guy is the only King on the entire continent.
Tonga is also interesting for the fact that the country practically shuts down once every week.
The majority of the population are Christians, and in order to observe the Sabbath, all commerce and
entertainment activities cease on Sunday. In fact, working on Sundays is mostly illegal. Tuvalu,
just like Tonga, is a Polynesian country, and this tiny country has the world's smallest economy.
In 2020, Tuvalu had a GDP of only 45 million dollars. To put that into perspective,
Dwayne Johnson, the highest-paid actor in 2020, according to Forbes, made $87.5 million dollars,
almost double the entire economy of Tuvalu. While Tuvalu has the smallest economy, the smallest
country in Oceania by land area and population is Nauru. Nauru’s population is estimated to be
only around 10,000. This football stadium in Spain can fit the entire population of Nauru…ten times
over. Nauru is also one of only two countries in the world without a capital city. Some would
say Yaren is Nauru’s capital, but that’s the de facto capital. Legally, Nauru has no capital city.
To the north of Nauru is the Marshall Islands, a country comprising over 1,100 individual islands.
Together, the Marshall Islands has about 180 square kilometers of land area; however, they
are spread out among 1.9 million square kilometers of ocean. At over 99%, the Marshall Islands has
the largest portion of its territory made out of water compared to any sovereign state. Within the
Marshall Islands is Bikini Atoll. See this hole here? Well, that’s because it exploded! Seriously,
Bikini Atoll is the site of Operation Castle Bravo, the largest and most powerful nuclear
test device ever detonated by the United States. In case you’re wondering, yes, bikini, as in the
two-piece swimwear, is named after Bikini Atoll. Four days after the first nuclear test on Bikini
Atoll, the designer named the swimwear bikini in hopes that the style would create an “explosive
commercial and cultural reaction.” If you want a reaction, try saying this. Er... never mind. That
is the name of a town in New Zealand, the longest place-name found in any English-speaking country.
It’s in the Mouri Language, which translates to “the place where Tamatea, the man with the big
knees who slid, climbed, and swallowed mountains, known as a land eater, played his flute to his
loved one.” This town, however, isn’t the only place in New Zealand to have an interesting name.
In New Zealand, you can find places such as Shag Point and Hooker Lake. Speaking of lakes,
one of Palau’s top tourist destinations is a lake with thousands of non-poisonous
jellyfish you can actually swim with. In fact, tourism is Palau’s main industry. In 2018,
the number of tourists visiting Palau was 106,000, which is six times Palau’s population of 18,000!
Over the years, tourism has benefited Palau greatly. Palau is the third wealthiest nation
by GDP per capita in Oceania, after Australia and New Zealand. Another country with great diving
spots is the Solomon Islands. Iron Bottom Sound is a stretch of water where you can dive among dozens
of sunken warships and planes from World War II. Also, within the Solomon Islands is Marovo Lagoon,
the largest saltwater lagoon in the world. To the west of the Solomon Islands is Papua New Guinea.
This country is located on New Guinea Island, the world’s second-largest island after Greenland.
Papua New Guinea is arguably the most culturally and linguistically diverse country in the world as
it has several thousand separate and often isolated communities, each having its own unique
customs, tradition, and language. It is estimated that there are over 850 distinct languages spoken
in the country. Languages, not dialects! To the North of Papua New Guinea are the Yap Islands of
Micronesia, which are known for their Rai stones, the largest currency in the world. These stones
can weigh up to 4,000 kilograms. Although modern currency has replaced the stones as everyday
currency, the Rai stones are still exchanged as ceremonial gifts. Ever wonder how people
physically exchange these stones? Well, they don’t. The stones aren’t physically transferred;
ownership is. Aside from that, Micronesia is also the region where Operation Christmas Drop occurs,
the longest-running humanitarian airlift in the world. While supplies are being dropped over
Micronesia, humans are jumping from wooden towers. Gol is a traditional ritual performed in Vanuatu
where people jump off wooden towers of around 30 meters high, with tree vines wrapped around
their ankles. In fact, this ancient ritual is the precursor to the modern sport of bungee jumping.
If you get thirsty from all the screaming during a bungee jump, you can get a bottle of Fiji water.
Yes, they really do come from Fiji. While we tend to nod our heads in agreement, in Fiji, it
is common for locals to raise their eyebrows as a sign of ‘yes.’ A big no-no, however, is wearing a
hat in a Fijian village, unless you are the Chief. Also, if you ever visit Fiji, you might realize
there’s a large community of Indians in Fiji. Close to 40% of Fijians are of Indian descent,
so it’s therefore unsurprising that Fiji has the largest Hindu temple in the Southern Hemisphere.
Fiji was the last country to be covered in this video. Oceania is a region on Earth that doesn’t
get much attention, but by watching this video till the end, you’ve learned a bit more about
them, so thank you! Lastly, do check out all my other videos, where I cover every single
country in the world, segmented by continents. Thanks for watching! As always, don’t forget to
subscribe and hit the like button. Your support means everything. I’ll see you in the next video.