The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere which is also the name of the smallest continent in the world.
Its territory includes the entire continent of Australia and several islands around the South Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
Its neighbors to the north include Indonesia, Timor Leste, and Papua New Guinea. To the northeast it is neighboring Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia (administratively belonging to France), while to the southeast it is neighboring to New Zealand.
The first inhabitants of Australia are thought to have arrived between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. The first people who became the ancestors of the Indigenous People who are also known as Aborigines today, arrived via bridges connecting land or sea passages from the continent now known as Southeast Asia.
Most of these people were hunter-gatherers and adhered to a complex verbal culture and religious values where there was veneration or respect for the land in mystical beliefs.
However, the people who inhabit the islands in the Torres Strait, the Melanesians, who are part of a remote extension located north of Queensland practice a completely different culture from the Aborigines.
In the 17th century after sporadic visits by fishermen to the north and European explorers and traders, the eastern half was recognized as British territory in 1770 and officially made into a penalized (criminal) colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788.
In line with the increase in population and the addition of new territories, five large self-administered colonies ruled by the Center (Crown Colony) were established one after another throughout the 19th century.
On 1 January 1901, the six federations of these colonies and the Commonwealth of Australia were formed. Since the founding of the federation, the region has managed to maintain a stable liberal democratic political system and remain subservient to the Commonwealth of Nations.
The last recorded population was 20.4 million and is generally concentrated in cities along the coastline such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth (and being the largest cities in the region). The capital city is Canberra, while in the vast desert area, the population is very small.
Australia, although located near Asia, is more often referred to as part of the Western world because of its similarity to Western Europe and the United States. The population is mostly white. Its unique fauna makes this country synonymous with kangaroos and koalas.
Australia has 8 states, which consist of a state (state) and a territory (territory). They are New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD), South Australia (SA), Tasmania (TAS), Victoria (VIC), Western Australia (WA), Northern Territory (NT) and Australian Capital Territory (ACT).