简7-1Australia..doc

Australia Top Home Library Travel Places Regional Stats Introduction Background: Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name of Great Britain. Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. In recent decades, Australia has transformed itself into an internationally competitive, advanced market economy. It boasted one of the OECDs fastest growing economies during the 1990s, a performance due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s. Long-term concerns include climate-change issues such as the depletion of the ozone layer and more frequent droughts, and management and conservation of coastal areas, especially the Great Barrier Reef. Geography Location: Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean Geographic coordinates: 27 00 S, 133 00 E Map references: Oceania Area: total: 7,686,850 sq km land: 7,617,930 sq km water: 68,920 sq km note: includes Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island Area - comparative: slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states Land boundaries: 0 km Coastline: 25,760 km Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin Climate: generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north Terrain: mostly low plateau with deserts; fertile plain in southeast Elevation extremes: lowest point: Lake Eyre -15 m highest point: Mount Kosciuszko 2,229 m Natural resources: ba