What prospects for economic development do oceanic countries have? General features of the economic development of Oceania. Main indicators of foreign trade

Key words and expressions: aborigines, atoll, boomerang, geothermal energy, aborigine.

Geographical location of Australia and Oceania. Australia and Oceania are the most isolated and smallest region in the world. It is remote from the main centers of world development and the main consumers of manufactured products. The individual countries in the region are also divided. This constitutes one of the main difficulties in the development of its economy.

The land area is 8514.6 thousand km², the total population is 33.32 million people. Including Australia - 7692.0 thousand km² and 21.0 million people.

The discovery and development of Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of Oceania continued from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Australia and Oceania have 15 sovereign states and 11 dependent territories. Among the independent countries are two federations - Australia and the Federated States of Micronesia - a country consisting of 1,500 islands, occupying 700 km² and with a population of 108 thousand. Six countries are monarchies, among them the world's smallest kingdom of Tonga is a real monarchy, and 5 are monarchies that are such only in name. These are actually independent republics (Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu). By recognizing Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain as the head of their states, they not only pay tribute to her personality, but also emphasize recognition of the historical fact of former membership in the British Empire.

Dependent territories belong to the USA, New Zealand, Australia, France and Great Britain.

Exercise: Find the dependent territories of Oceania on the map, collect information about the size of their territory, population, main sectors of the economy, and make an assumption about the possibility of their existence without the support of the metropolises.

Two countries (Australia and New Zealand) are considered economically developed countries with migrant capital. As in the USA, in Australia the first European settlers were convicts, convicted mainly of minor crimes. In the new lands they were engaged in farming, developing industries in which the mother countries were interested. Following the settlers, the capital of the metropolis also moved to the colonies. These countries have a high level of economic development and living standards of the population. Much attention is paid to education and healthcare. But the legacy of the colonial past remains the dependence of their economy on the development of agricultural and mining industries. In their exports, along with industrial products, the role of mineral and agricultural raw materials is great. The remaining independent countries are classified as developing countries with a uniformly structured (monocultural) economy.

Settlement and racial composition of the population. According to archaeologists, the islands and mainland Australia were inhabited 50 - 60 thousand years ago by the southern Mongoloids, who moved from the Eurasian mainland to the islands of Southeast Asia. Along with the Mongoloids who settled on the islands of Oceania, people from Oceania - representatives of the Australoid race - moved to Australia. She is characterized by dark skin color, a thick beard and curly hair. Australoids are the aborigines of Australia - its indigenous population.

In the 12th century, crafts and navigation were already developing in Oceania; the inhabitants of Oceania knew how to build boats and travel quite long distances. The settlement of the region by Europeans proceeded in parallel with the study. It began in the 17th century. From the 18th to the 19th centuries, Oceania was divided between France, Spain, Great Britain, and later the USA and Japan were included. The islands were colonized for coconut trees and sugar cane. However, poverty in raw materials, remoteness from markets, and small population have led to the persistence of a low level of development of the island states.

Racial composition of the population. Aboriginal people in the region make up about 2.2% of the population. In Australia, the largest racial group is Caucasians: the “white” population is 92%, Mongoloids 7%. The proportion of the indigenous population is only 1%. New Zealand is home to about 15% indigenous Maori people.

Australia until the end of the eighteenth century. was inhabited only by Aborigines, just like Fr. Tasmania and the Torres Strait Islands. The number of Aborigines who lived in Australia is unknown. It was revealed that before the arrival of Europeans, the aborigines spoke 200 - 300 different languages, of which about 70 have now survived. 50 of them are on the verge of extinction. The “white” settlement of Australia began in 1788, when the first batch of convicts arrived from the British Isles. They formed the city of Port Jackson (modern Sydney). Since 1820, when sheep began to be raised in Australia, voluntary colonization began. It intensified in 1851 - 1861, when the “gold rush” began, which contributed to the settlement of the west and southwest. Most of the immigrants from Europe were immigrants from Great Britain - English, Scots, Irish. Over the course of 10 years, the number of displaced people tripled and reached a million people. Some of the settlers settled in the eastern and southeastern lands.

In 1900, the colonies formed a federation. The relationship between Europeans and Aborigines in Australia began with violent conflicts. The aborigines did not know private property and did not engage in either agriculture or animal husbandry. For them, the sheep that the settlers began to breed were the same object of hunting as any other animal on the continent. They did not understand why these strange people chased them away and even killed them when they approached the herd. Therefore, among sheep farmers, one of the ways of spending time was “hunting blackbirds.”

Cruelty forced the indigenous population, under fear of complete destruction, to retreat into desert and semi-desert territories. Most Aboriginal people live in Northern Australia. As in North America, reservations were formed in Australia. This saved the indigenous inhabitants of the mainland from complete destruction. Some peoples still lead a nomadic lifestyle, hunting and collecting wild edible plants. They have experience in making fire, searching and extracting water, and making unique weapons - boomerangs. The Aborigines of Tasmania were completely destroyed. Until 1974, in this civilized country, the indigenous population was not counted even in population censuses. The census showed that Aboriginal people made up about 2% of the population. A further increase in immigration from Europe and Asia led to a decrease in the proportion of aborigines to 1%, although their absolute numbers increased. There is high unemployment among Aboriginal people, and their standard of living and education differs significantly from the Australian average. It is no coincidence that the average life expectancy of Australian Aborigines is 17 years shorter than that of the white population. In Australia, every fourth resident was born outside of Australia.

Unlike Australia, New Zealand began to be actively settled in 1762, mostly by voluntary settlers. To reconcile the indigenous population, who opposed the development of their lands, an agreement was concluded regulating the relationship between the indigenous population and immigrants. Thanks to this, it was possible to avoid many conflicts and the use of violence on both sides. In 1984, the Maori language was officially recognized as the second official language of the country. About 150 thousand people consider him family. Many indigenous people use modified English. On the islands of Oceania there is a large proportion of mixed populations, combining features of the Mongoloid and Australoid and Caucasian populations.

Until the early 70s, Australia did not accept immigrants from Asian countries. However, an increase in the production of coal, bauxite and iron ore, and the development of tourism have exacerbated constant problem Australia - labor shortage. It was especially felt in industries requiring low qualifications. Australians study for an average of 20 years, including pre-school education. The bulk of Asian immigrants are Chinese and Vietnamese. The influx of Asians, mainly Indonesians, has also increased in the island countries. People from India have been settling in Fiji for a long time. Among modern immigrants from Europe there are many Greeks, Italians, Yugoslavs, and Germans. There is a large influx of immigrants to Australia from New Zealand.

Thus, the population of Australia and Oceania is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of nationality and religious composition. This poses the problem of mitigating inequality between old residents and recent immigrants and preventing conflicts between them.

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Australia and Oceania

1. general characteristics Australia: geographical position, natural conditions, population, cultural and historical development

Australia is a state that occupies an entire continent. Tasmania, as well as a number of small islands. Her official name-- Commonwealth of Australia -- indicates the federal structure of the country. The Union includes 6 states: New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, as well as two territories: the Northern Territory and the Capital Territory (in addition, the capital Canberra is part of a special administrative unit). According to many economic indicators (primarily GDP and its size per capita), Australia is one of the most developed countries in the world. Australia -- the only state in the world, occupying the territory of an entire continent, so it has only maritime borders. Its territory is isolated from other continents, large markets for raw materials and sales of products. One of the most favorable factors of Australia's geographical location is its relative proximity to the countries of the dynamically developing Asia-Pacific region.

Australia is the flattest continent in the world. Mountains and hills occupy only 5% of the area, the rest of the area is mainly deserts and semi-deserts, overgrown with thorny grass and shrubs. Located primarily in tropical and subtropical latitudes, where the influx of solar radiation is high, the Australian mainland is heating up greatly. Due to the weak ruggedness of the coastline and the elevation of the marginal parts, the influence of the seas surrounding Australia has little effect in the interior parts of the continent. Therefore, the climate of most of Australia is characterized by extreme aridity. Australia is the driest continent on Earth. Noticeable amounts of precipitation are observed only in the north and northeast of the mainland. The areas of the coastal plains and eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, as well as about. Tasmania.

The hot climate and insignificant and uneven precipitation over most of the continent lead to the fact that almost 60% of its territory is deprived of flow to the ocean and has only a sparse network of temporary watercourses. No other continent has such a poorly developed network of inland waters as Australia.

The comparative uniformity of the natural conditions of the Australian continent, associated with its small size, low contrast of geological structure and relief, as well as the position of most of it within the subequatorial and tropical zones, are the reason for the less pronounced natural differentiation in comparison with other inhabited continents.

A distinctive feature of Australian nature is its endemicity. Australia is a refuge country where “fossil” plants and animals are still preserved.

Australia has a variety of mineral resources. This is one of the richest countries in the world in mineral resources. New discoveries of mineral resources made on the continent over the past decades have brought the country to one of the first places in the world in reserves and production of such minerals as coal, uranium, iron, manganese, lead-zinc and copper ores, bauxite, nickel, gold, silver, diamonds, cobalt, tantalum, etc. Geological surveys have established that in the bowels of the Australian continent and on the shelf off its coast there are large deposits of oil and natural gas.

Under the deserts and semi-deserts of the continent, at a depth of 20 to 200 m, huge reserves of highly mineralized warm and hot water have been discovered, which can be used for household and other needs.

About 77% of the modern population of Australia are descendants of settlers from the British Isles, who formed the Anglo-Australian nation. The rest are immigrants from other European countries, and in last years- from Asian countries. The country is home to over 200 thousand people from the territory former USSR, including several tens of thousands of Russians. Indigenous people - Aborigines - make up 1.2% of the total population of Australia. Most of them are in the Northern Territory and the Torres Islands. There they lead a traditional lifestyle of hunters and gatherers, maintaining a mystical, from the point of view of Europeans, attitude towards mother earth.

Of all the major regions of the world, Australia is the least densely populated. At the same time, the contrasts in settlement within the continent are also extremely large. Approximately 1/4 of the country's area, which has the natural prerequisites for this, is populated and developed - the South-East, North-East and South-West. More than 80% of the country's population is concentrated here. The vast majority of Australian cities are also located here, including the largest - Sydney (4 million people), Melbourne (3.5 million), Brisbane (1.4 million), Perth (1.2 million), Adelaide (1. 1 million people). The overall level of urbanization (85%) in Australia is very high.

The hinterlands are very sparsely populated. The population there lives on isolated farms located tens or hundreds of kilometers apart from each other. In some areas there are small towns associated with the primary processing of agricultural products or mineral raw materials.

Australia is a member of the Commonwealth, the head of state is the British monarch, who is represented by the Governor-General, appointed on the recommendation of the Australian government. According to the strict rule underlying the parliamentary system, this nominal head of state acts only with the knowledge of the government, in particular the prime minister. The Prime Minister is traditionally the leader of the parliamentary majority party.

The key role in the country's economy belongs to the mining industry and agriculture, which significantly distinguishes Australia from other industrial developed countries and somehow brings it closer to Canada. The country ranks first in the world in the mining of bauxite, zinc, and diamonds, second in the mining of iron ore, uranium and lead, and third in the mining of nickel and gold. It is also one of the world leaders in the production of coal, manganese, silver, copper, and tin. Australian fuels and raw materials are sent primarily to Japan, the USA and Western Europe. Oil and natural gas resources meet the country's internal needs.

Australia also occupies a leading place in the world in the mining of precious stones such as sapphire and opal.

Agriculture is highly commercial, diversified, technically well-equipped, and has a pronounced export character. By total cost Australia's agricultural exports are second only to the United States, and in terms of its per capita value it has no equal. The country exports wheat, meat, sugar, and sheep wool, the number of which it ranks first in the world. The most important and specific branch of Australian livestock farming is sheep breeding.

Australia's main trade relations are developing with countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Leading trading partners include Japan, the USA, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea. Economic relations with Russia they occupy an insignificant place.

australia oceania geographical population

2. General characteristics of Oceania: geographical location, natural conditions, population, cultural and historical development

Oceania is the world's largest collection of islands, concentrated in the central and western parts of the Pacific Ocean between 28° N latitude. and 52°S, 130°E. and 105°W The total area of the region is over 800 thousand km2, which is only 0.7% of the Pacific Ocean where they are located. Therefore, the distance between the islands often exceeds many thousands of kilometers. Total number The region's population exceeds 12 million people.

The division of Oceania into Melanesia (Black Islands), Polynesia (Multi-Island) and Micronesia (Small Islands) is due to the proposal of the French explorer Dumont-D'Urville in 1832, who previously based his differentiation on racial characteristics. Micronesians (Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, Gilbert Islands and Nauru) and Polynesians (Marquesas Islands, Society Islands, Tuamotu, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Hawaiian Islands, Easter Islands) have many of the characteristics of the Mongoloid race. Melanesians (New Guinea, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Solomon Islands, Fiji) are close to the aborigines of Australia.

The European exploration of Oceania began with the Portuguese and Spanish conquistadors during the era of great geographical discoveries. The process of sovereignization in Oceania began in the 60s. XX century The states of the region are among the smallest and smallest. Even such a “giant” on the scale of Oceania as Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a population of 5.3 million people, and the next largest Republic of Fiji has less than 1 million. Among the developing countries of Oceania, there are also states with a population of several thousand people.

Island states are distinguished by exceptionally small populations (the exception is Papua New Guinea, where the population exceeds 5.5 million people). The ethnic composition of the islands' population is diverse. Local languages are divided into two groups - Papuan and Austronesian (or Malayo-Polynesian). The Papuans are settled more compactly, making up the majority of the population of New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. As for the Austronesians (their number in Oceania reaches 500!), the inhabitants of the Solomon Islands, New Hebrides, New Caledonia belong to the Melanesian group of peoples; residents of the Caroline, Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, Nauru belong to the Micronesian group of peoples; inhabitants of the islands of Tonga, Samoa, Tokelau, Cook (Maori, Hawaiians, Tahitians, Tongans, etc.) - to the Polynesian group. The population of the Fiji Islands is Hindi speaking. On some islands there are colonies of Chinese, Filipinos, Javanese, etc.

Within Oceania, the following physiographic regions are more or less clearly distinguished:

1. New Guinea and adjacent islands (the natural specificity of one of the largest islands in the world - New Guinea, as well as the adjacent Solomon Islands, the Bismarck Archipelago and others is determined primarily by its equatorial position; the dominant type of vegetation is forests, including tropical rainforests ; strips of mangroves stretch along the low banks (especially in New Guinea);

2. New Caledonia, New Hebrides and Fiji (the area is further from the equator than New Guinea, and is under the predominant influence of the southeast trade winds);

3. Micronesia, which is a group of islands (Mariana, Caroline, Marshall, Palau, Anson, Gilbert) of coral or volcanic origin;

4. Central and Southern Polynesia, which includes the archipelagos of Samoa, Cook, Society, Tubuai, Marquesas, Line and others, stretching, as a rule, from northwest to southeast along fault lines that cross the bottom of the Pacific Ocean;

5. Northern Polynesia, represented by the Hawaiian Islands, located in the central Pacific Ocean (south of the Tropic of the North);

6. New Zealand is the only physical-geographical region of Oceania lying in subtropical and temperate latitudes.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the indigenous inhabitants of Oceania were engaged in hunting, fishing, and primitive agriculture. Colonizers, using favorable natural conditions and free labor, began to plant plantation farms specialized in export crops, such as coconut palms, sugar cane, rubber plants, pineapples, bananas, coffee, and cocoa. Valuable wood species were widely exported. As a result, the economy of the islands acquired an export monocultural character.

Oceania includes 26 territories, 10 of which (including New Zealand) are independent states (Table 11.2), and some are possessions of developed countries. Most of the non-sovereign territories are, in fact, colonial possessions USA (American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Midway Island, Micronesia, Palau, Northern Mariana Islands, Wake Island), having the status of “non-aligned territories of the United States”, “freely associated with the United States” or “Commonwealth in political union with the United States” .

There are also paradoxes. Thus, the independent state of Papua New Guinea, located in the eastern part of the island, belongs to Oceania, and the western part of the island is the territory of Indonesia and, therefore, is part of Southeast Asia. The Hawaiian Islands occupy a special place in Oceania. Geographically, they belong to the Oceania region, but are a territory (50th state) of the United States.

New Zealand (belonging to the countries of Oceania) is also a state with a developed market economy, located mainly on two islands - North and South, separated by Cook Strait.

A common feature for states and possessions in Oceania is limited resources (labor, land, minerals), which, along with the difficulties of inter-island communication, hinders the independent development of the economy. The main sphere of activity of the population is agriculture, which includes an export monoculture sector (coconut palm, sugar cane, pineapples, bananas, coffee, cocoa). At the turn of the XX - XXI centuries. In the countries of the region, deposits of many types of minerals have been discovered, including chromite, bauxite, and oil. The largest of them have been explored in Papua New Guinea, which can seriously count on the use of mineral resources for purposes economic growth. Already now this state is becoming one of the prominent exporters of copper concentrate and gold.

The export of agricultural or mineral raw materials is the main, and sometimes the only, source of foreign exchange necessary for socio-economic growth. IN agriculture The vast majority of the employed population works. Oceania accounts for about 10% of the world's copra exports and 90% of the world's pineapple harvest. Industry is represented only by small enterprises for the primary processing of export crops, timber and mining.

All countries of Oceania have significant marine biological resources. Total marine area economic zone states of Oceania exceeds 12 million km2. Fisheries are expanding (the annual catch reaches 300 thousand tons, which is less than 0.25% of the world catch). Developing international tourism. All major sectors of the export economy are run by international monopolies. At the same time, mass unemployment is an extremely acute social problem in the region.

The Republic of Nauru occupies a special place among the young states of Oceania. The island of the same name on which it is located is a tiny piece of land 53 km south of the equator. Independent since 1968*, the republic with a population of 12 thousand people (almost half of them are foreigners) has its own president, parliament, cabinet of ministers, several departments, including foreign affairs. The road network, which is about 20 km long, is overloaded vehicles. This creates difficulties not only for pedestrians, but also for the national airline, which uses part of the highway for takeoff and landing of several of its aircraft. The main thing that the republic is famous for is phosphorites. Thanks to the unusually low cost of their extraction, carried out by a state-owned company, the country receives significant income by selling phosphorites on the foreign market. Currently, the Republic of Nauru is the richest state in the region.

Phosphorite deposits are almost exhausted. However, due to the income from their export, a large monetary fund was formed in the republic and investments were made in real estate abroad (mainly in Australia) so that in the future, after the complete depletion of phosphorites, the country could exist on interest and dividends. In recent years, offshore financial activity has also been actively developing in Nauru. There are about 400 offshore banks in the country. Opening a bank in Nauru is very easy, which gives the island a reputation as a dubious offshore center.

Overall, Oceania countries in terms of well-being local population can be broken down by at least into four groups:

1. the tiny state of Nauru is the only country in Oceania (without New Zealand) where GDP per capita in some years (thanks to income from the development of phosphorites) reached $15 thousand or more. It is easy to see that in terms of the type of economy, Nauru is closest to Bahrain, Qatar, Brunei, etc.;

2. The second group includes Fiji with a GDP per capita of about 6 thousand US dollars. For many years, this former English colony was a model of a plantation economy, specializing in the cultivation of sugar cane. Today, the previous specialization has been supplemented by the tourism industry and the manufacturing industry;

3. Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa and Vanuatu are countries where per capita GDP is approximately 2-6 thousand US dollars. They are characterized by the preservation of traditional ways of life, weak development of commodity-money relations, and the predominance of agriculture. Along with this, the mining industry is developing in Papua New Guinea, the fish processing industry in the Solomon Islands, and the service sector in Vanuatu;

4. small island states - Tonga, Kiribati and Tuvalu with GDP per capita from 1 to 2 thousand US dollars and economic specialization in agriculture (production of copra and other tropical agricultural products).

At the same time, all countries of Oceania have many common strategic aspects of economic development, associated, for example, with the development of marine biological resources and seabed resources, the development of high-value tropical agriculture, etc.

When analyzing the current socio-economic situation, one should keep in mind the fact that the reasons for the seizure of the islands of Oceania were not economic, but military-strategic. Very often the islands “changed” their owners, passed from hand to hand. Some states, having achieved independence, adopted various shapes devices. The former colonies of Great Britain remained part of the Commonwealth, a number of territories declared free association with the United States, French Polynesia has the status of an “overseas territory” of France, etc.

At the beginning of the 21st century. The countries of Oceania are characterized by territorial disunity, small-scale government and small population, relative poverty of the natural resource base, the predominance of the consumer agricultural sector, economic specialization in the development of recreational and tourism industries, transit and transport, etc.

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Population

Indeed, despite the fact that Australia is developing according to all European demographic laws - low birth rates and low deaths, it also has its own differences. The large influx of the working-age population into this country sets the population growth figure at more than 215 thousand people for 2016.

Another feature of the population is its density. It is considered the lowest in the world - 2 people per 1 sq. km among the general indicators for countries. And although urbanization, again European, is very high - 86%, a city here is considered a settlement with a population of more than 1000 people. There are only 5 cities in Australia with a population of more than 1 million - Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. The country's capital, Canberra, has only about half a million residents.

According to the latest census, Australia has a population of twenty-four and a half million people. Australia is a multinational country, and here is another amazing statistic - 25% of all residents were born outside the Commonwealth of Australia, and another 25% of the population have both non-Indigenous parents, and the next 25% have at least one parent born outside of Australia. Australia.

Industry of Australia

For the development of industry, and especially energy and mechanical engineering, the country always needs its own mineral resources. Australia has sufficient reserves of natural gas, as well as hard and brown coal. There is little oil here, and it is mostly imported. But the country ranks second in the world in uranium production. There is a large amount of non-ferrous and precious metals in the bowels of the continent. The country ranks first in the production of lead, opals, manganese, gold and silver and iron ore.

Energy

(Coal plant in the mountains of Australia)

Power stations run on their own fuel, and in the Tasmanian Mountains and Snowy Mountains hydroelectric stations produce 10% of all Commonwealth electricity.

Mechanical engineering

(Australian car manufacturer Holden, originally independent, now part of General Motors)

The automotive and aircraft industries in the country are at the proper level. Australia is one of the few countries in the world that is engaged in its own automotive industry from design inventions to production. Agricultural engineering is a vital industry in the country, and it is developing according to modern quality standards.

Transport

(Australia's neat rail lines)

Since Australia is located at a great distance from other countries, it has a lot of ports. Sea freight takes first place in all logistics of the country. Numerous railways and roads solve transportation problems within the state.

Agriculture

For most of its history, Australia has been an agricultural country. The phrase “Australia rides on a sheep” meant that the country had a well-developed sheep industry. And today sheep breeding occupies not the last place in Australian livestock farming. Export of lamb today is more than 400 thousand Australian dollars. But breeding and selling cattle is now in first place in the country's agricultural sector. Last year, beef exports amounted to more than AU$900 thousand. The sale of its own dairy products is in 4th place in the country's exports.

(Sheep farming in Australia)

Australia produces large quantities of wool and cotton. Fish farming and aquaculture are growing every year. But poultry breeding and beekeeping are focused mainly on the domestic market.

(The Amazing Blue Salt Ponds of Australia)

Like any state, Australia's economy directly depends on its geophysical and climatic conditions. With the exception of remoteness and frequent droughts, the country can overcome other problems painlessly, and Australia has long been solving these two shortcomings with few losses.

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA.

Australia, New Zealand and numerous islands in the central and southwest Pacific form a special region - Australia and Oceania.

Australia and Oceania do not represent a single whole, either naturally, culturally or socio-economically. Oceania is formed by several thousand islands located over a vast area (an area of 60 million sq. km) in the central and southwestern parts of the Pacific Ocean, between 29 * northern latitude. and 53* S. and 130* E. and 109* W. The total land area of Oceania is relatively small and is only about 1.3 million square kilometers (six times less than the area of Australia). At the same time, its two largest islands - New Guinea (area 829 thousand sq. km) and New Zealand (265 thousand sq. km) occupy almost 90% of its land area and only 10% (i.e. approximately 200 thousand sq. km) .km) - the remaining several thousand islands.

The islands of Oceania, being in the tropical and subtropical zone of the Southern Hemisphere, have a warm, mild climate (one of the most comfortable on the globe) with a temperature regime and amount of precipitation sufficient for growing crops cultivated in these latitudes - coconut palms, bananas , cocoa, coffee, tea, tobacco, sugar cane, cotton, tubers (taro, sweet potato, yams, cassava), etc. Natural conditions make it possible to harvest several crops per year.

Oceania is also rich in various mineral resources: deposits of coal (New Zealand), combustible gas, iron ore, copper and manganese ores, platinum, silver (New Guinea), nickel (New Caledonia), gold (Fiji), phosphate raw materials (Nauru) have been discovered ) and etc.

Oceania- the area of settlement of Papuans, Melanesians, Micronesians and Polynesians, was discovered by Europeans at the beginning of the 16th century. (Mariana Islands in 1521, during the circumnavigation of Ferdinand Magellan in 1519 - 1522). The most numerous groups of the modern population are formed by aborigines (Papuan peoples and peoples speaking languages of the Austronesian family) and immigrants and their descendants (Anglo-New Zealanders, Americans, English, Indians, French, Anglo-Australians, Chinese, Croesians, Vietnamese, etc.). Most countries in Oceania are characterized by high fertility, natural increase and low mortality. In most countries, men outnumber women, the proportion of young people is high, and the majority of residents are employed in agriculture, mining, and the service sector (services for tourists). There are significant migration flows of people between countries. In terms of average population density (8.1 people per 1 sq. km), Oceania is almost four times larger than Australia. The population is distributed unevenly - along with the densely populated islands (Tuvaku, Nauru, Mbau, etc.), there are also uninhabited islands.

In socio-economic terms, all countries of Oceania are developing, mainly agricultural, with economic specialization - tropical agriculture (growing various vegetables and fruits, cotton, coffee, cocoa, etc.) and livestock farming (raising cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry ). The industry is characterized by the dominant position of mining industries (on the island of Nauru - mining of phosphorites, in New Caledonia - nickel, etc.) and industries processing agricultural products (production of coconut oil, tea, tobacco products, sugar, juices, fruit canning, fish processing industry, etc.). The products of these industries and agriculture also determine the nature of the participation of most oceanic states in foreign trade. Based on average per capita Country's GDP Oceania is differentiated into states where this figure reaches 15 thousand dollars (Nauru), 1500 dollars (Fiji), 900 dollars (Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu), from 400 to 600 dollars (Western Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Tuwaku).

Australia was "discovered" by Europeans twice - the first time at the beginning of the 17th century. by the Dutch navigator W. Janszoon (its northern coast), and somewhat later, in the second half of the same century, by the English navigator James Cook (eastern coast). At first, this continent was a place of convict settlement (criminals from England) and only in the second half of the 19th century, after the discovery of rich gold deposits, did it become an area of mass free immigration.

AUSTRALIA (Australian Union)

Australia is a federal state that is part of the Commonwealth, led by Great Britain.

The Commonwealth of Australia includes six states: New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, as well as two territories - the Northern Territory and the Capital Territory.

The country is located in the Southern Hemisphere and occupies the territory of the entire Australian continent and the adjacent islands (Tasmania, King, Kangaroo, Flinders, Barrow, etc.).

Square Australia 7 ,7 million kv. km, population - 18 ,2 million Human. The capital is Canberra. The official language is English. The majority of the population professes Christianity.

Australia is one of the economically developed countries of the world, but its economy is mainly characterized by a raw material orientation. IN international division Labor Australia plays a leading role in the production and export of wheat, meat, sugar, wool, various types mineral raw materials (bauxite, polymetals, iron ore, coal, etc.).

Geographical position. A distinctive feature of Australia's geographic location is its significant distance from other continents. The country is surrounded on all sides by the waters of the World Ocean, its northern and eastern shores are washed by the Pacific Ocean, its western and southern shores by the Indian Ocean.

Population. The main core of Australia's population consists of Anglo-Australians (descendants of immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland) and immigrants from around the world. Aboriginal Australians make up less than 1% of the country's population.

Australia is characterized by significant immigration, which accounts for up to 20% of population growth. The average population density of Australia is 2 people per 1 sq. km. Most of the population (over 2/3 of the country's inhabitants) is concentrated on the eastern and southeastern coasts, which are naturally favorable (here the density in some places reaches 10-50 people per 1 sq. km). The rest of the territory is sparsely populated.

Australia is one of the most urbanized countries in the world: more than 85% of its population are city dwellers. The largest cities are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Newcastle. Almost all of them are ports.

Natural conditions, their economic grade.

The relief of Australia is predominantly flat. Mountains occupy less than 5% of the territory of this continent. The Watershed Range stretching along its eastern edge (the highest point is Mount Kostsyushko - 2230 m) does not pose an insurmountable obstacle to economic development. The climate in most of Australia is unfavorable for agriculture. Sufficient precipitation (500 mm per year) falls only on the elevated eastern and southeastern edges of the continent. The vast desert areas (they occupy 2/5 of the country's area) of Central and Western Australia have insufficient moisture and can only be used as pasture for sheep.

The river network is poorly developed. The only high-water Murray River with a Darling tributary.

Farm. Among the industries, the most important Australia's economy is dominated by the mining, metals and food processing industries. The products of these industries are not only widely used within the country, but are also exported in large quantities.

Australia occupies a prominent place in the world in reserves and production of bauxite, iron, lead, zinc, copper, manganese, tungsten and uranium ores, and coal. Non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy is closely connected with the mining industry, the main branches of which are the aluminum industry, smelting of copper, tin, lead and zinc, special steels and alloys.

Leading branches of the food industry - meat, dairy, flour milling, sugar, fruit and vegetable canning - process local agricultural raw materials. Enterprises in these industries are mainly located in port cities in the southeast of the country (Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide).

Mechanical engineering (production of trucks and passenger cars, agricultural machinery, electrical equipment, various instruments, etc.), oil refining, chemical (production of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, plastics and chemical fibers, etc.) and light (production of footwear, fabrics and knitwear) industries are mainly of local importance.

Agriculture Australia has a livestock-raising bias. Leading industries livestock farming- sheep breeding and cattle breeding for meat and dairy purposes. The country ranks first in the world in the number of sheep, production and export of wool, lamb, beef and veal. Horse breeding, camel breeding and poultry farming are developed. In connection with the livestock-raising orientation of agriculture in general, the cultivation of fodder crops is important in crop production (up to 49% of the arable land area is occupied). Australia's main export crops are wheat, sugar cane, and cotton. The main area of their cultivation is the east and southeast of the country. Australia ranks among the first in the world in the production and export of wheat. Important branches of crop production are horticulture, viticulture, and vegetable growing.

Transport. In the transportation of goods, a large role (up to half of the cargo turnover) is played by sea transport, passengers - automobile and aviation. The length of the railways is not great. There is almost no inland water transport.

The main export items are mineral raw materials (iron ore, coal, bauxite, etc.) and agricultural products (wool, wheat, meat, sugar). Australia imports mainly industrial goods.

Plan:

Introduction.

Geographical location of Australia and Oceania.

Natural resources and conditions.

Population of the country. Demographic situation.

Farm:

Industry.

Ferrous metallurgy

Non-ferrous metallurgy

Chemical and oil refining industry

building materials industry

Light industry

Food industry

Mechanical engineering

Agriculture.

Geography of transport.

External economic relations.

Import

Export

Conclusion.

List of references.

Introduction:

Realizing that in the 11th grade you have to take a lot of subjects and there is such an opportunity to reduce the number of subjects, I decided to do it, I decided that it would be nice to start doing it, but I found out that I was not the only one taking the same topic, so I decided to compete. And find out whose project will be better.

Why Australia? I just would like to get there, go to the whole continent, visit there, admire the business part of Sydney, look at the people and show themselves off. The essay is a good excuse to get to know this country better. Get to know all the people better. Find out what Australia is like. Find out why there are few fresh water supplies there. As I described in the abstract.

The structure of this essay is not something unusual or extraordinary.

I want to say that history influences natural conditions, numerous changes in the boundaries of Australia have affected the geographical location and, consequently, natural conditions), which in turn affect the distribution of the population, and all this already affects the geography of industry and foreign economic relations.

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Geographical position.

Australia is the only state in the world that occupies the territory of an entire continent, so Australia has only maritime borders. Australia's neighboring countries are New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and other island states of Oceania. Australia is remote from the developed countries of America and Europe, large markets for raw materials and sales of products, but many sea routes connect Australia with them, and Australia also plays an important role in the Asia-Pacific region.

Australia has a federal structure and includes 6 states:

The capital of Australia is Canberra.

A state located on the mainland of Australia and a number of nearby islands, the largest of which is the island of Tasmania. The total area is 7,682,300 km2 (land area is 7,617,930 km2). The length of the coastline is 25,760 km. Along the northeastern coast of the Kara Sea lies the Great Barrier Reef, which is 2,500 km long. Along the eastern coast, leaving a narrow coastal strip, from Cape York in the north to Bass Strait in the south and continuing on the island of Tasmania, stretches the Great Dividing Range, 3,300 km long. Its average height is 300-400, the highest part is the southern Australian Alps (Mount Kosciusha 2,228 m). In the center of the mainland there is a vast zone of lowlands, most of which are the basins of the Murray River (Mary) and Lake Eyre, as well as the Nullarbor Plain. In the west of the country is the Great Western Plateau with four deserts: the Great Victoria Desert, the Great Sandy Desert, the Gibson Desert and the Simson Desert. Australia is very poor in fresh water. The main part of the rivers is located in the north: the Murray (Murray), Darling and others. The rivers located in the center and in the west dry up during the summer season. Most of the country's lakes are salty. The largest lake, Eyre, is no exception, with a water level 12m below sea level. Australia has mineral resources: coal, iron ore, copper, tin, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas and oil. Meadows and pastures occupy most of the country's territory (58%), 6% is allocated for arable land.

Oceania

Oceania is the world's largest collection of islands in archipelagos in the central and southwestern Pacific Ocean. The islands and archipelagos of Oceania are located in a vast area of the Pacific Ocean between 290N latitude. and 530yu. w. and 1300E. and 1090w.d. All of Oceania, except for two relatively large land masses - New Guinea (829 thousand sq. km.) and New Zealand (265 thousand sq. km.), consists of almost 7 thousand islands. The total area of Oceania is only about 1.3 million square meters. km.

Melanesia, located in the western part of Oceania, includes New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, the Louisiades Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, the Santa Cruz Islands, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands, the Fiji Islands and several others. The total area of Melanesia (Black Island) is 969 thousand square meters. km, of which almost 6/7 is in New Guinea - this micro-continent of Melanesia.

Polynesia (multi-island), stretching from the extreme southwest to the eastern limits of Oceania, includes the islands: New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Wallis, Horn, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Cook, Tubuai, Society, Tuamotu, Marquesas, Hawaiian Islands, Easter Island etc. The area of Polynesia without New Zealand is only 26 thousand square meters. km, and 17 thousand of them are in the Hawaiian Islands.

Micronesia (small island), occupying the northwestern part of Oceania, is a collection of small, tiny islands and archipelagos of predominantly coral, but also volcanic origin. The most important island groups of Micronesia are the Caroline, Mariana, Marshall and Gilbert Islands. The total area of the islands of Micronesia is only about 2.6 thousand square meters. km, but these islands are scattered over a huge expanse of water with an area of 14 million square meters. km.

On most islands of Oceania, natural conditions are generally favorable for human life. It is not surprising that people populated almost all of Oceania, developed even the most remote and small pieces of land, having had a significant impact on the natural world of the islands over the past millennia.

The total population of Oceania is currently about 10 million people. Of these, 5 million live in Melanesia, 4.5 million in Polynesia and over 0.3 million in Micronesia.

The modern population of Oceania consists of three main components. The first component is the indigenous people, whose ancestors settled the archipelagos of Oceania a thousand years ago. The second is for the newcomer population. These descendants come from Europe, Asia and America, whose migration continues to this day. And the third is the most diverse groups of mixed origin.

The basis of modern political map Oceania was formed as a result of a long and persistent struggle between the colonial powers to divide ocean archipelagos and individual islands among themselves. Until the early 60s of our century, there was only one independent state in Oceania - New Zealand, created by colonists from England, Scotland and Ireland. In the last decade, in the context of the general crisis of capitalism and the collapse of the world colonial system, Oceania has intensified the national liberation movement.

Oceania is an ethnographic concept rather than a geographical one. Many of the oceanic islands differ significantly from one another in their size, vegetation, soils, natural resources. These differences are primarily related to their origin. Islands in the ocean are special natural-territorial complexes, including various rocks, fresh ground or surface water, soils, terrestrial vegetation and animal world. These are peculiar micromeres scattered on the surface of ocean waters and representing ecological systems.

By origin, the islands of Oceania belong to four types: volcanic, biogenic, geosynclinal and continental. Volcanic islands range in size from a few square kilometers to several thousand kilometers. Biogenic islands are formed by animal organisms. These are coral reefs, including. Geosynclinal islands are found in the western part of the ocean, in continuation of the earth's crust of the transitional continent. The mainland islands are entire mountainous countries.

Islands in Oceania are washed by warm seas. Almost all of it lies in the tropical zone, and only New Zealand and its neighboring islands are in the subtropics. At the same time, the aquatic environment is diverse in its properties, and these differences are clearly manifested in the landscapes of the islands and affect the lives of the peoples inhabiting them. Water currents not only carry heat or cold, but also contribute to the dispersal of organisms. The main direction of movement of surface water masses in Oceania is from east to west. The waters of the seas and oceans washing the islands of Oceania are rich in biological resources. Significant mineral resources seabed.

Climate. Warm, even, mild - this climate can be characterized in Oceania. The position of the islands in equatorial and tropical latitudes causes high air temperatures. At the same time, winds from the ocean significantly soften the heat, so the climate of the tropical islands is one of the most comfortable on the globe. It is no coincidence that the Pacific Islands attract huge numbers of tourists. There are two climatic regions in Oceania: trade wind and monsoon. The first occupies the eastern and central parts of this territory of the Pacific Ocean, the second - its western part, including the island of New Guinea.

And yet the climate is different on different islands. Within the vast expanse of Oceania, there are large differences in the temperature conditions of winter and summer, in the amount of precipitation and its consistency, and in the susceptibility of the islands to tropical hurricanes.

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Natural resources and conditions.

Australia is rich in a variety of mineral resources. New discoveries of mineral ores made on the continent over the past 10-15 years have propelled the country to one of the first places in the world in reserves and production of minerals such as iron ore, bauxite, and lead-zinc ores.

The largest deposits of iron ore in Australia, which began to be developed in the 60s of our century, are located in the Hamersley Range in the north-west of the country (the Mount Newman, Mount Goldsworth, etc. deposits). Iron ore is also found on the islands of Kulan and Kokatu in King's Bay (in the north-west), in the state of South Australia in the Middleback Range (Iron Knob, etc.) and in Tasmania - the Savage River deposit (in the valley of the Savage River).

/>/>Large deposits of semimetals (lead, zinc with an admixture of silver and copper) are located in the western desert part of the state of New South Wales - the Broken Hill deposit. An important center for the extraction of non-ferrous metals (copper, lead, zinc) developed near the Mount Isa deposit (in Queensland). Deposits of semimetals and copper are also found in Tasmania (Reed Rosebery and Mount Lyell), copper in Tennant Creek (Northern Territory) and in other places.

The main gold reserves are concentrated in the ledges of the Precambrian basement and in the southwest of the mainland (Western Australia), in the area of the cities of Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie, Northman and Wiluna, as well as in Queensland. Smaller deposits are found in almost all states.

Bauxite occurs on the Cape York Peninsula (Waipa deposit) and Arnhem Land (Gove deposit), as well as in the southwest, in the Darling Range (Jarrahdale deposit).

Uranium deposits have been discovered in various parts of the mainland: in the north (Arnhem Land Peninsula) - near the South and East Alligator rivers, in the state of South Australia - near Lake. Frome, in Queensland - the Mary Catlin field and in the western part of the country - the Yillirri field.

The main deposits of hard coal are located in the eastern part of the mainland. The largest deposits of both coking and non-coking coal are developed near the cities of Newcastle and Lithgow (New South Wales) and the cities of Collinsville, Blair Athol, Bluff, Baralaba and Moura Keanga in Queensland.

Geological surveys have established that in the bowels of the Australian continent and on the shelf off its coast there are large deposits of oil and natural gas. Oil has been found and produced in Queensland (Mooney, Alton and Bennett fields), on Barrow Island off the northwest coast of the mainland, and on the continental shelf off the southern coast of Victoria (Kingfish field). Gas deposits (the largest Ranken field) and oil were also discovered on the shelf off the northwestern coast of the continent.

Australia has large deposits of chromium (Queensland), Gingin, Dongara, Mandarra (Western Australia), and Marlin (Victoria).

Non-metallic minerals include clays, sands, limestones, asbestos, and mica, which vary in quality and industrial use.

The water resources of the continent itself are small, but the most developed river network is on the island of Tasmania. The rivers there are fed with mixed rain and snow and are full of water throughout the year. They flow down from the mountains and are therefore stormy, rapids and have large reserves of hydroelectric power. The latter is widely used for the construction of hydroelectric power stations. The availability of cheap electricity contributes to the development of energy-intensive industries in Tasmania, such as the smelting of pure electrolyte metals, the production of cellulose, etc.

The rivers flowing from the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range are short and flow in narrow gorges in the upper reaches. Here they may well be used, and in part they are already used for the construction of hydroelectric power stations. When entering the coastal plain, rivers slow down their flow and their depth increases. Many of them in estuarine areas are even accessible to large ocean-going vessels. The Clarence River is navigable for 100 km from the mouth, and the Hawkesbury for 300 km. The flow volume and regime of these rivers are different and depend on the amount of precipitation and the time of its occurrence.

On the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range, rivers originate and make their way through the interior plains. The largest river in Australia, the Murray, begins in the area of Mount Kosciuszko. Its largest tributaries - the Darling, Murrumbidgee, Goulbury and some others - also originate in the mountains.

Food p. The Murray and its channels are mainly rain-fed and, to a lesser extent, snow-covered. These rivers are fullest at the beginning of summer, when the snow melts in the mountains. In the dry season, they become very shallow, and some of the Murray's tributaries break up into separate standing reservoirs. Only the Murray and Murrumbidgee maintain a constant flow (except in exceptionally dry years). Even the Darling, Australia's longest river (2450 km), gets lost in the sands during summer droughts and does not always reach the Murray.

Almost all rivers of the Murray system have dams and dams built, around which reservoirs are created, where flood waters are collected and used to irrigate fields, gardens and pastures.

The rivers of the northern and western coasts of Australia are shallow and relatively small. The longest of them, the Flinders, flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria. These rivers are fed by rain, and their water content varies greatly at different times of the year.

Rivers whose flow is directed to the interior of the continent, such as Cooper's Creek (Barku), Diamant-ina, etc., lack not only a constant flow, but also a permanent, clearly defined channel. In Australia, such temporary rivers are called creeks. They are filled with water only during short rain showers. Soon after the rain, the river bed again turns into a dry sandy hollow, often without even a definite outline.

Most lakes in Australia, like rivers, are fed by rainwater. They have neither a constant level nor a drain. In summer, the lakes dry up and become shallow saline depressions. The layer of salt at the bottom sometimes reaches 1.5 m.

In the seas surrounding Australia, sea animals are hunted and fished. Edible oysters are bred in sea waters. In the warm coastal waters in the north and northeast, sea cucumbers, crocodiles and pearl mussels are fished for. The main center for artificial breeding of the latter is located in the area of the Koberg Peninsula (Arnhem Land). It was here, in the warm waters of the Arafura Sea and Van Diemen Bay, that the first experiments on the creation of special sediments were carried out. These experiments were carried out by one of the Australian companies with the participation of Japanese specialists. It has been found that pearl mussels grown in the warm waters off the northern coast of Australia produce larger pearls than those off the coast of Japan, and in a much shorter time. Currently, the cultivation of pearl mussels has spread widely along the northern and partly northeastern coasts.

Since the Australian continent for a long time, starting from the mid-Cretaceous period, was isolated from other parts of the globe, its flora is very unique. Of the 12 thousand species of higher plants, more than 9 thousand are endemic, i.e. grow only on the Australian continent. Endemics include many species of eucalyptus and acacia, the most typical plant families of Australia. At the same time, there are also plants here that are native to South America (for example, southern beech), South Africa (representatives of the Proteaceae family) and the islands of the Malay Archipelago (ficus, pandanus, etc.). This indicates that many millions of years ago there were land connections between the continents.

Since the climate of most of Australia is characterized by extreme aridity, its flora is dominated by dry-loving plants: special cereals, eucalyptus trees, umbrella acacias, succulent trees (bottle tree, etc.). Trees belonging to these communities have a powerful root system, which goes 10-20, and sometimes 30 m into the ground, thanks to which they, like a pump, suck out moisture from great depths. The narrow and dry leaves of these trees are painted mostly in a dull gray-greenish color. Some of them have leaves facing the sun with their edges, which helps reduce the evaporation of water from their surface.

Tropical rainforests grow in the far north and northwest of the country, where it is hot and the warm northwest monsoons bring moisture. Their tree composition is dominated by giant eucalyptus, ficus, palm trees, pandanus with narrow long leaves, etc. The dense foliage of the trees forms an almost continuous cover that shades the ground. In some places on the coast itself there are thickets of bamboo. In places where the shores are flat and muddy, mangrove vegetation develops.

Rain forests in the form of narrow galleries stretch for relatively short distances inland along river valleys.

The further south you go, the drier the climate becomes and the more intense the hot breath of the deserts is felt. Forest cover is gradually thinning. Eucalyptus and umbrella acacias are located in groups. This is a zone of wet savannas, stretching in a latitudinal direction to the south of the tropical forest zone. In appearance, savannas with sparse groups of trees resemble parks. There is no shrubby growth in them. sunlight freely penetrates through a sieve of small tree leaves and falls onto the ground covered with tall, dense grass. Forested savannas are excellent pastures for sheep and cattle.

The central deserts of the mainland, where it is very hot and dry, are characterized by dense, almost impenetrable thickets of thorny low-growing shrubs, consisting mainly of eucalyptus and acacia trees. In Australia these thickets are called scrub. In places it is scraped, interspersed with vast, devoid of vegetation, sandy, rocky or clayey desert areas, and in places with thickets of tall turfy grasses (spinifex).

The eastern and southeastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, where precipitation is high, are covered with dense tropical and subtropical evergreen forests. Most of these forests, as elsewhere in Australia, are eucalyptus trees. Eucalyptus trees are valuable industrially. These trees are unrivaled in height among hardwood species; some of their species reach 150 m in height and 10 m in diameter. Wood growth in eucalyptus forests is high and therefore they are very productive. There are also many tree-like horsetails and ferns in the forests, reaching 10-20 m in height. At their top, tree ferns bear a crown of large (up to 2 m in length) feathery leaves. With their bright and fresh greenery, they somewhat enliven the faded bluish-green landscape of eucalyptus forests. Higher in the mountains there is a noticeable admixture of damarra pines and beech trees.

The shrub and grass cover in these forests is varied and dense. In less humid variants of these forests, the second layer is formed by grass trees.

On the island of Tasmania, in addition to eucalyptus trees, there are many evergreen beech trees related to South American species.

In the southwest of the mainland, forests cover the western slopes of the Darling Range, facing the sea. These forests consist almost entirely of eucalyptus trees, reaching considerable heights. The number of endemic species here is especially high. In addition to eucalyptus trees, bottle trees are widespread. They have an original bottle-shaped trunk, thick at the base and sharply tapering at the top. During the rainy season, they accumulate in the trunk of trees. large reserves moisture, which is consumed during the dry period. The undergrowth of these forests contains many shrubs and herbs, full of bright colors.

Generally forest resources Australia is small. The total area of forests, including special plantations consisting mainly of softwood species (mainly radiata pine), amounted to only 5.6% of the country's territory at the end of the 1970s.

The first colonists did not find plant species characteristic of Europe on the mainland. Subsequently, European and other species of trees, shrubs and grasses were introduced to Australia. Grapevines, cotton, grains (wheat, barley, oats, rice, corn, etc.), vegetables, many fruit trees, etc. are well established here.

In Australia, all types of soils characteristic of tropical, subequatorial and subtropical natural zones are represented in a natural sequence.

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In the area of tropical rainforests in the north, red soils are common, changing towards the south to red-brown and brown soils in wet savannas and gray-brown soils in dry savannas. Red-brown and brown soils containing humus, some phosphorus and potassium are valuable for agricultural use.

The main wheat crops in Australia are located within the red-brown soil zone.

In the marginal regions of the Central Plains (for example, in the Murray Basin), where artificial irrigation is developed and a lot of fertilizers are used, grapes, fruit trees, and forage grasses are grown on sierozem soils.

In the semi-desert and especially steppe areas surrounding the desert interior, where there is grass and in some places shrub-wood cover, gray-brown steppe soils are common. Their power is insignificant. They contain little humus and phosphorus, so when using them even as pastures for sheep and cattle, phosphorus fertilizers are required.

The Australian continent is located within the three main warm climate zones of the southern hemisphere: subequatorial (in the north), tropical (in the central part), subtropical (in the south). Only a small part of. Tasmania lies within the temperate zone.

The subequatorial climate, characteristic of the northern and northeastern parts of the continent, is characterized by an even temperature range (during the year the average air temperature is 23 - 24 degrees) and a large amount of precipitation (from 1000 to 1500 mm, and in some places more than 2000 mm). Precipitation is brought here by the humid northwest monsoon, and falls mainly in summer. In winter, during the dry period of the year, rain falls only sporadically. At this time, dry, hot winds blow from the interior of the continent, which sometimes cause droughts.

In the tropical zone on the Australian continent, two main types of climate are formed: tropical wet and tropical dry.

A humid tropical climate is characteristic of the extreme eastern part of Australia, which is within the zone of southeast trade winds. These winds bring moisture-rich air masses from the Pacific Ocean to the mainland. Therefore, the entire area of the coastal plains and eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range is well moistened (on average 1000 to 1500 mm of precipitation falls) and has a mild, warm climate (the temperature of the warmest month in Sydney is 22 - 25 degrees, and the coldest is 11.5 - 13 degrees).

Air masses bringing moisture from the Pacific Ocean also penetrate beyond the Great Dividing Range, losing a significant amount of moisture along the way, so precipitation falls only on the western slopes of the ridge and in the foothills area

Situated primarily in tropical and subtropical latitudes, where solar radiation is high, the Australian mainland is warming greatly. Due to the weak ruggedness of the coastline and the elevation of the outlying parts, the influence of the seas surrounding the mainland has little effect in the internal parts.

Australia is the driest continent on Earth, and one of the most characteristic features of its nature is the wide distribution of deserts, which occupy vast spaces and stretch for almost 2.5 thousand km from the shores of the Indian Ocean to the foothills of the Great Dividing Range.

The central and western parts of the continent are characterized by a desert tropical climate. In summer (December-February), average temperatures here rise to 30 degrees, and sometimes higher, and in winter (June-August) they drop to an average of 10-15 degrees. The hottest region of Australia is the north-west, where in the Great Sandy Desert the temperature remains at 35 degrees and even higher almost all summer. In winter, it decreases slightly (to about 25-20 degrees). In the center of the mainland, near the city of Alice Springs, in the summer the temperature during the day rises to 45 degrees, and at night drops to zero or lower (-4-6 degrees).

Central and western parts of Australia, i.e. approximately half of its territory receives an average of 250-300 mm of precipitation per year, and the surrounding area of the lake. Air - less than 200 mm; but even these minor precipitations fall unevenly. Sometimes there is no rain at all for several years in a row, and sometimes the entire annual amount of precipitation falls in two or three days, or even in a few hours. Some of the water quickly and deeply seeps through the permeable soil and becomes inaccessible to plants, and some evaporates under the hot rays of the sun, and the surface layers of the soil remain almost dry.

Within the subtropical zone, there are three types of climate: Mediterranean, subtropical continental and subtropical humid.

The Mediterranean climate is characteristic of the southwestern part of Australia. As the name suggests, the climate of this part of the country is similar to that of the European Mediterranean countries - Spain and Southern France. Summers are hot and generally dry, while winters are warm and humid. Relatively small temperature fluctuations by season (January - 23-27 degrees, June - 12 - 14 degrees), sufficient precipitation (from 600 to 1000 mm).

The zone of continental subtropical climate covers the southern part of the mainland adjacent to the Great Australian Bight, includes the environs of the city of Adelaide and extends somewhat further to the east, into the western regions of the state of New South Wales. The main features of this climate are low precipitation and relatively large annual temperature fluctuations.

The humid subtropical climate zone includes the entire state of Victoria and the southwestern foothills of New South Wales. In general, this entire zone is characterized by a mild climate and a significant amount of precipitation (from 500 to 600 mm), mainly in the coastal parts (the penetration of precipitation into the interior of the continent decreases). In summer, temperatures rise to an average of 20-24 degrees, but in winter they drop quite significantly - to 8-10 degrees. The climate of this part of the country is favorable for growing fruit trees, various vegetables and forage grasses. True, to obtain high yields, artificial irrigation is used, since in summer there is not enough moisture in the soil. Dairy cattle (grazing on forage grasses) and sheep are raised in these areas.

The temperate climate zone includes only the central and southern parts of the island of Tasmania. This island is largely influenced by the surrounding waters, and its climate is characterized by moderately warm winters and cool summers. The average January temperature here is 14-17 degrees, June - 8 degrees. The predominant wind direction is western. The average annual precipitation in the western part of the island is 2500 mm, and the number of rainy days is 259. In the eastern part the climate is somewhat less humid.

IN winter time Snow sometimes falls, but it does not last long. Heavy rainfall favors the development of vegetation, and especially grasses, which grow all year round. Herds of cattle and sheep graze on evergreen lush natural and improved by sowing forage grasses all year round.

The hot climate and insignificant and uneven precipitation over most of the continent lead to the fact that almost 60% of its territory has no flow to the ocean and has only a sparse network of temporary watercourses. Perhaps no other continent has such a poorly developed network of inland waters as Australia. The annual flow of all the rivers of the continent is only 350 cubic km.

Population. Demographic situation

In 1996 Australia's population was 18,322,231 people, so Australia's place in the world in terms of population is in the forties. In 2000, the population was 19.2 million people.

The country is mainly populated by Europeans, 77% of Australia's population are descendants of settlers from the British Isles - the English, Irish, Scots, who formed the Anglo-Australian nation, the rest are mainly immigrants from other European countries, Aborigines and Mestizos - 250 thousand. people (1991). The majority of the country's population are immigrants. One in four Australians was born overseas. After. The Second World War began an immigration program, during which the country's population was increased from 7.6 million. people in 1947 up to 15.5 million people in 1984 About 60% of this growth came from immigrants and their Australian-born children. The main core of the population of Australia are Anglo-Australians.

Australia belongs to the countries with type I reproduction.

Out of 18,322,231 people. Men aged 1 to 14 years - 2,032,238, from 15 to 64 - 6,181,887, from 65 and older - 934,374, women aged from 1 to 14 years - 1,929,366, from 15 to 64 - 6,017,362, from 65 and older - 1,227,004 people .

The average population density is about 2 people per km2. But population density varies throughout the country. This is explained by the fact that about half of Australia's territory is occupied by deserts and semi-deserts that are not suitable for habitation. Therefore, the population density in desert areas is less than a person per square kilometer, and on the east coast the climate is much more favorable, which is why large Australian cities are located here - Sydney (3.6 million people), Melbourne (3 million people), Brisbane (1.2 million people) ), and the population density here is from 1 to 10 people. per sq. km., also on the west coast in the area of Perth (1.2 million people) the population density is up to 10 people per sq. km. km.

The capital of Australia was home to 311 thousand people in 1999. Australians are mostly city dwellers. At the beginning of the twentieth century. 50% of the country's population lived in cities after. World War II - 70%, in the 60s. The rural population was 16% in the 80s. - 14%. The process of urbanization continued all the time, and its pace was steadily increasing, as predicted at the end of the twentieth century. rural population will be 8%.

More than 70% of Australians live in 12 major cities of the country: the federal capital, state capitals and the Northern Territory and cities with a population of more than 100 thousand. people Melbourne and Sydney are home to about 40% of the country's population.

Birth rate - 14 newborns per 1,000 people. (1995) Mortality rate - 7 deaths per 1,000 people (infant mortality rate - 7.1 deaths per 1,000 births). Average duration life of men - 74 years, women - 81 years (1995). The working capacity of the population is 8,630,000 people, of whom are employed in financial sector and the service sector 34%, in the public and communal sectors of the economy - 22%, in trade - 20%, in industry - 16%, in agriculture - 6% (1991).

Farm:

Australia, in a relatively short period of time - only about 80 years - has gone through a difficult path of economic development as an agrarian and raw material appendage of the metropolis, which the country was at the beginning of the 20th century; it has turned into an economically highly developed state. This was facilitated by a number of historical and economic conditions. After this, Australia's economic development immediately followed the capitalist path.

Of great importance for the development of the economy was also the fact that in the entire history of its existence, Australia did not experience military destruction and did not pay war debts or reparations. The military situation not only did not weaken the country's economy, but, on the contrary, contributed to general economic, and mainly industrial, development, since it was necessary to produce with our own means what had previously been brought from the mother country.

Satisfying this demand and thereby increasing agricultural productivity and productivity was especially important for the country.

Industry of Australia.

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One of the oldest industries in Australia is the mining industry. The Australian mainland is rich in a wide variety of mineral resources. From 50% to 90 and even 99% of mining industry products are exported to other countries.

Australia's mining industry plays an important role in the country's economy because... Mining raw materials were, and still are, one of the main items of Australian export.

According to scientific research, an average of 50 tons of iron ore, 55 tons of limestone, 4 tons of zinc, 200 tons of coal, 175 cubic meters are mined per year per Australian resident. crude oil. Australia is one of the world's main exporters of minerals, although it only develops 0.02% of Australia's entire territory, because... in some regions there are difficulties of access or remoteness of deposits, or unprofitability of development.

During the 1980s a large influx of investment in the mining and manufacturing industries led to an increase in production rates. Australian workers are the most skilled. Working conditions today are dramatically different from working conditions 10 or more years ago. The need to use new technologies is constantly increasing, and therefore today industry includes new branches of science and technology, business administration and marketing, condition control environment etc.

The development of the mining industry from its very inception was determined by the widespread investment of English capital.

Iron and steel industry of Australia.

In 1994, iron ore production amounted to 123.9 million tons (by weight). The smelting of some metals increased and amounted to 7.2 million tons (cast iron), and steel - 7.6 million tons.

In Australia, all stages of ferrous metal production are developed - blast furnace, steel foundry, rolling, as well as the production of special steels and alloys and various types of metalworking. The smelting of non-ferrous metals: copper, tin, zinc, etc. has received great development. Ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy meets the increased needs of mechanical engineering and other industries.

Main iron ore deposits: Pilbara (Western Australia), Mount Newman, Mount Goldsworth deposits, on the islands of Kulan and Cockatoo in King's Bay (in the north-west), in the state of South Australia in the Middleback Range (Iron Knob, etc.) and in Tasmania - the Savage River field (in the Savage River valley).

Crude metals are also smelted in the area of the Mount Isa copper deposit and some others.

The main centers of iron and steel industry in Australia are located on the east coast (the cities of Port Kembla, Newcastle, Melbourne).

Non-ferrous metallurgy of Australia.

For 1994 Copper production, thousand. tone 381. Production of refined copper from ores and secondary raw materials, thousand tons 331. Zinc production, thousand tons 985.1. Production of pig zinc, thousand tons 315. Extraction of lead, thousand tons 519. Production of refined lead from primary and secondary raw materials, thousand tons 211. Mining of tin, thousand tons8. Production of primary tin, thousand tons 0.2. Aluminum mining, thousand tons 1382. Primary aluminum production, thousand tons 1382. Bauxite, thousand tons 41733.

The main centers of the non-ferrous metallurgy are Sydney, Bell Bay, Risdon, Port Kembla, Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Fuel and energy industry

Australia.

For 1992 Oil, million tons 26.9. Gas, billion cubic meters m 23.2. Hard coal, million tons 175.1. Brown coal, million tons 50.7. Electricity production, billion kW/h 162.

The main fuel and energy base of Australia is hard and brown coal, large deposits of which are directly located in the south-eastern parts of the country. Coal-fired thermal power plants provide a significant portion of all electricity supplied to consumers. These thermal power plants are located where there are coal deposits. In the early 70s, several thermal power plants running on natural gas were built. Australia is not rich in hydroelectric resources; the bulk of hydra energy resources are concentrated in the southern highlands of the East Australian Mountains and on the island of Tasmania. The rivers of the coastal parts of New South Wales and Queensland have insignificant energy reserves.

The Snowy Mountains hydroelectric system, completed in 1975, is the largest (3740 MW).

Chemical and petroleum industry in Australia.

The chemical industry began to develop especially quickly in the post-war years. In many large port cities, powerful oil refineries were built, operating on domestically produced and imported oil. Refining crude oil contributed to the development of petrochemicals.

Since agriculture, one of the most important sectors of the economy, has a great need for mineral fertilizers, superphosphate is produced in large quantities in Australia using imported raw materials. Fertilizer production plants are located in areas where there are coal deposits, coke is produced, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, etc. are smelted. The sulfuric acid obtained by processing these types of raw materials and semi-finished products is 90% used in superphosphate plants. Since phosphorites are brought on sea vessels, then important factor in the location of enterprises for the production of phosphate fertilizers is their proximity to port cities.

The main centers of the chemical and oil refining industry are Sydney, Clyde, Melbourne, Gladstone, Perth.

Forestry, woodworking industry

and construction industry

Australian materials.

The forestry industry is one of the most interesting to study due to its complexity, versatility, prevalence throughout the world and the need for its products for the economy of any country.

Mining of construction materials and minerals that do not contain metals is carried out in small-scale mines. Concentrates and pellets are produced at special enterprises.

Wood export, million cubic meters m 21.3. Lumber production, million cubic meters m 3.3. Production of fibreboards, million sq.m. 31.6. Production of particle boards, thousand cubic meters. m 780. Paper production, thousand tons 1580. Cement production, million tons 5.9

The main centers of light and food industry are Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Hobart.

Light industry

Australia.

Australian light industry is mainly provided with locally produced raw materials and its own goods (shoes, knitwear, fabrics, etc.), largely satisfying the needs of the population, but high-quality products and some semi-finished products and raw materials are imported. Light industry enterprises are concentrated mainly in large industrial cities in the southeast of the country. Small factories are found in many medium and small towns.

The bulk of enterprises in all sectors of the manufacturing industry are located in the south-eastern, most economically developed part of Australia - in the states of New South Wales, Victoria and partly South Australia. After the end of the Second World War, new industrial enterprises began to be created in cities or even small towns in the inland, remote areas of the states. Many immigrants arriving in Australia are sent here in an organized manner. Most new enterprises are built, as a rule, in already developed and populated areas, mainly in areas with sufficient rainfall. Creating industrial enterprises in desert or semi-desert zones is expensive. It is carried out only in certain cases: during the construction of military facilities or enterprises, which, even at high costs, guarantee quick profit and products that are in demand in the domestic or foreign markets.

Food industry

Australia.

The food industry, one of the oldest industries, has gained great importance. It is represented by butter production, cheese making, milk canning industry, brewing, meat canning, meat and cold storage, flour milling, bacon production, tobacco leaf processing, etc. Numerous enterprises for canning vegetables and fruits.

The food industry, both in the past and today, is characterized by an export orientation. A significant part of fully or partially processed agricultural products is sent to other countries. For example, the export of meat of all types accounts for up to 45% of its production, butter - up to 50, cheese - 45, wheat and flour - up to 80, sugar - 60-65%.

Since a significant part of food products is exported, the largest and most well-equipped food plants and factories are located in the country's port cities. Some small and medium-sized enterprises are located in areas producing one or another agricultural product. Butter factories and cheese factories are located where dairy cattle are raised and there are railway stations, which makes it possible to quickly ship butter and cheese to consumption centers or ports. Bakeries, confectioneries, breweries and some other enterprises are found wherever the population is concentrated.

Most of the meat industry enterprises are large plants that slaughter livestock and cut up carcasses, and produce canned meat, sausages and frankfurters. Many of them also have special workshops where they process bones, bristles, horns, hooves, produce food for poultry, glue, various fats and other products.

Since beef cattle farming is developed mainly in the northern, northeastern and eastern parts of the mainland, the largest meat processing plants are located mainly in the port cities of the states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. A number of factories are also concentrated in the interior regions, where livestock raising is combined with grain farming.

Enterprises for canning vegetables and fruits are located where vegetable growing and horticulture are developed. Many of them, even very large ones, are located in rural areas, where the necessary raw materials are produced, some in large cities on the coast. Vegetables and fruits are delivered chilled by rail or in special vans.

Mechanical Engineering Australia.

Since the development of industry since 1967. In Australia, 25 cities with a population of over 40 thousand were built. people, 12 ports and 1900 km laid. Railway tracks.

Nowadays, new branches of mechanical engineering such as the production of aircraft and automobile engines, locomotives, tractors, trucks and cars, electrical equipment, electronic equipment and various instruments are developing especially rapidly in Australia. Mechanical engineering products largely satisfy the country's needs.

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Agriculture Australia.

Australian agriculture is highly marketable and has a pronounced capitalist character. It makes extensive use of machines and hired labor. Australia is a country with historically large landholdings.

In the 20s of the 19th century. Australian wool has gained a strong position in the textile industry of the metropolis. So Australian land-owning companies were given land in the river valley. Gloucester in the colony of New South Wales; Van Diemen's green company settled in the northern part of the island of Tasmania. Soon she annexed other most convenient lands to her possessions.

In the 70s of our century, the share of farms with plots larger than 4 thousand hectares and constituting only 3.6% of the total number of farms accounted for 82.3% of the land fund, including the largest ones, measuring 40 thousand hectares (0.6% of farms), - 62.7% of land. Farms with land plots ranging from 0.4% to 200 hectares own only 1.8% of all land used in agriculture.

Farms with large tracts of land are found mainly in the arid interior of the country and in the north, where extensive farming methods require the use of large areas.

Intensive farms are mainly concentrated in the south-eastern and south-western coastal areas, as well as in the Murray-Murrabidgee area, where there are tracts of irrigated land. Farms with a suburban type of economy are located near large industrial cities.

Australia, later than other developed capitalist countries, embarked on the path of a technical revolution in agriculture. This project was uneven. To a large extent, it covered such industries as dairy and fattening, growing vegetables, fruits, grapes, cotton, rice and other food and industrial crops. Grain farming and pastoralism remain largely extensive.

In conditions of an extremely arid climate and uneven precipitation, artificial irrigation is of great importance for agriculture, not only in the interior parts of the continent, but also in coastal already inhabited and developed areas, where it helps to increase productivity and intensify the economy. For example, the average wheat yield on non-irrigated lands ranges from 11 to 15 centners per hectare, but when irrigation is used, the yield increases by 5-6 times.

The leading place in agriculture belongs to the oldest industry - pasture animal husbandry. In the 1970s, it accounted for 68% of the total value of agricultural production, and farming accounted for just over 32%. In livestock farming, sheep breeding occupies the first place. The main group of the general sheep population consists of merino sheep, whose wool is of the highest quality and most expensive. The second group is sheep of semi-fine wool meat-wool breeds. They produce good wool and meat.

In addition to wool, Australian sheep farming also produces a significant amount of meat. Among capitalist countries, Australia ranks first in the production of mutton and lamb and second in their export. Beef and dairy cattle are also raised in Australia. Its population began to increase rapidly in the last quarter of the 19th century. The raising of cattle for meat is concentrated in the hands of individual cattle breeders or cattle breeding companies. They own herds and pastures, large slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants in port cities, and partly the transportation of meat products to the world market. Beef cattle breeding is developed mainly in the tropical and subtropical parts of the north of the country. Here livestock is grazed mainly on natural pastures (extensive farming method).

Dairy farming is particularly intensive. The country's warm climate allows dairy cattle to be kept on pastures throughout the year. In areas where there are strong winds, trees and dense shrubs are planted along the boundaries of the paddocks to protect animals from them. Many farms also use locally produced concentrated feed and imported feed with the addition of vitamins and growth simulators. The most common breeds of dairy cattle are Jersey, Guernsey, Holstein and the Australian-bred Illowar Shortgon. Dairy farms are located mainly in coastal areas where rainfall is relatively high. Pig farming is related to dairy farming.

Poultry farming is also developed in Australia. Poultry farms are small in size and highly specialized: some raise chickens, others fatten broiler chickens, others supply eggs and partly chicken carcasses. They export live chickens, chilled carcasses and eggs. Other types of livestock farming include the breeding of horses, mainly racing horses, and camels.

Wheat, like other grain crops (oats, barley, corn), except rice, is mainly grown on rainfed lands without the use of artificial irrigation, but phosphorus fertilizers are applied. Grain farming is mainly extensive in nature. In addition to wheat, the cultivation of forage crops, such as clover, lupine and other legumes, ryegrass and other grasses, is of great importance in crop production. On the coastal plains in tropical Queensland, pineapples, bananas, mangoes, and papayas are grown. Cotton, tobacco and other industrial crops are grown in Australia.

In Australia, both crop farming (horticulture, grain farming) and livestock farming (cattle and sheep breeding) have developed.

The Australian agricultural map shows that the intensity of land use decreases with distance from the coast.

The east coast of Australia has a warm and mild climate, which is why sheep are raised on pasture for slaughter, dairy cows are raised, and horticulture and grain farming are practiced.

On the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range, where sufficient rainfall occurs, there is a strip of forest red-brown soils, rich in humus, and when fertilized, suitable for growing wheat and other crops. This is where Australia's “wheat belt” stretches.

The southwestern part of Australia is characterized by a Mediterranean climate, conducive to the development of intensive agriculture.

Victoria and the south-west foothills of New South Wales have a subtropical climate, conducive to the cultivation of fruit trees, a variety of vegetables and forage grasses.

Heavy rainfall and slight temperature fluctuations on the island. Tasmania allows the raising of cattle and sheep.

The steppe and semi-desert regions of Australia are the world's largest sheep breeding areas. Sheep, being on private farms, are kept on natural pasture all year round.

Wool is Australia's top export, generating billions of dollars annually for producers and creating jobs across the country. Therefore, the Australian Wool Corporation is supporting a broad-based research program into the application of robotics in the wool industry. This research has been ongoing since 1973. to this day.

Robotics is also used in gardening. The robotics system increases the productivity of the orchards several times, since the robot selects the fruit, each time “calibrated”, which avoids further sorting.

Performance is the key, and without further development agricultural robotics, and if products are produced at uncompetitive prices, Australia could be forced out of global product markets.

Geography of transport.

For Australia, external and internal relations are of great importance. The government pays a lot of attention to the construction of internal communications, the reconstruction of ports and the creation of an extensive radio and telecommunications network. Rail transport is almost entirely under the control of federal government and state governments. The railway network is densest in coastal industrialized areas, especially in the southeastern, eastern and partly southwestern outskirts of the mainland; the north, north-west and inland areas are almost completely devoid of railways.

The seas and oceans that wash the shores of Australia are important for economic life countries. Australia's main trade links with other countries and continents are carried out by waterways. Huge ocean liners export Australian goods - wheat, meat, butter, cheese, valuable minerals (iron ore, non-ferrous metals and their alloys, coal, bauxite, etc.), as well as industrial products. Finished products, semi-finished products and raw materials needed by industry, agriculture, transport and other sectors of the Australian economy come to Australia from overseas.

Air transport is also important for Australia. A network of regular airlines exists in many major Australian cities, and small aviation has also become widespread. Australian airports handle millions of passengers every year.

The most developed highway and rail transport networks are located on the east coast of the mainland. Transport routes extend from the major ports of East and West Australia (Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne) into the interior of the mainland. Pipeline transport has also been used in Australia. From oil and gas production sites (Mumba, Jackson, Roma, Muni) pipelines go to ports in the East.

Length and density of transport

ways of Australia.

Length of transport routes, thousand km:

Railways 35,8

Highways 810.3

Density of the network of transport routes (km of transport routes per 1000 sq. km of territory)

Railways 4.7

Highways 105.4

Australia offers tourists everything that their restless soul craves: white sandy beaches, modern cities, quaint deserts, lush jungles and unique wildlife.

In Australia you can:

Try to mine gold. In places that experienced a gold rush in the last century, gold is still found today;

Learn to jump with a parachute. It is a popular sport here and Australia hosts many international skydiving competitions;

Go kayaking down mountain rivers. Also a popular pastime;

Fly in hot air balloons. They hang in the skies of Australia continuously.

Learn to scuba dive. They will help and even issue a certificate, however, without the right to be an instructor in this dangerous form of leisure;

Drive a rented car across the whole of Australia - ten days is enough, but memories!

Fish with all your heart, both in the sea and in rivers;

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Go rock climbing. Fanatics of this cause flock here from all over the world;

Go sledding... off the sand dunes!

External economic relations.

Role foreign trade Australia's economy is very large. Export is one of the main sources of obtaining foreign currency. Domestically, firms that can increase their exports enjoy a tax discount. The conditions for financial payments have been simplified for exporters, and a special export insurance corporation has been created. In the late 1970s, more than 47% of the total value of Australian exports came from various agricultural products, 27% from mining products and more than 23% from manufacturing. Of the exported mining raw materials, the first place is occupied by iron ore and concentrates, and the second place is by coal.

Imports are represented by various machines used in agriculture, construction and manufacturing (more than 40%), capital equipment (more than 22%), consumer and food products, lubricating oils and other goods. The import of mineral raw materials and semi-finished products is extremely small (from 6 to 7%). Oil and petroleum products, phosphorites, as well as chrome ores and small quantities of ores or concentrates of other metals are imported.

Australia imports goods mainly from the USA, Great Britain, Japan and Germany. Australia's trade with its neighbor New Zealand began to expand after August 1965. Australia exports food products, as well as coal, some types of machinery, textiles, shoes, etc. to the countries of East and Southeast Asia. Imports from these countries mainly consist of natural rubber, oil, tea, coffee, vegetable oils and fibers, packaging materials . Australia's trade with Oceania is small. However, Australia has gained a fairly strong position in trade with them, displacing the UK and other countries.

Australia is a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the ANZUS Pact, and is part of the commonwealth led by Great Britain.

Australia is one of the world's largest exporters.

Indicators

Foreign trade turnover

Foreign trade balance

Main indicators of foreign trade

(in current prices billions of dollars)

Australia.

77% of the population of Australia are immigrants from different parts of the Earth and Australians speak not only English, the state language, but also Portuguese, German, Greek, Russian, etc. Modern Australia is a country of mass immigration, annually accepting 100-150 thousand people, therefore Australia has direct cultural ties with many countries around the world.

Conclusion:

Working on this essay took me a lot of time, this work took me an average of 1 hour every day, but be that as it may, I don’t think that this time was wasted; during my work I learned a lot of interesting things about Australia. I never knew anything about the history of this country and would hardly have known if it had not been for working on this essay; I did not know that Australia is so dependent on the foreign market, etc. In my opinion, Australia has quite good development prospects, if only because of the high level of tourism, which brings quite a lot of income to the country, and currently all other industry also brings in even greater profits.

I already said in the introduction that I want to go there and because of this I had a double impression about this country: from the point of view of a tourist, Australia made a very strong impression on me because of the beauty of Sydney (where the Olympic Games were held), nature, but, and from the point of view of a person preparing an essay on this country, it made a much smaller impression than China and Great Britain, with which, from a geographical point of view, I am very familiar.

In the last lines of the work I would like to briefly summarize everything that was said above. The geographical, economic and intellectual potential of Australia is enormous, and, despite all today's difficulties, I am convinced that time will pass and it will take its rightful place not only in culture, not only in science, but also in technology and economics.

“Everything will be right. The world is built on this." Here one cannot but agree with Bulgakov.

Bibliography:

Lucian Volyanovsky “The continent that has ceased to be a legend”, 1991.

Encyclopedic reference book “Countries of the World” Smolensk “Rusich” 2000

"Australia and Oceania. Antarctica" Countries and Peoples Moscow "thought" 1981

“Economic Geography” by I. A. Rodionov and T. M. Bunaskova Moscow “Lyceum” 1999

Countries and Peoples “Universal Encyclopedia for Youth” Moscow Publishing House Pedagogika-Press.

Textbook 10th grade “Economic and social geography world" Y.N.GLADKY S.B.LAVROV

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