Australia
Modern Australia was founded with the influx of European settlers just over two hundred years ago, but the Aborigines inhabited the island continent for tens of thousands of years before that.
They numbered a few hundred thousand before the European influx. But two centuries of discrimination and expropriation followed, and at one point the indigenous population fell as low as 60,000.
Australia’s politicians at first looked to Europe and the US in foreign policy, but in the past 20 years or so they have made their near neighbours a priority.
Australia has mediated between warring groups in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and deployed thousands of peacekeepers in newly-independent East Timor. Its economy is now also geared to Asia. It is a foremost member of Apec, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and aims to forge free trade deals with China and Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The British founded the first settlement in 1788 and named it Sydney. Many of the first settlers were convicts. Free settlers arrived in increasing numbers, particularly after the discovery of gold in the mid-19th century.
Today, 99% of the population are of European or Asian descent.
The government formally apologised in 2008 for the past wrongs committed against the indigenous Aboriginal population.
Indigenous Australians suffer high rates of unemployment, imprisonment and drug abuse.
The gradual dismantling of the “White Australia” immigration policy in the decades after World War II heralded an increase in the number of non-European arrivals.
Migration continues to shape Australia and is a politically-sensitive issue. The country has taken a tough stance on unauthorised arrivals, but has scrapped a controversial policy of holding asylum seekers in detention centres until their cases are heard.
The island continent combines a wide variety of landscapes. These include deserts in the interior, hills and mountains, tropical rainforests, and densely-populated coastal strips with long beaches and coral reefs off the shoreline.
Isolated from other continents, Australia has an abundance of unique plant and animal life
Facts:
- Full name: Commonwealth of Australia
- Population: 21 million (UN, 2008)
- Capital: Canberra
- Largest city: Sydney
- Area: 7.7 million sq km (2.9 million sq miles)
- Major language: English
- Major religion: Christianity
- Life expectancy: 79 years (men), 84 years (women) (UN)
- Monetary unit: 1 Australian dollar = 100 cents
- Main exports: Ores and metals; wool, food and live animals; fuels, transport machinery and equipment
- GNI per capita: US $35,960 (World Bank, 2007)
- Internet domain: .au
- International dialling code: +61