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Near Oceania is the part of Oceania that features greater biodiversity, due to the islands and atolls being closer to each other. The distinction of Near Oceania and Remote Oceania was first suggested by Pawley & Green (1973)[1] and was further elaborated on in Green (1991).[2] The distinction is based on geology, flora and fauna. Near Oceania was also settled by humans at an earlier time than Remote Oceania was. Near Oceania includes the Bismarck Archipelago, the island of New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands (excluding Temotu Province). Sometimes, Australia is also included in Near Oceania.
- ^ Pawley, Andrew & Roger Green. 1973. Dating the Dispersal of the Oceanic Languages. Oceanic Linguistics 12(1/2). 1–67.
- ^ Green, Roger. 1991. Near and Remote Oceania: Disestablishing "Melanesia" in Culture History. In A Pawley (ed.), Man and a Half: Essays in Pacific Anthropology and Ethnobotany in honour of Ralph Bulmer, 491–502. The Polynesian Society.