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World > Australia > Australia
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Australia |
Introduction:
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Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name of Great Britain. Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. In recent decades, Australia has transformed itself into an internationally competitive, advanced market economy. It boasted one of the OECD's fastest growing economies during the 1990s, a performance due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s. Long-term concerns include pollution, particularly depletion of the ozone layer, and management and conservation of coastal areas, especially the Great Barrier Reef.
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| Official name: |
Commonwealth of Australia |
| Capital: |
name: Canberra
geographic coordinates: 35 17 S, 149 13 E
time difference: UTC+10 (15 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in October; ends last Sunday in March
note: Australia is divided in |
| Government type: |
federal parliamentary democracy |
| Population: |
20,434,176 (July 2007 est.) |
| Languages: |
English 79.1%, Chinese 2.1%, Italian 1.9%, other 11.1%, unspecified 5.8% (2001 Census) |
| Official Currency: |
Australian Dollar (AUD)
Current Australian Dollar Exchange Rates
Historical Australian Dollar Exchange Rates
Chart Australian Dollar Exchange Rates |
| Currency code: |
AUD |
| Area: |
total: 7,686,850 sq km
land: 7,617,930 sq km
water: 68,920 sq km
note: includes Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island |
| Climate: |
generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north |
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Map of Australia
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