Australia,officiallytheCommonwealthofAustralia,isanOceaniancountrycomprisingthemainlandoftheAustraliancontinent,theislandofTasmania,andnumeroussmallerislands.Itistheworld'ssixth-largestcountrybytotalarea.NeighbouringcountriesincludeIndonesia,EastTimorandPapuaNewGuineatothenorth;theSolomonIslandsandVanuatutothenorth-east;andNewZealandtothesouth-east.
Foratleast40,000yearsbeforethefirstBritishsettlementinthelate18thcentury,AustraliawasinhabitedbyindigenousAustralians,whospokelanguagesgroupedintoroughly250languagegroups.AftertheEuropeandiscoveryofthecontinentbyDutchexplorersin1606,Australia'seasternhalfwasclaimedbyGreatBritainin1770andinitiallysettledthroughpenaltransportationtothecolonyofNewSouthWalesfrom26January1788.Thepopulationgrewsteadilyinsubsequentdecades;thecontinentwasexploredandanadditionalfiveself-governingcrowncolonieswereestablished.
On1January1901,thesixcoloniesfederated,formingtheCommonwealthofAustralia.SinceFederation,Australiahasmaintainedastableliberaldemocraticpoliticalsystemthatfunctionsasafederalparliamentarydemocracyandconstitutionalmonarchycomprisingsixstatesandseveralterritories.Thepopulationof23.6millionishighlyurbanisedandheavilyconcentratedintheeasternstatesandonthecoast.
Australiaisadevelopedcountryandoneofthewealthiestintheworld,withtheworld's12th-largesteconomy.In2012Australiahadtheworld'sfifth-highestpercapitaincome.Australia'smilitaryexpenditureistheworld's13th-largest.Withthesecond-highesthumandevelopmentindexglobally,Australiarankshighlyinmanyinternationalcomparisonsofnationalperformance,suchasqualityoflife,health,education,economicfreedom,andtheprotectionofcivillibertiesandpoliticalrights.AustraliaisamemberoftheUnitedNations,G20,CommonwealthofNations,ANZUS,OrganisationforEconomicCo-operationandDevelopment(OECD),WorldTradeOrganization,Asia-PacificEconomicCooperation,andthePacificIslandsForum.
转自Wikipedia,供参考.希望帮助到你.