AUSTRALIA, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country that includes the mainland, the

island of Tasmania and smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest country in the world.
Before the first British settlement in the 18 th century, Australia was inhabited by around 1,000,000
native Australians, but at the time of European settlement the number declined mainly due to
infectious disease. Great Britain claimed to the Dutch the eastern half of the country in 1770 and
used the place as a penal colony. In 1901 the Commonwealth of Australia was established and it
became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907.
The Commonwealth of Australia has maintained a liberal democracy since it was formed, with a
federal parliament and a constitutional monarchy.
Nowadays, it has a population of 23.1 million and it is one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
It is also highly ranked in quality of life, health, education, civil liberties and political rights.
Australia has an extension of 7,617,930 square kilometres and it has the world’s largest coral reef,
the Great Barrier Reef, which is over 2,000 kilometres. Because of its size, Australia has a wide
variety of landscapes, with subtropical rainforests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-
east, south-west and east, and dry desert in the centre.
The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents with periodic drought and the
seasonal tropical low-pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. The northern
part has a tropical climate. The southwest has a Mediterranean climate and much of the southeast
is temperate.
Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it includes a diverse range of habitats, with
forests that are mostly made up of evergreen species. It has the greatest number of reptiles of any
country, including some of the most venomous snakes in the world.
Regarding religion, Australia has no state religion, the constitution prohibits the government from
establishing any religion, but most Australians are Christian, including Roman Catholic and
Anglican.