OzPedia- Tasmania

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[FACT PAGE] - [GEOGRAPHY] - [CLIMATE] - [HISTORY]

Fact Page
Capital City:
Hobart

Major Cities:
Launceston

Area:
68,329 sq km

Population:
458,600

Did you know?
Tasmania has reserved more land area for recreation and conservation purposes than any other State.

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Geography
Tasmania is the small island state of Australia in the south, accounting for less than 1 percent of Australia's total area. A part of Tasmania's state are the surrounding islands these include many of the small islands nearby, the uninhabited, subarctic volcanic island of Macquarie and other more well known islands such as the Hunter Islands, the Furneaux Groups, the Kent Group, King Island, and Maria Island.

Tasmania is bordered by Bass Straight in the north (which separates it from the Australian mainland), the Tasman Sea in the east and the Indian Ocean in the south and west.

From a narrow fringe of coastal plain, the main island rises to a central plateau with a general elevation of 600 to 1,000 meters. Mountainous, with peaks in the west exceeding 1,500 m, and its highest point being Mt. Ossa (1617m). Tasmania is an extension of the continent's Eastern Highlands. Lakes are abundant, especially in the wetter western areas. Natural vegetation is dense forest, often composed of eucalyptus.

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Climate
Tasmania has a temperate maritime climate. The climate within the state varies from one part to the other. This is due to Tasmania's location on the northern edge of the "Roaring Forties" (a westerly air stream) and its mountainous terrain. Summer and winter temperatures are low compared to most states due to its positioning in the ocean. January's average temperature is about 16öC (60öF) and July's about 7öC (45öF).

Tasmania has the highest average rainfall of any Australian State. The rainfall tends to be heavier in the west and north-west, with about 2388 mm annually. Rainfall is more evenly distributed throughout the year in the eastern and south-eastern area.

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History
Dutch explorer and navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered the island of Tasmania in 1642 but named it something quite different from what we know it as today. Tasmania was originally known as Van Diemen's Land, named after the governor of the Dutch East Indies who had sent out Tasman's expedition.

The island's original population, now extinct, was a Negrito people numbering about 2,000 at the time of European settlement early in the 19th century.

Permanent European settlement consisting of free persons and convicts dates from 1803 at Risdon. Port Arthur, the site of the tragic massacre in 1995, was one of the first convict prison built in Australia.

The island had been a part of the New South Wales colony from 1803 to 1825, but then became a separate colony. The island's name was changed from Van Diemen's Land to Tasmania 1856, the year of its first elected Parliament.

In 1901, like many of the other states, Tasmania became a state in the Australian Commonwealth.

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