Administrative structure: It is divided into 6 states and 2 continents.
Major cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide.
Currency: Australian dollar.
Geographical location, nature. Located in the Southern Hemisphere. It occupies the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and several islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the sixth largest city in the world. To the north are East Timor, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, to the northeast are Vanuatu, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands, and to the southeast are New Zealand.
The term "Australia" comes from the Latin word "australis" - "southern".
Ocean air currents have a significant impact on the country's climate. As a result, droughts occur and storms occur as a result of reduced pressure. Due to these and similar factors, the amount of precipitation varies from year to year. Northern Australia has a tropical climate with heavy rainfall in summer. Almost three-quarters of the country's territory is desert and semi-desert. The climate in the south-east is temperate.
Australia’s main natural resource is mineral resources. It has the world's second largest reserves of aluminum ore and zirconium, the world's largest reserves of uranium and the third largest reserves of uranium. There are also large reserves of coal, manganese, gold and diamonds.
Rivers are scarce. The longest river is the Murray - 2375 km. There are many lakes. Most of them are formed by rainwater, so they are often covered with sandy mud.
The flora and fauna are rich.
Historical dates. Scientific estimates suggest that the continent's indigenous peoples settled in the area between 60 and 40 BC. They lived in primitive form until the eighteenth century AD.
The continent was first discovered by the Europeans in 1606 by the Dutch traveler Willem Jansson, who named it New Holland. The United Kingdom sent several expeditions to explore the new continent. In 1788, Australia was declared British territory.
Sheep breeding developed in Australia from the 20s onwards, and the first industrial enterprises appeared in the 30s. In 1901, the colonies in Australia were merged into a federation of six states - the Commonwealth of Australia - and it gained dominion status. After World War II, Australia became an independent state, although it remained part of the British-led Commonwealth.
National holiday - Australia Day (January 26).
Member of the United Nations since 1945. He established diplomatic relations with Uzbekistan in 1991.
Economy. Australia is one of the most economically developed countries. Industries such as chemistry, electrical engineering, metallurgy, automotive have developed. It is the world's largest producer of electricity per capita. Due to the large area and small population, there is a shortage of staff in some areas. Twenty-five percent of employees are foreigners.
Services such as tourism, education and banking account for 69% of the country's GDP. Although the share of agriculture and natural resources is around 3-5%, they have a large share in exports. From the second half of the twentieth century, Australia established active trade and economic relations with Japan and other East Asian countries.
Its main customers are Japan, the United States, China, South Korea and New Zealand.
Population of. Until the end of the 2006th century, the country's indigenous population was aboriginal. The current population is the descendants of immigrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 31th and 13th centuries. According to the 29 census, the population included Australians (65 percent), British (9), Irish (08), Scots (7-16), Italians (4, 29), and Germans (4, 09). ) and the Chinese (3, 37) are in the majority.
The urbanization rate is 89 percent.
The official language is English.
Religion. The majority of the population are Christians. In 2011, more than 476 people, or 000 percent of the population, were Muslim. Islam is the third largest religion in the country.
Muslims came to Australia hundreds of years before Europeans. Indonesian merchants established trade relations with local aborigines. In the second half of the XNUMXth century, Central Asians also came to the region. They were mainly engaged in camel riding and caravan leadership.
The first mosque in the country was built in 1861 in Murray. Today, more than a hundred mosques operate.
Islam is the most widespread religion in the country. Between 2007 and 2012, the growth rate was 40 percent. There are a number of Islamic organizations, universities and colleges in the country.
Orifjon MADVALIYEVprepared.
oriftolib.uz
Published in the 2015th issue of "Hidoyat" magazine in 7.
