This satellite map/print is centered focuses on Australia.
Major roads, Australian territory boundaries and names, and large cities are included in this satellite map/print of Australia. Topographic and bathometric enhancements also give this satellite poster a 3-D natural look.
Country Background:
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.
Source: The CIA World Factbook
