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125-525: The term evolved to become a title to a number of political entities. Three countries – Australia , the Bahamas , and Dominica – have the official title "Commonwealth", as do four U.S. states and two U.S. territories . Since the early 20th century, the term has been used to name some fraternal associations of states, most notably the Commonwealth of Nations , an organisation primarily of former territories of

250-571: A Commonwealth of Britain Bill several times between 1991 and 2001, intended to abolish the monarchy and establish a British republic . It never reached second reading . Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia , is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent , the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands . Australia has a total area of 7,688,287 km (2,968,464 sq mi), making it

375-479: A Mediterranean climate . The south-east ranges from oceanic (Tasmania and coastal Victoria) to humid subtropical (upper half of New South Wales), with the highlands featuring alpine and subpolar oceanic climates . The interior is arid to semi-arid . Driven by climate change , average temperatures have risen more than 1°C since 1960 . Associated changes in rainfall patterns and climate extremes exacerbate existing issues such as drought and bushfires . 2019

500-511: A belt of Brigalow grasslands lie between the coast and the mountains, while inland of the dividing range are large areas of grassland and shrubland. These include the western plains of New South Wales, and the Mitchell Grass Downs and Mulga Lands of inland Queensland. The northernmost point of the mainland is the tropical Cape York Peninsula . The landscapes of the Top End and

625-793: A large wave of immigration from across Europe , with such immigrants referred to as " New Australians ". This required a relaxation of the white Australia policy , which was justified to Australians using the slogan "populate or perish". A member of the Western Bloc during the Cold War , Australia participated in the Korean War and the Malayan Emergency during the 1950s and the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1972. During this time, tensions over communist influence in society led to unsuccessful attempts by

750-521: A single economic market , a common customs territory , (mainly) open internal borders , and a common currency among most member-states. However, unlike a federation, the EU does not have exclusive powers over foreign affairs, defence, taxation, along with the immigration and transit of non-EU nationals. Furthermore, most EU laws , which have been developed by consensus between relevant national government ministers and then scrutinised and approved or rejected by

875-440: A treaty , confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issues, such as defence, foreign relations, internal trade or currency, with the central government being required to provide support for all its members. Confederalism represents a main form of intergovernmentalism , defined as any form of interaction around states that takes place on the basis of sovereign independence or government. The nature of

1000-409: A "kind of confederation" by, for example, Belgian Minister of State Mark Eyskens. Canada is an unusually decentralized federal state , not a confederate association of sovereign states, the usual meaning of confederation in modern terms. In Canada , the word confederation has an additional unrelated meaning. " Confederation " refers to the process of (or the event of) establishing or joining

1125-621: A Europe dominated by monarchies and free trade), and it ensured peace between the different cultural entities of the area. After the Sonderbund War of 1847 , when some of the Catholic cantons of Switzerland attempted to set up a separate union ( Sonderbund in German) against the Protestant majority, a vote was held and the majority of the cantons approved the new Federal Constitution which changed

1250-470: A confederation, compared to a federal state , the central authority is relatively weak. Decisions made by the general government in a unicameral legislature, a council of the member states, require subsequent implementation by the member states to take effect; they are not laws acting directly upon the individual but have more the character of interstate agreements. Also, decision-making in the general government usually proceeds by consensus (unanimity), not by

1375-461: A date which later became Australia's national day . Most early settlers were convicts , transported for petty crimes and assigned as labourers or servants to "free settlers" (willing immigrants). Once emancipated , convicts tended to integrate into colonial society. Convict rebellions and uprisings were suppressed under martial law, which lasted for two years following the 1808 Rum Rebellion , Australia's only successful coup d'état . During

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1500-632: A marginal role in nationwide general elections. The system in Belgium is known as consociationalism . That makes Belgium fundamentally different from federal countries like Switzerland , Canada , Germany and Australia . National parties receive over 90% of voter support in those countries. The only geographical areas comparable with Belgium within Europe are Catalonia , the Basque Country (both part of Spain ), Northern Ireland and Scotland (both part of

1625-601: A modern country that traditionally refers to itself as a confederation because the official (and traditional) name of Switzerland in German ( the majority language of the Swiss ) is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (literally "Swiss Comradeship by Oath"), an expression which was translated into the Latin Confoederatio Helvetica (Helvetic Confederation). It had been a confederacy since its inception in 1291 as

1750-546: A region in the central Andean highlands in present-day Colombia. The Hoa ruled the northern section of the confederation, while the Zipa ruled the southern portion. The Andean civilizations consisted of loose confederations, such as the Aymara kingdoms and the Diaguita , with the former being composed of distinct diarchies. In 2003, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was transformed into

1875-483: A republican form (confederated republics) are usually called states (like states of the American Confederacy , 1861–1865) or republics (like republics of Serbia and Montenegro within the former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro , 2003–2006). Those that have a monarchical form of government (confederated monarchies) are defined by various hierarchical ranks (like kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan within

2000-568: A settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania ), and in 1813, Gregory Blaxland , William Lawson and William Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, opening the interior to European settlement. The British claim extended to the whole Australian continent in 1827 when Major Edmund Lockyer established a settlement on King George Sound (modern-day Albany ). The Swan River Colony (present-day Perth )

2125-548: A short distance off the north-east coast and extends for more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi). Mount Augustus , claimed to be the world's largest monolith, is located in Western Australia. At 2,228 m (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland. Even taller are Mawson Peak , at 2,745 m (9,006 ft), on the remote Australian external territory of Heard Island , and, in

2250-478: A subsequent federal law, set forth negotiating conditions for a Canadian province (though not a territory ) to leave the Canadian federal state (addressed also by a related Quebec law ). Importantly, negotiation would first need triggering by referendum and executing by constitutional amendment using a current amending mechanism of Canada's constitution—meaning that, while not legal under the current constitution, it

2375-558: A treaty or of a treaty amendment is required. Such a form may thus be described as a semi-intergovernmental confederation. However, some academic observers more usually discuss the EU in the terms of it being a federation. As the international law professor Joseph H. H. Weiler (of the Hague Academy and New York University ) wrote, "Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism". Jean-Michel Josselin and Alain Marciano see

2500-509: A weak common president , ministerial council and parliament . The two constituent republics functioned separately throughout the period of its short existence, and they continued to operate under separate economic policies and to use separate currencies (the euro was and still is the only legal tender in Montenegro, and the dinar was and still is the legal tender in Serbia). On 21 May 2006,

2625-411: A wide variety of landscapes, with tropical rainforests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east, and desert in the centre. The desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land. Australia is the driest inhabited continent; its annual rainfall averaged over continental area is less than 500 mm. The population density

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2750-436: Is 3.4 inhabitants per square kilometre, although the large majority of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline. The population density exceeds 19,500 inhabitants per square kilometre in central Melbourne. In 2021 Australia had 10% of the global permanent meadows and pastureland. Forest cover is around 17% of Australia's total land area. The Great Barrier Reef , the world's largest coral reef, lies

2875-423: Is King Charles III , who also reigns as monarch directly in the 15 member states known as Commonwealth realms since his accession in 2022. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a loose alliance or confederation consisting of nine of the 15 former Soviet Republics , the exceptions being Turkmenistan (a CIS associate member), Lithuania , Latvia , Estonia , Ukraine , and Georgia . Georgia left

3000-413: Is a constitutional monarchy , a parliamentary democracy and a federation . The country has maintained its mostly unchanged constitution alongside a stable liberal democratic political system since Federation in 1901. It is one of the world's oldest federations, in which power is divided between the federal and state governments. The Australian system of government combines elements derived from

3125-803: Is a middle power , and has the world's thirteenth-highest military expenditure . It is a member of international groups including the United Nations; the G20 ; the OECD ; the World Trade Organization ; Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ; the Pacific Islands Forum ; the Pacific Community ; the Commonwealth of Nations ; and the defence and security organisations ANZUS , AUKUS , and the Five Eyes . It

3250-720: Is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States. The name Australia (pronounced / ə ˈ s t r eɪ l i ə / in Australian English ) is derived from the Latin Terra Australis ( ' southern land ' ), a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times. Several 16th-century cartographers used the word Australia on maps, but not to identify modern Australia. When Europeans began visiting and mapping Australia in

3375-552: Is democratically feasible without resorting to extralegal means or international involvement. Its unique nature and the political sensitivities surrounding it cause there to be no common or legal classification for the European Union (EU). However, it bears some resemblance to both a confederation (or a "new" type of confederation) and a federation. The term supranational union has also been applied. The EU operates common economic policies with hundreds of common laws, which enable

3500-438: Is diverse, and the country has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world . It has a highly developed market economy and one of the highest per capita incomes globally . Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to the country's economy. It ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights. Australia

3625-462: Is governed by convention and their precise scope is unclear. The most notable exercise of these powers was the dismissal of the Whitlam government in the constitutional crisis of 1975 . Confederation List of forms of government A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league ) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by

3750-593: Is often abbreviated to Cth, refers to the federal government , and "Commonwealth of Australia" is the official name of the country. The Bahamas , a Commonwealth realm , has used the official style Commonwealth of The Bahamas since its independence in 1973. The small Caribbean republic of Dominica has used the official style Commonwealth of Dominica since 1978. Four states of the United States of America officially designate themselves as "commonwealths". All four were part of Great Britain's possessions along

3875-557: Is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.6–2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the Earth. Having been part of all major supercontinents , the Australian continent began to form after the breakup of Gondwana in the Permian , with the separation of the continental landmass from the African continent and Indian subcontinent. It separated from Antarctica over a prolonged period beginning in

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4000-600: Is uncertain how many waves of immigration may have contributed to these ancestors of modern Aboriginal Australians. The Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land is possibly the oldest site showing the presence of humans in Australia. The oldest human remains found are the Lake Mungo remains , which have been dated to around 41,000 years ago. Aboriginal Australian culture is one of the oldest continuous cultures on Earth. At

4125-411: Is unique. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds , and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic . Australia has at least 755 species of reptile, more than any other country in the world. Besides Antarctica, Australia is the only continent that developed without feline species. Feral cats may have been introduced in the 17th century by Dutch shipwrecks, and later in

4250-715: The Icelandic Commonwealth in English. In this period Iceland was colonized by a public consisting largely of recent immigrants from Norway who had fled the unification of that country under King Harald Fairhair . The Commonwealth of the Philippines was the administrative body that governed the Philippines from 1935 to 1946, aside from a period of exile in the Second World War from 1942 to 1945 when Japan occupied

4375-579: The 2016 statehood referendum , at least partially in order to retain the initials "D.C." as the state's abbreviation. The Commonwealth of Nations —formerly the British Commonwealth—is a voluntary association of 56 independent sovereign states, most of which were once part of the British Empire . The Commonwealth's membership includes both republics and monarchies. The Head of the Commonwealth

4500-631: The Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially by that name. The first official published use of the new name came with the publication in 1830 of The Australia Directory by the Hydrographic Office . Colloquial names for Australia include " Oz ", " Straya " and " Down Under ". Other epithets include "the Great Southern Land", "the Lucky Country" (from the 1964 book of

4625-597: The Atlantic coast of North America prior to the American Revolution . As such, they share a strong influence of English common law in some of their laws and institutions. The four are: Two organized but unincorporated U.S. territories are called commonwealths. The two are: In 2016, the Washington, D.C. city council also selected "Douglass Commonwealth" as the potential name of State of Washington, D.C. , following

4750-493: The Australia Acts of 1986. Australia is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy comprising six states and ten territories . Its population of more than 28 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Canberra is the nation's capital, while its most populous cities are Sydney and Melbourne , both with a population of more than 5 million. Australia's culture

4875-515: The Belarusian government . The confederation was created with the objective of co-ordinating common action on economic integration and foreign affairs. However, many of the treaty's provisions have not yet been implemented. Consequently, The Times , in 2020, described it as "a mostly unimplemented confederation". On July 6, 2024, at the end of the first summit of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES),

5000-478: The British Empire . It is also used in the translation for the organisation made up of formerly Soviet states, the Commonwealth of Independent States . Informally, by analogy to the Commonwealth of Nations, the French-influenced post-colonial Organisation internationale de la Francophonie is sometimes referred to in the English language as the "French Commonwealth", although the organisation itself never uses

5125-694: The EPP , the S&;D Group and Renew Europe , support a federal model for the European Union. The ECR Group argues for a reformed European Union along confederal lines. The Brothers of Italy party, led by Giorgia Meloni , campaigns for a confederal Europe. On her election as President of the ECR Party in September 2020 Meloni said, "Let us continue to fight together for a confederate Europe of free and sovereign states". In

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5250-638: The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg City as being a primary force behind the building of a federal legal order for the EU, with Josselin stating that a "complete shift from a confederation to a federation would have required to straight-forwardly replace the principality of the member states vis-à-vis the Union by that of the European citizens. As a consequence, both confederate and federate features coexist in

5375-542: The European Parliament , must be transposed into national law by national parliaments. Most collective decisions by member states are taken by weighted majorities and blocking minorities typical of upper houses in federations. On the other hand, the absolute unanimity typical of intergovernmentalism is required only in respect to the Common Foreign and Security Policy , as well as in situations when ratification of

5500-618: The Flemish (Belgians who speak Dutch or Dutch dialects) and the Walloons (Belgians who speak French or French dialects). For example, in the last several decades, over 95% of Belgians have voted for political parties that represent voters from only one community, the separatist N-VA being the party with the most voter support among the Flemish population. Parties that strongly advocate Belgian unity and appeal to voters of both communities usually play only

5625-579: The Gulf Country —with their tropical climate—include forest, woodland, wetland, grassland, rainforest and desert. At the north-west corner of the continent are the sandstone cliffs and gorges of The Kimberley , and below that the Pilbara . The Victoria Plains tropical savanna lies south of the Kimberley and Arnhem Land savannas, forming a transition between the coastal savannas and the interior deserts. At

5750-631: The Hashemite Arab Union in 1958). Many scholars have claimed that the Kingdom of Belgium , a country with a complicated federal structure has adopted some characteristics of a confederation under the pressure of separatist movements, especially in Flanders . For example, C. E. Lagasse declared that Belgium was "near the political system of a Confederation" regarding the constitutional reform agreements between Belgian Regions and between Communities , and

5875-542: The Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation , which is correlated with periodic drought , and the seasonal tropical low-pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. These factors cause rainfall to vary markedly from year to year. Much of the northern part of the country has a tropical, predominantly summer-rainfall ( monsoon ). The south-west corner of the country has

6000-529: The Iraq War from 2003 to 2009. The nation's trade relations also became increasingly oriented towards East Asia in the 21st century, with China becoming the nation's largest trading partner by a large margin. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic , several of Australia's largest cities were locked down for extended periods and free movement across the national and state borders was restricted in an attempt to slow

6125-638: The Menzies Government to ban the Communist Party of Australia , and a bitter split in the Labor Party in 1955. As a result of a 1967 referendum , the federal government gained the power to legislate with regard to Indigenous Australians, and Indigenous Australians were fully included in the census . Pre-colonial land interests (referred to as native title in Australia) was recognised in law for

6250-408: The Montenegrin independence referendum was held. The final official results indicated on 31 May that 55.5% of voters voted in favor of independence. The confederation effectively came to an end after Montenegro's formal declaration of independence on 3 June 2006 and Serbia's formal declaration of independence on 5 June. Switzerland , officially known as the Swiss Confederation , is an example of

6375-423: The Old Swiss Confederacy , which was originally created as an alliance among the valley communities of the central Alps , until it became a federation in 1848 but it retains the name of Confederacy for reasons of historical tradition. The confederacy facilitated management of common interests (such as freedom from external domination especially from the Habsburg Empire , the development of republican institutions in

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6500-415: The Permian and continuing through to the Cretaceous . When the last glacial period ended in about 10,000 BC, rising sea levels formed Bass Strait , separating Tasmania from the mainland. Then between about 8,000 and 6,500 BC, the lowlands in the north were flooded by the sea, separating New Guinea, the Aru Islands , and the mainland of Australia. The Australian continent is moving toward Eurasia at

6625-411: The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro , a confederation of the Republic of Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia . The state was constituted as a loose political union , but formally functioned as a sovereign subject of international law, and member of the United Nations . As a confederation, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro had very few shared functions, such as defense, foreign affairs and

6750-451: The Territory of Papua and New Guinea in 1949 and gained independence from Australia in 1975. In 1914, Australia joined the Allies in fighting the First World War, and took part in many of the major battles fought on the Western Front . Of about 416,000 who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded. Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli in 1915 as

6875-403: The Torres Strait Islands . The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent " New Holland " during the 17th century, and although no attempt at settlement was made, a number of shipwrecks left men either stranded or, as in the case of the Batavia in 1629, marooned for mutiny and murder, thus becoming the first Europeans to permanently inhabit

7000-429: The United Kingdom ) and parts of Italy , where a massive voter turnout for regional (and often separatist) political parties has become the rule in the last decades, and nationwide parties advocating national unity draw around half or sometimes less of the votes. The Benelux is a politico-economic union of the states of Belgium , the Netherlands , and Luxembourg bound through treaties and based on consensus between

7125-423: The Wabanaki Confederacy , Western Confederacy , Tsenacommacah , Seven Nations of Canada , Pontiac's Confederacy , Pennacook Confederacy , Illinois Confederation , Tecumseh's Confederacy , Muscogee Confederacy , Great Sioux Nation , Blackfoot Confederacy , Warm Springs Confederacy , Manahoac Confederacy , Iron Confederacy and Council of Three Fires . The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, historically known as

7250-519: The bombing of Darwin and other Japanese attacks on Australian soil , led to a widespread belief in Australia that a Japanese invasion was imminent , and a shift from the United Kingdom to the United States as Australia's principal ally and security partner. Since 1951, Australia has been allied with the United States under the ANZUS treaty. In the decades following World War II, Australia enjoyed significant increases in living standards, leisure time and suburban development. Governments encouraged

7375-426: The emu and the kookaburra . Australia is home to many dangerous animals including some of the most venomous snakes in the world. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE . Many animal and plant species became extinct soon after first human settlement, including the Australian megafauna ; others have disappeared since European settlement, among them

7500-479: The governor-general at the federal level and by the governors at the state level, who by section 63 of the Constitution and convention act on the advice of their ministers. Thus, in practice the governor-general acts as a legal figurehead for the actions of the prime minister and the Cabinet. The governor-general may in some situations exercise reserve powers : powers exercisable in the absence or contrary to ministerial advice. When these powers may be exercised

7625-409: The last glacial period . By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct languages and had the oldest living culture in the world. Australia's written history commenced with Dutch exploration of most of the coastline in the 17th-century. British colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales . By the mid-19th century, most of

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7750-494: The sixth-largest country in the world and the largest country by area in Oceania . It is the world's oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with some of the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country , and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates including deserts in the interior and tropical rainforests along the coast . The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during

7875-432: The "Republic of Liberia" when it declared independence (and adopted a new constitution) in 1847. "Commonwealth" was first proposed as a term for a federation of the six Australian crown colonies at the 1891 constitutional convention in Sydney . Its adoption was initially controversial, as it was associated by some with the republicanism of Oliver Cromwell ( see above ), but it was retained in all subsequent drafts of

8000-483: The "baptism of fire" that forged the new nation's identity . The beginning of the campaign is commemorated annually on Anzac Day , a date which rivals Australia Day as the nation's most important. From 1939 to 1945, Australia joined the Allies in fighting the Second World War. Australia's armed forces fought in the Pacific , European and Mediterranean and Middle East theatres . The shock of Britain's defeat in Singapore in 1942, followed soon after by

8125-503: The "island continent" and is sometimes considered the world's largest island . Australia has 34,218 km (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands), and claims an extensive exclusive economic zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,060 sq mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory . Mainland Australia lies between latitudes 9° and 44° south , and longitudes 112° and 154° east . Australia's size gives it

8250-443: The 17th century, the name Terra Australis was applied to the new territories. Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as New Holland , a name first applied by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 (as Nieuw-Holland ) and subsequently anglicised. Terra Australis still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts. The name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders , who said it

8375-428: The 18th century by European settlers. They are now considered a major factor in the decline and extinction of many vulnerable and endangered native species. Seafaring immigrants from Asia are believed to have brought the dingo to Australia sometime after the end of the last ice age—perhaps 4000 years ago—and Aboriginal people helped disperse them across the continent as pets, contributing to the demise of thylacines on

8500-416: The 2018 Environmental Performance Index . There are more than 1,800 animals and plants on Australia's threatened species list, including more than 500 animals. Paleontologists discovered a fossil site of a prehistoric rainforest in McGraths Flat , in South Australia, that presents evidence that this now arid desert and dry shrubland / grassland was once home to an abundance of life. Australia

8625-500: The Australian Antarctic Territory, Mount McClintock and Mount Menzies , at 3,492 m (11,457 ft) and 3,355 m (11,007 ft) respectively. Eastern Australia is marked by the Great Dividing Range , which runs parallel to the coast of Queensland, New South Wales and much of Victoria. The name is not strictly accurate, because parts of the range consist of low hills, and the highlands are typically no more than 1,600 m (5,200 ft) in height. The coastal uplands and

8750-438: The Australian mainland. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken , captained by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon . He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February 1606 at the Pennefather River near the modern town of Weipa on Cape York. Later that year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through and navigated

8875-418: The CIS in August 2008 following the 2008 invasion of the Russian military into South Ossetia and Abkhazia . Its creation signalled the dissolution of the Soviet Union , its purpose being to "allow a civilised divorce" between the Soviet Republics . The CIS has developed as a forum by which the member-states can co-operate in economics , defence , and foreign policy . Labour MP Tony Benn sponsored

9000-588: The Canadian federal state. In modern terminology, Canada is a federation, not a confederation. However, to contemporaries of the Constitution Act, 1867 , confederation did not have the same connotation of a weakly-centralized federation. Canadian Confederation generally refers to the Constitution Act, 1867 , which formed the Dominion of Canada from three of the colonies of British North America , and to

9125-478: The EU as a federal system". Thomas Risse and Tanja A. Börzel claim that the "EU only lacks two significant features of a federation. First, the Member States remain the "masters" of the treaties, i.e., they have the exclusive power to amend or change the constitutive treaties of the EU. Second, the EU lacks a real "tax and spend" capacity, in other words, there is no fiscal federalism". Valéry Giscard d'Estaing ,

9250-1059: The Iroquois League or the League of Five (later Six) Nations, is the country of Native Americans (in what is now the United States) and First Nations (in what is now Canada) that consists of six nations: the Mohawk , the Oneida , the Onondaga , the Cayuga , the Seneca and the Tuscarora . The Six Nations have a representative government known as the Grand Council which is the oldest governmental institution still maintaining its original form in North America. Each clan from

9375-478: The beginning of the reign). "A commonwealth of good counsaile" was the title of the 1607 English translation of the work of Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki "De optimo senatore" that presented to English readers many of the ideas present in the political system of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Between 1914 and 1925, Catalonia was an autonomous region of Spain. Its government during that time

9500-610: The centre and Phanerozoic sedimentary basins , metamorphic and igneous rocks in the east. The Australian mainland and Tasmania are situated in the middle of the tectonic plate and have no active volcanoes, but due to passing over the East Australia hotspot , recent volcanism has occurred during the Holocene , in the Newer Volcanics Province of western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia. Volcanism also occurs in

9625-585: The chairman of the body of experts commissioned to elaborate a constitutional charter for the European Union, was confronted with strong opposition from the United Kingdom towards including the words "federal" or "federation" in the unratified European Constitution and the word was replaced with either "Community" or "Union". A majority of the Political Groups in the European Parliament , including

9750-477: The colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, constitutional conventions and referendums , resulting in the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia as a nation under the new Australian Constitution . After the 1907 Imperial Conference , Australia and several other self-governing British settler colonies were given the status of self-governing dominions within the British Empire. Australia

9875-636: The colony of Upper Canada ), Nova Scotia , and New Brunswick . Later participants were Manitoba , British Columbia , Prince Edward Island , Alberta and Saskatchewan (the latter two created in 1905 as federated provinces from parts of the directly federally administered Northwest Territories , first transferred to the Dominion in 1869 and now possessing devolved governments as itself, Yukon and Nunavut ), and finally Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador ) in 1949. A Canadian judicial constitutional interpretation, Reference Re Secession of Quebec , and

10000-459: The constitution. The term was finally incorporated into law in the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 , which established the federation. Australia operates under a federal system, in which power is divided between the federal (national) government and the state governments (the successors of the six colonies). So, in an Australian context, the term "Commonwealth" (capitalised), which

10125-527: The context of the history of the indigenous peoples of the Americas , a confederacy may refer to a semi-permanent political and military alliance consisting of multiple nations (or "tribes", "bands", or "villages"), which maintained their separate leadership. One of the most well-known is the Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois), but there were many others during different eras and locations across North America , such as

10250-450: The continent had been explored by European settlers and five additional self-governing British colonies were established, each gaining responsible government by 1890. The colonies federated in 1901, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. This continued a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 , and culminating in

10375-807: The continent. In 1770, Captain James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named " New South Wales " and claimed for Great Britain. Following the loss of its American colonies in 1783, the British Government sent a fleet of ships, the First Fleet , under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip , to establish a new penal colony in New South Wales . A camp was set up and the Union Flag raised at Sydney Cove , Port Jackson , on 26 January 1788,

10500-527: The convict system culminated in its abolition in the eastern colonies by the 1850s. Initially a free colony, Western Australia practised penal transportation from 1850 to 1868. The six colonies individually gained responsible government between 1855 and 1890, thus becoming elective democracies managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire . The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs. In

10625-615: The country . It replaced the Insular Government , a United States territorial government, and was established by the Tydings–McDuffie Act . The Commonwealth was designed as a transitional administration in preparation for the country's full achievement of independence, which was achieved in 1946. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was a founding member of the United Nations . Republic is still an alternative translation of

10750-664: The director of the Centre de recherche et d'information socio-politiques (CRISP) Vincent de Coorebyter called Belgium "undoubtedly a federation...[with] some aspects of a confederation" in Le Soir . Also in Le Soir , Michel Quévit of the Catholic University of Louvain wrote that the "Belgian political system is already in dynamics of a Confederation". Nevertheless, the Belgian regions and

10875-459: The early 2010s after the 2000s Australian drought . Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, the continent includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests . Fungi typify that diversity—an estimated 250,000 species—of which only 5% have been described—occur in Australia. Because of the continent's great age, extremely variable weather patterns, and long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota

11000-524: The final communiqué announced the creation of a confederation of the three countries of the AES, namely Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. it was in February 2024 that the military powers of the three countries announced the creation of the AES after their withdrawal from ECOWAS. Historical confederations (especially those predating the 20th century) may not fit the current definition of a confederation, may be proclaimed as

11125-755: The first time when the High Court of Australia held in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) that Australia was neither terra nullius ( ' land belonging to no one ' ) or "desert and uncultivated land" at the time of European settlement. Following the abolition of the last vestiges of the White Australia policy in 1973, Australia's demography and culture transformed as a result of a large and ongoing wave of non-European immigration, mostly from Asia. The late 20th century also saw an increasing focus on foreign policy ties with other Pacific Rim nations. The Australia Acts severed

11250-515: The five nations sends chiefs to act as representatives and make decisions for the whole confederation. It has been operating since its foundation in 1142 despite limited international recognition today. Several of the Pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia , such as the Muisca and Tairona were composed of loose confederations. The Muisca form of government consisted of two different rulers that governed

11375-412: The heart of the country are the uplands of central Australia . Prominent features of the centre and south include Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock), the famous sandstone monolith, and the inland Simpson , Tirari and Sturt Stony , Gibson , Great Sandy, Tanami , and Great Victoria deserts, with the famous Nullarbor Plain on the southern coast. The Western Australian mulga shrublands lie between

11500-470: The interior deserts and Mediterranean-climate Southwest Australia . Lying on the Indo-Australian Plate , the mainland of Australia is the lowest and most primordial landmass on Earth with a relatively stable geological history. The landmass includes virtually all known rock types and from all geological time periods spanning more than 3.8 billion years of the Earth's history. The Pilbara Craton

11625-417: The island of New Guinea (considered geologically as part of the Australian continent), and in the Australian external territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands . Seismic activity in the Australian mainland and Tasmania is also low, with the greatest number of fatalities having occurred in the 1989 Newcastle earthquake . The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including

11750-438: The judicial landscape". Rutgers political science professor R. Daniel Kelemen said: "Those uncomfortable using the 'F' word in the EU context should feel free to refer to it as a quasi-federal or federal-like system. Nevertheless, the EU has the necessary attributes of a federal system. It is striking that while many scholars of the EU continue to resist analyzing it as a federation, most contemporary students of federalism view

11875-743: The later 20th century a socialist political party known as the Common Wealth Party was active. Previously a similarly named party, the Commonwealth Land Party , was in existence. The period of Icelandic history from the establishment of the Althing in 930 to the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king in 1262 is usually called the Icelandic Nation ( Icelandic : Þjóðveldið ) in Icelandic and

12000-465: The linguistic communities do not have the autonomy to leave the Belgian state. As such, federal aspects still dominate. Also, for fiscal policy and public finances, the federal state dominates the other levels of government. The increasingly-confederal aspects of the Belgian Federal State appear to be a political reflection of the profound cultural, sociological and economic differences between

12125-545: The location for the future federal capital of Canberra . While it was being constructed, Melbourne served as the temporary capital from 1901 to 1927. The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of South Australia to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia became the colonial ruler of the Territory of Papua (which had initially been annexed by Queensland in 1883) in 1902 and of the Territory of New Guinea (formerly German New Guinea ) in 1920. The two were unified as

12250-448: The mainland. Australia is also one of 17 megadiverse countries. Australian forests are mostly made up of evergreen species, particularly eucalyptus trees in the less arid regions; wattles replace them as the dominant species in drier regions and deserts. Among well-known Australian animals are the monotremes (the platypus and echidna ); a host of marsupials , including the kangaroo , koala , and wombat , and birds such as

12375-576: The majority. Historically, those features limit the union's effectiveness. Hence, political pressure tends to build over time for the transition to a federal system of government, as in the American, Swiss and German cases of regional integration . In terms of internal structure, every confederal state is composed of two or more constituent states, referred to as confederated states . Regarding their political systems , confederated states can have republican or monarchical forms of government. Those that have

12500-417: The member states of a confederation retain their sovereignty, they have an implicit right of secession . The political philosopher Emmerich de Vattel said: "Several sovereign and independent states may unite themselves together by a perpetual confederacy without each, in particular, ceasing to be a perfect state.... The deliberations in common will offer no violence to the sovereignty of each member". Under

12625-466: The mid-19th century, explorers such as Burke and Wills charted Australia's interior. A series of gold rushes beginning in the early 1850s led to an influx of new migrants from China , North America and continental Europe, as well as outbreaks of bushranging and civil unrest; the latter peaked in 1854 when Ballarat miners launched the Eureka Rebellion against gold license fees. The 1860s saw

12750-602: The next two decades, social and economic reforms, together with the establishment of a Legislative Council and Supreme Court , saw the penal colony transition to a civil society. The indigenous population declined for 150 years following European settlement, mainly due to infectious disease. British colonial authorities did not sign any treaties with Aboriginal groups . As settlement expanded, tens of thousands of Indigenous people and thousands of settlers were killed in frontier conflicts while settlers dispossessed surviving Indigenous peoples of most of their land. In 1803,

12875-404: The political system to one of a federation . In 1999, Russia and Belarus signed a treaty to form a confederation, which came into force on 26 January 2000. Although it was given the name Union State , and has some characteristics of a federation, it remains a confederation of two sovereign states. Its existence has been seen as an indication of Russia's political and economic support for

13000-428: The political systems of the United Kingdom (a fused executive , constitutional monarchy and strong party discipline ) and the United States ( federalism , a written constitution and strong bicameralism with an elected upper house), resulting in a distinct hybrid. Federal government power is partially separated between three groups: Charles III reigns as King of Australia and is represented in Australia by

13125-572: The protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created under the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity to protect and preserve unique ecosystems; 65 wetlands are listed under the Ramsar Convention , and 16 natural World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 21st out of 178 countries in the world on

13250-475: The rate of 6 to 7 centimetres a year. The Australian mainland's continental crust , excluding the thinned margins, has an average thickness of 38   km, with a range in thickness from 24 km to 59 km. Australia's geology can be divided into several main sections, showcasing that the continent grew from west to east: the Archaean cratonic shields found mostly in the west, Proterozoic fold belts in

13375-508: The relationship among the member states constituting a confederation varies considerably. Likewise, the relationship between the member states and the general government and their distribution of powers varies. Some looser confederations are similar to international organisations . Other confederations with stricter rules may resemble federal systems . These elements of such confederations, the international organization and federalist perspective, has been combined as supranational unions . Since

13500-533: The remaining constitutional ties between Australia and the United Kingdom while maintaining the monarch in her independent capacity as Queen of Australia . In a 1999 constitutional referendum , 55% of voters rejected abolishing the monarchy and becoming a republic. Following the September 11 attacks on the United States, Australia joined the United States in fighting the Afghanistan War from 2001 to 2021 and

13625-515: The representatives of the member states. They partially share a common foreign policy, especially in regards to their navies through the BeNeSam . The Dutch defence minister (2010–2012) Hans Hillen even said on Belgian radio that it is not impossible that the three armed forces of the member-states could be integrated into "Benelux Armed Forces" one day. Because of this the Benelux is sometimes labeled as

13750-419: The resources of their reefs and seas. Agriculture also developed on some islands and villages appeared by the 1300s. By the mid-18th century in northern Australia, contact, trade and cross-cultural engagement had been established between local Aboriginal groups and Makassan trepangers , visiting from present-day Indonesia. The Dutch are the first Europeans that recorded sighting and making landfall on

13875-491: The rise of blackbirding , where South Sea Islanders were coerced or abducted into indentured labour, mainly by Queensland colonists. From 1886, Australian colonial governments began removing many Aboriginal children from their families and communities, justified on the grounds of child protection and forced assimilation policies. The Second Boer War (1899–1902) marked the largest overseas deployment of Australia's colonial forces . On 1 January 1901, federation of

14000-453: The rule of Oliver Cromwell and his son and successor Richard . From 1653 to 1659, although still legally known as a Commonwealth, the republic, united with the former Kingdom of Scotland , operated under different institutions (at times as a de facto monarchy) and is known by historians as the Protectorate . In a British context, it is sometimes referred to as the "Old Commonwealth". In

14125-534: The same name ), "the Sunburnt Country", and "the Wide Brown Land". The latter two both derive from Dorothea Mackellar 's 1908 poem " My Country ". Indigenous Australians comprise two broad groups: Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea crossings from what is now Southeast Asia. It

14250-709: The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus . Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas, with the Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and the Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent and sixth-largest country by total area , Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed

14375-464: The subsequent incorporation of other colonies and territories. Beginning on 1 July 1867, it was initially a self-governing dominion of the British Empire with a federal structure , whose government was led by Sir John A. Macdonald . The initial colonies involved were the Province of Canada (becoming Quebec from Canada East, formerly the colony of Lower Canada ; and Ontario from Canada West, formerly

14500-571: The term. Translations of Ancient Roman writers' works to English have on occasion translated " Res publica ", and variants thereof, to "the commonwealth", a term referring to the Roman state as a whole. The Commonwealth of England was the official name of the political unit ( de facto military rule in the name of parliamentary supremacy) that replaced the Kingdom of England (after the English Civil War ) from 1649 to 1653 and 1659 to 1660, under

14625-406: The thylacine. Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced animal, chromistan , fungal and plant species. All these factors have led to Australia's having the highest mammal extinction rate of any country in the world. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is the legal framework for

14750-1023: The time of first European contact, Aboriginal Australians belonged to wide range of societies, with diverse economies spread across at least 250 different language groups . Estimates of the Aboriginal population before British settlement range from 300,000 to 3 million. Aboriginal Australians cultures were (and remain) deeply connected with the land and the environment, with stories of The Dreaming maintained through oral tradition , songs , dance and paintings. Certain groups engaged in fire-stick farming , fish farming , and built semi-permanent shelters . These practices have variously been characterised as " hunter-gatherer ", " agricultural ", "natural cultivation" and "intensification". Torres Strait Islander people first settled their islands at least 2,500 years ago. Culturally and linguistically distinct from mainland Aboriginal peoples, they were seafarers and obtained their livelihood from seasonal horticulture and

14875-579: The traditional name Rzeczpospolita of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Wincenty Kadłubek (Vincent Kadlubo, 1160–1223) used for the first time the original Latin term res publica in the context of Poland in his "Chronicles of the Kings and Princes of Poland". The name was used officially for the confederal union formed by Poland and Lithuania (1569–1795). It is also often referred as " Nobles' Commonwealth " (1505–1795, i.e., before

15000-472: The union). In the contemporary political doctrine of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, "our state is a Republic (or Commonwealth) under the presidency of the King". The Commonwealth introduced a doctrine of religious tolerance called Warsaw Confederation , had its own parliament Sejm (although elections were restricted to nobility and elected kings , who were bound to certain contracts Pacta conventa from

15125-520: Was "more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the Earth". The first time that Australia appears to have been officially used was in April 1817, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledged the receipt of Flinders' charts of Australia from Lord Bathurst . In December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted. In 1824,

15250-615: Was Australia's warmest recorded year, and the 2019–2020 bushfire season was the country's worst on record . Australia's greenhouse gas emissions per capita are among the highest in the world. Water restrictions are frequently in place in many regions and cities of Australia in response to chronic shortages due to urban population increases and localised drought. Throughout much of the continent, major flooding regularly follows extended periods of drought, flushing out inland river systems, overflowing dams and inundating large inland flood plains, as occurred throughout Eastern Australia in

15375-413: Was established in 1829, evolving into the largest Australian colony by area, Western Australia . In accordance with population growth, separate colonies were carved from New South Wales: Tasmania in 1825, South Australia in 1836, New Zealand in 1841, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. South Australia was founded as a free colony—it never accepted transported convicts. Growing opposition to

15500-420: Was given the title mancomunidad ( Catalan : mancomunitat ), which is translated into English as "commonwealth". The Commonwealth of Catalonia had limited powers and was formed as a federation of the four Catalan provinces. A number of Catalan-language institutions were created during its existence. Between 1838 and 1847, Liberia was officially known as the "Commonwealth of Liberia". It changed its name to

15625-509: Was one of the founding members of the League of Nations in 1920, and the United Nations in 1945. The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended the ability of the UK to pass federal laws without Australia's consent. Australia adopted it in 1942, but it was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed during World War II. The Australian Capital Territory was formed in 1911 as

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