When did Oceania become a continent?

The term Oceania, originally known as a "great division" of the world, was replaced by the concept of Australia as a continent in the 1950s. Today, the term Oceania is the geographic region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

Spanning in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, Oceania has a land area of 8,525,989 square kilometers (3,291,903 sq mi) and a population of over 41 million. When compared to other continents, the region of Oceania is the smallest in land area and the second smallest in population after Antarctica.

Oceania has a diverse mix of economies from the highly developed and globally competitive financial markets of Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand, which rank high in quality of life and human development index, to the much less developed economies such as Papua New Guinea, Indonesian New Guinea, Kiribati, Vanuatu, and Tuvalu, while also including medium-sized economies of Pacific islands such as Palau, Fiji, and Tonga. The largest and most populous country in Oceania is Australia, and the largest city is Sydney.