Northern Territory Travel tips and Tourist Information Guide

To the north, the territory is bordered by the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Regardless of its large area—over 1,349,129 square kilometres (520,902 sq mi), creating it the third largest Australian federal division—it is sparsely populated. With a population of 227,025[two] it is the second least populous division on the mainland, after Jervis Bay Territory.

The history of the Northern Territory began more than 40,000 years ago when Indigenous Australians settled the region. Makassan traders began trading with the indigenous people today of the Northern Territory for trepang from at least the 18th century onwards, and particularly most likely for 300 years prior to that.