History of Oceania

History of Oceania

c300
Beginning of early eastern Polynesian culture
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c500
Polynesians, originally from Southeast Asia, settle in Hawaiian Islands and Easter Island
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c500
Polynesians continue to navigate eastwards
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700
Easter Islanders begin to build stone platforms which form part of ceremonial enclosures
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700
First Polynesians settle in the Cook Islands
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900
NEW NATIONS
First settlers from the Cook Islands, ancestors of the Maoris, reach the South Island, New Zealand

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c. 1000
Maori people settle in New Zealand
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c. 1000
Polynesians begin to build stone temples
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1100 s
First statues erected on previously constructed platforms in Easter Island
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1100s
Beginnings of organized societies in Hawaiian Islands
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1100s
Earliest settlements by Polynesians in Pitcairn Island
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c. 1150
Maoris begin to settle in the river mouth areas in the north of the South Island, New Zealand, notably at Wairau Bar

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c. 1200
Tui Tonga monarchy builds coral platform for ceremonial worship on island of Tonga in South Pacific
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c. 1250
Beginnings of intensive valley irrigation schemes in Hawaiian Islands
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c. 1300
Hawaiian peoples start to develop class structure as a result of economic growth through agriculture
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c. 1300
Stone temple complexes, or ÒmaraeÓ, erected on Rarotonga, Cook Islands, and on Moorea Island in the Society Islands
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c. 1300
Huge stone statues erected on Easter Island
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c. 1350
Maoris flourish in the North Island, New Zealand; first terrace-type fortifications, called ÒpaÓ, built
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c. 1400
Tonga people build major ceremonial centre at Mu'a, on the largest island in the Tongatapu Group, South Pacific Ocean
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1400s
Widespread cultivation of wet taro in Hawaiian islands
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c. 1500
A village of oval stone houses is built on Easter Island
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c. 1511
Portuguese navigators begin to explore the Pacific
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1519-1522
Ferdinand Magellan attempts voyage around the world: he navigates the Pacific, but later dies; his crew completes the voyage
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1525
Diego Ribeiro, official mapmaker for Spain, makes first scientific charts covering the Pacific
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1525
Portuguese probably visit Caroline Islands, northeast of New Guinea, and nearby Palau Islands
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1526
Portuguese land on Papua New Guinea
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1550s
Maoris in both the North and South Islands of New Zealand build fortified enclosures called ÒpaÓ
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1567
Alvaro de Menda–a, Spanish sailor, sets sail from Callao in Peru westwards across the Pacific; he reaches the Ellice Islands and Solomon Islands, east of New
Guinea; in 1569 he arrives back in Callao
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1595
Menda–a visits Marquesas Islands and then Nderic (Santa Cruz)
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1600s
Beginning of building of ÒtupaÓ, stone towers with inner chambers, on Easter Island
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c. 1600
In Tonga, dominant political leadership passes from Tu'i Tonga dynasty to Tu'i Konokupolu dynasty
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1606
Luis Vaez de Torres from Spain sails around New Guinea and reaches the straits now named after him
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1642-1644
Abel Tasman reaches Tasmania and New Zealand
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1680s
Statue building ends on Easter Island; resources and then population decline, and this leads to civil war

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1700s
First contact between Tahitians and Europeans; they meet in Opunohu Valley on Moorea Island
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1722
Dutch navigator Roggeveen reaches Samoa Islands and Easter Island in the Pacific
Mid 1700s Aboriginal culture continues to flourish
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1767
British Captain Samuel Wallis is the first European to reach Tahiti; six months later, French navigator Bougainville visits the islands
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1768-71
First of British Captain James Cook's three voyages to Pacific
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1770
Spanish sailors reach Easter Island
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1772-1775
Captain Cook's second voyage to the Pacific
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1776-1779
Cook's third voyage; on his way through the Pacific he lands in Hawaii and is clubbed, or stabbed, to death by islanders Comte la PŽrouse, French navigator, leads expedition to Pacific and northwest America; touches Japan; he is lost at sea in 1788
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1787-1789
Voyage of Lieutenant William Bligh in the Bounty to the Pacific to find breadfruit plants; crew mutiny and put him to sea
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1788
First British convicts shipped to Botany Bay, Australia
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1790
Bligh returns to England
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1793
First free British settlers reach Australia
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1798
Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania navigated by Bass and Flinders
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1799
Major civil war in Tonga


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1801-1803
Matthew Flinders circumnavigates, then names, Australia; it means ÒsouthernÓ

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1810
Kamehameha I becomes king of all Hawaii
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1815
Russia tries to make landings in Hawaiian Islands
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1819
Pomare II establishes Society Islands' first legal code
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1819
Death of Kamehameha I of Hawaii; his heir, Kamehameha II, abolishes system which restricted contact between men and women
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1821
Protestant missionaries arrive in Cook Islands
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1824
Kamehameha II of Hawaii visits England and dies there
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1825
Dutch annexe Irian Jaya, western part of New Guinea
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1830
Tahitian Protestant missionaries arrive in Fiji
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1830
Malietoa Vaiinupo of Savai'i becomes king of Samoa
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1831
Charles Darwin sets out on five-year voyage to Pacific for scientific research
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1834
French Catholic missionaries arrive in Mangareva in Tuamotu Islands in South Pacific
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1837-1840
Frenchman Jules Dumont d'Urville attempts to chart coast of Antarctica; from 1838-42, Lt Charles Wilkes leads US exploring expedition to Antarctica
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1837-1840
Frenchman Jules Dumont d'Urville attempts to chart coast of Antarctica; from 1838-42, Lt Charles Wilkes leads US exploring expedition to Antarctica
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1840
British and Maoris in New Zealand sign Treaty of Waitangi
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1840
Kamehameha III begins constitutional monarchy in Hawaii; first written Hawaiian constitution
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1842
France annexes the Marquesas Islands and makes Tahiti protectorate
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1848
Hawaiian King Kamehameha III gives his people shares in the islands
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1850
Britain transfers some powers to the four major Australian colonies; they achieve self-government by 1856
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1851
Gold found in southeastern Australia
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1853
France annexes New Caledonia
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1854
Eureka stockade; brief miners' revolt at Ballarat
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1860
R O Burke and W J Wills cross Australia from south to north
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1860
-70 Second Maori War in New Zealand
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1861
Gold discovered in Otago, New Zealand
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1864
First French convicts sent to New Caledonia
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1865
First Chinese labourers arrive in Hawaii
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1865
New Zealand seat of government transferred from Auckland to Wellington
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1869
Germany acquires land in Caroline Islands
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1870s
Gold Rush in New Caledonia
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1871
Cakobau, most important leader of Bau, one of Fiji Islands, establishes a national monarchy in Fiji
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1874
Prince David Kalakaua becomes ruler of Hawaii (to 1891)
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1878
New Caledonian peoples rebel against French
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1879
Britain establishes a naval station in Samoa
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1880
Australia's most famous bushranger, Ned Kelly, is hanged; becomes a folk hero
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1880
France annexes Tahiti as a colony
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1885-1886
Goldfields opened up in Papua New Guinea
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1889
Malietoa Laupepa king of Samoa; is recognized by Britain, United States, and Germany, ÒjointsupervisorsÓ of Samoa
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1893
Votes for women introduced in New Zealand
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1897
New Zealand introduces eight-hour working day; old age pensions, 1898
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1898
United States annexes Hawaii
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1899
Australia and New Zealand troops sent to Boer War


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1900
Phosphate-rich Ocean Island annexed by British
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1900
New Zealand annexes the Cook Islands
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1901
Britain gets control over Tonga's external relations
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1901
Commonwealth of Australia formed
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1902
Votes for women introduced in Australia
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1904
Fijian delegates sit in legislative council for Fiji
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1905
British New Guinea becomes the possession of Australia, and is named Papua
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1906
Britain and France rule over New Hebrides
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1907
New Zealand becomes a dominion
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1907
First elections for national assembly in Philippines
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1909
Creation of separate Labour party in New Zealand
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1910
First victory for Labor party under Andrew Fisher in Australian general election
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1911
Universal military training established in New Zealand
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1913
Wallis Islands become a French protectorate
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1913
Foundation of United Federation of Labour and Social Democratic party in New Zealand
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1915
Britain annexes Gilbert and Ellice islands
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1916-1918
Efforts to introduce national army conscription in Australia defeated in referenda
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1917
Filipino National Guard organized in Philippine Islands
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1918
Queen Salote becomes queen of Tonga
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1918
Influenza epidemic kills one fifth of population of Western Samoa
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1919
Dry dock completed at Pearl Harbor in US territory of Hawaii
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1920
New Zealand given mandate over Samoa
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1920
Formation of a federal Country Party in Australia
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1920
New Zealand becomes member of League of Nations
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1921
Australia given mandate over German New Guinea
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1927
Canberra becomes federal capital of Australia
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1929
Uprising of Mau people of Samoa against New Zealand government
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1931
Foundation of United Australia Party (UAP)
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1933
Australia takes control of large sector of Antarctica
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1935
First Labour government elected in New Zealand; many reforms follow
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1936
Arbitration court of New Zealand fixes basic wage for man and wife and three children
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1937
Formation of New Zealand National Party, in opposition to Labour Party
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1939
Robert Menzies becomes Australian prime minister
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1941
Japanese attack US fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; United States enters World War II
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1942
Naval victory of US fleet over Japanese fleet off Midway Island in the Pacific
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1940s
Immigration of non-English-speaking Europeans to Australia begins to change national ethnic make-up
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1946
United States tests atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in Marshall Islands; continuing US and French nuclear testing on Pacific islands causes massive resentment
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1959
The Antarctic Treaty limits exploitation of Antarctica
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1962
Western Samoa becomes independent
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1970
Tonga and Fiji gain independence from Britain
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1975
Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia
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1975
Political crisis in Australia as governor-general, appointed by British monarch, controversially dismisses elected government, causing considerable resentment
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Mid 1970s
Asian immigration to Australia increases sharply; it continues to be high, making Australia more multicultural
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1980s
Australia and New Zealand go through economic recession; both develop trade links with Asia
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1984
New Zealand declared a nuclear-free zone
in 1985 Rainbow Warrior sunk by pro-nuclear agents
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1986
Treaty of Rarotonga sets up South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone