HISTORY34 - Oceania

This article is about a region of the central and southern Pacific Ocean called Oceania (oh-shee-an-ee-uh) that includes the continent of Australia, the large islands of New Zealand and New Guinea, and thousands of smaller islands.  The geographer Conrad Malte-Brun coined the French term Océanie c. 1812.  Océanie derives from the Latin word oceanus, and this from the Greek word ὠκεανός (ōkeanós), "ocean." The term Oceania is used because it is the ocean that links the parts of the region together.

 

The article includes a discussion of the natural landscape of Oceania, and the history of the region from first human inhabitants, through European contact and exploration, colonization and independence, and a snapshot of Oceania today. 

The extent of Oceania is shown on the map below.  Oceania consists of four regions shown on the map below: Micronesia, to the north, includes the Mariana Islands, Guam, and the Marshall Islands.  Melanesia, at the center, includes New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, and Fiji.  Polynesia, to the east, stretching from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south, also includes Samoa, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia (including Tahiti), Pitcairn Island, and Easter Island.  With some overlap, Australasia, to the south, comprises Australia and New Zealand.

 

The four regions that make up Oceania.

Natural Landscape

Oceania has a total land area of 3.29 million square miles; 90% of that, or 2.97 million square miles, is due to Australia alone.  Oceania extends over the central and southern Pacific Ocean for a total area of about 40 million square miles, more than twice the size of the Earth’s largest continent, Asia.

Geology.  Oceania can be divided into three island groups: continental islands, volcanic islands, and coral islands.

Continental islands were once attached to continents, before sea level changes and tectonic plate activity (movement and collision of different sections of the Earth’s crust) caused separation and movement.  Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea are continental islands.  All three have mountain ranges.  Australia is situated in the middle of a tectonic plate, and therefore currently has no active volcanism. Australia’s landscape is dominated by the Outback, a region of deserts and semi-arid land. The Outback is a result of the continent’s large inland plains, its location along the dry Tropic of Capricorn, and its proximity to cool, dry, southerly winds. New Zealand is noted for its volcanic activity, earthquakes, and geothermal areas because of its position on the boundary of tectonic plates. New Zealand’s glaciers are a result of its two islands’ high elevations and proximity to cool, moisture-bearing winds.  New Guinea’s highland rain forests are a result of the island’s high elevations, proximity to tropical, moisture-bearing winds, and location right below the warm Equator.

Volcanic islands were created as volcanic eruptions built up land over time.  These eruptions began under water, when hot magma was cooled and hardened by the ocean.  Over time, this activity created islands with a steep central peak.  Ridges and valleys radiated outward from the peak toward the coastline.  Melanesia contains many volcanic islands because it is a major part of the “Ring of Fire,” a string of volcanoes around the boundary of the Pacific Ocean.  This part of the Ring of Fire is on the boundary of two tectonic plates.  Most islands in the Pacific are volcanic islands, including Easter Island, American Samoa, Fiji, and the Hawaiian Islands.

Coral islands were made of the skeletons and living bodies of small marine animals called corals. Sometimes, coral islands barely reached above sea level.  Coral islands often took the shape of an irregular ring of very small islands, called an atoll, surrounding a lagoon.  An atoll formed when a coral reef built up around a volcanic island, then the volcanic island eroded away, leaving a lagoon.  Atolls are defined as one island even though they are made up of multiple communities of coral.  The island regions of Micronesia and Polynesia are dominated by coral islands.

Climate.  In Australia, the climate is mostly desert or semi-arid, with the southern coastal corners having a temperate climate.  The northern parts of the country have a tropical climate.  Snow falls frequently on the highlands near the east coast.

Most regions of New Zealand have a temperate, maritime climate with four distinct seasons.  Conditions vary from extremely wet on the west coast of the South Island, to almost semi-arid, inland on the South Island, to subtropical in the northernmost of the North Island.  Snow falls in New Zealand's South Island and at higher altitudes in the North Island. Snow is extremely rare at sea level in the North Island.

The Pacific Islands experience tropical and subtropical climates, with the southern el Nino affecting weather conditions.  In  the western Pacific, the monsoon and the related wet season during the summer months, contrast with dry winter winds, which blow over the ocean from the Asian landmass.  Tropical cyclones are only active in November.  Hawaii, although being in the tropics, experiences many different climates, depending on latitude and its geography. The Hawaiian Islands receive most of their precipitation during the winter months.

Flora and Fauna.  The evolution of flora and fauna across Oceania is unique.  Many plants and animals reached the islands from southern Asia during the last glacial period, when sea levels were low enough to allow for travel.  After sea levels rose, species adapted to the environment of each island or community of islands, producing multiple species that evolved from a common ancestor.  Due to its isolation from the rest of the world, Oceania has an incredibly high number of species that are found nowhere else on Earth.

Plants traveled between islands by riding wind or ocean currents. Birds carried the seeds of fruits and plants and spread them between islands with their droppings.  Ferns, mosses, and some flowering plants rely on spores or seeds that can remain airborne for long distances.  Coconut palms and mangroves, common throughout Oceania, produce seeds that can float on salty water for weeks at a time.  Important flowering plants native to Oceania include the jacaranda, hibiscus, pohutukawa, and kowhai. Other indigenous trees include the breadfruit, eucalyptus, and banyan.

Birds are very common in Oceania because they are one of the few animals mobile enough to move from island to island. There are more than 110 native bird species in Oceania, including many seabirds.  Many flightless birds, such as emus, kiwis, cassowaries, wekas, and takahes, are native to Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand.  The Pacific Islands have more than 25 species of birds of paradise, which exhibit colorful plumage.

Lizards and bats make up the majority of Oceania’s native land animals.  Lizard species include the goanna, skink, and bearded dragon.  Oceania has more than a hundred different species of fruit bats.

Oceania is the only place in the world that is home to monotremes - mammals that lay eggs.  All monotremes are native to Australia and New Guinea.  There are only five living species: the duckbill platypus and four species of echidna.

Many of the most familiar animals native to Oceania are marsupials, that carry their newborn young in a pouch, including the koala, kangaroo, and wallaby.  Almost 70% of the marsupials on Earth are native to Oceania.  The red kangaroo, the world’s largest marsupial, can grow up to six feet tall, and weigh as much as 220 pounds.

The seas surrounding the southern half of Australia and the islands of New Zealand are one of the world’s richest areas for seabirds.  The cold, nutrient-rich waters support a diversity of plants and fish that seabirds feed on. These seabirds include different species of albatross, petrel, and shearwater, as well as the Australasian gannet and rockhopper penguin.

The waters surrounding the northern half of Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga have the greatest diversity of tropical coral in the world, and include the world’s two largest coral formations, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and the New Caledonia Barrier Reef - underwater hotspots for biodiversity.  The Great Barrier Reef is home to 30 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises; six species of sea turtles; 215 species of birds; and more than 1,500 species of fish. The New Caledonia Barrier Reef is home to 600 species of sponges, 5,500 species of mollusks, 5,000 species of crustaceans, and at least 1,000 species of fish.

The seas surrounding the tropical islands of the central Pacific Ocean, extending from the Marshall Islands through central and southeastern Polynesia, are also known for tropical coral formations. A variety of whale, tortoise, and fish species also inhabit this realm.

 

A sampling of the extensive flora and fauna of Oceania.

Indigenous Settlement

Most researchers believe that the first humans - today known as aborigines - arrived in Australia and New Guinea from Southeast Asia between 40,000-50,000 years ago, when sea levels were lower and land bridges and relatively short sea crossings separated Australia and New Guinea from the mainland. 

In Australia, these early people settled at first along coasts and river banks, and later moved inland, living a Stone Age hunter-gathering lifestyle.  Around 2500 BC, the aborigines learned to use small, finely finished flaked stone instruments to make knives and shafted axes.  As the use of this technology spread, larger base camps and more stable tribal territories came about, as groups coalesced or exterminated each other to secure food resources.  By 500 BC, most of Australia was settled by aborigines.   At the time of first European contact in the 16^th century, probably at least 750,000 aborigines lived in Australia. They were divided amongst some 500 tribal territories.  In those parts of the continent with the densest populations, permanent villages existed.  The inhabitants were hunter-gatherers, but used a wide range of technologies to optimize their exploitation of the natural environment. They constructed fish traps, replanted squashes and tubers nearer their settlements, and used fire to burn old vegetation and encourage new growth for richer plant cover.

In New Guinea, in about 5000 BC, agriculture, based on tropical crops such as taro, yams and bananas, developed in the highlands of the interior. On the coast, where tropical diseases kept the population sparce, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle prevailed.  In around AD 1550 or a little later, sweet potatoes were introduced into the New Guinea highland farming culture.  This led to much more intensive farming, and a large increase of population.  By the time of European contact, inhabitants of New Guinea and nearby islands, whose technologies included bone, wood, and stone tools, had a productive agricultural system. They traded along the coast (mainly in pottery, shell ornaments and foodstuffs) and in the interior (exchanging forest products for shells and other sea products).

Far to the north, prior to 3000 BC, in southern China, population movements started that were destined to have a huge impact on Oceania in the millennia to follow. The ancestors of today’s Austronesian peoples (of which the Melanesians and Polynesians are examples) began migrating from south China to Taiwan. They took with them their Stone-Age farming culture and well-developed fishing and ocean-navigation techniques. 

By 1500 BC, Austronesian migrants had settled the coasts and islands of Southeast Asia, south to the northern coast of New Guinea, and as far east as the Solomon Islands.  At about this time they also embarked on the first of their great colonizing ventures, when a group of them sailed the 1,550 miles from the Philippines eastwards across open water to settle the Mariana islands.

The map below shows the migration paths to settle Australia and New Guinea, and the rest of Oceania, including the migration of the Austronesian peoples, from 1500 BC to AD 1200, gradually expanding eastward to finally settle the entire Polynesian region.  Hawaii and Easter Island, were populated late in this time frame due to the long distances separating them from other landmasses.  New Zealand, though, was one of the last to be settled, with Eastern Polynesians not arriving on the islands until around AD 1200.

Migration paths for human settlement of Oceania.  The dark blue arrows denote settlement of Australia and New Guinea from the Southeast Asia mainland in 40,000-50,000 BC.  The purple arrows show the steady migration of the Austronesian peoples eastward across Oceania to complete the settlement of Polynesia, highlighted in the bright blue triangle.

 

As migration proceeded eastward, an inter-island trading system developed, linking the Pacific islands, which, over several centuries, led to the emergence of a common Polynesian culture. 

The Polynesians developed further their boat building and navigation techniques, travelling in groups of double-hulled canoes, propelled with sails, guided by the stars, ocean currents, wind patterns, or perhaps migrating birds.  They brought with them food staples, including taro, breadfruit, bananas and coconut trees, and animals, including dogs, hogs, rats, and chickens.  There was a growing dependence upon tropical plants such as taro and bananas, as well as upon fish and meat.  

The motivation for such long colonizing voyages was the immense, semi-divine prestige attached to founders of new settlements; in a very status-conscious society such as the Polynesian, this was one of the few ways in which a junior member of a leading clan could found a high-status clan of his own.

The newly settled Pacific islands were malaria-free, and had plenty of resources available for the newcomers to exploit. The different islands evolved different societies according to the local environment which prevailed on each.  Some of the larger islands developed hierarchical societies in which stratified ranks of chiefs dominated the population, while the inhabitants of other, smaller islands retained a more egalitarian society where high status did not necessarily confer political control.

Later Polynesian societies produced sophisticated stone implements, elaborate irrigation systems, palisaded earthwork fortifications, and monumental stone art.

The descendants of the Polynesian discoverers of New Zealand, now known as the Maoris, quickly colonized both islands. The tropical crops they brought with them were unsuited to the temperate climate of most of the country, and the settlers adopted a largely hunter-gatherer lifestyle.  The abundant wildlife, including the huge, flightless bird called the Moa, offered plentiful food at first, but was depleted by AD 1450.  The Maoris learned to eat native plants such as ferns, and to focus on growing hardier crops such as the sweet potato.  This was only possible in the north; throughout most of South Island, a thin population lived a hunter-gatherer way of life.

European Contact and Exploration

European exploration of the Pacific began with the Spanish and the Portuguese, inspired by two obsessions:  the search for the fastest routes to the spice-rich islands of the Moluccas (modern-day Maluku in Indonesia) and the theory that somewhere in the South Pacific lay a vast undiscovered southern continent, possibly also rich in gold, spices, and other trade goods.

Between 1512-1526, sailing from the west, around the tip of Africa, Portuguese navigators reached the Molucca islands off the coast of Southeast Asia, and New Guinea.  In 1519, a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan, on the first circumnavigation of the world, sailed from the east, around the southern tip of South America, across the Pacific, discovering the Mariana Islands and other islands of Oceania, including Guam - before reaching the Philippines.  

From 1527 to 1595, a number of other Spanish expeditions crossed the Pacific Ocean, leading to the colonization of the Philippines and the discovery of several of the Caroline Islands and the Marshall Islands in Micronesia, as well as the Solomon Islands in Melanesia, and the Marquesas Islands in Polynesia.

All this began to change in the 17^th century, as explorers, merchants, and privateers from Holland, France, and England began to explore and chart the unknown expanse of the Pacific.  

In the early 1600s, the Dutch seized control of the Moluccas from the Portuguese.  As early as 1605, a Dutch expedition was sent to explore the north coast of Australia and several other expeditions followed to explore Australia’s north and west coasts.  The Dutch exploration of the Pacific culminated in two voyages of Abel Tasman:  his 1642-1643 exploration and coastal charting of Tasmania, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, and Easter island; and his 1644 charting of the northern coast of Australia and the southern coast of New Guinea.

 

Between 1642-1644, Dutchman Abel Tasman explored and charted the coasts of Tasmania, Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea, as well as Tonga, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands.

Although other nations also participated, it was the British and the French who dominated Pacific exploration in the 18^th century.  Beginning in the mid-1700s, the rival nations began to send out scientific expeditions to explore and chart the islands of the Pacific.  

But by far the most wide-ranging and accomplished of the 18^th-century explorers was the Englishman James Cook, who made three separate voyages to the Pacific between 1768-1780.  During his voyages, James Cook not only encountered many Pacific cultures for the first time, but also assembled the first large-scale collections of examples of Oceania culture, such as tools, clothes, and artwork, to be brought back to Europe.  Due to the efforts of these and many other explorers, by 1800, virtually the entire Pacific basin had been charted and its diverse cultures brought to the attention of the West.

Colonization and Independence of Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea

Since Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea are by far the largest and most populated countries in today’s Oceania, I will discuss them first.

Australia.  The first European settlement in Oceania was established by the British at Port Jackson, Sydney Harbor, Australia in 1788, by several hundred convicts and seamen under the control of a governor, plus a detachment of troops.

Sydney developed slowly as a penal settlement, under the autocratic authority of the governors appointed by the British government, supported by soldiers.  The soldiers were often given free land, and settled in Sydney as colonists.  Freed convicts were also given land and, soon, free inhabitants outnumbered convicts.  

The British colony, called New South Wales, was confined to the vicinity of Sydney for 25 years until, in 1813, a path across the Blue Mountains was pioneered.  Settlers immediately drove their flocks of sheep and cattle inland, becoming the first of a class of “squatters” that came to dominate the interior for decades to come.

European settlers had a huge impact upon aboriginal society.  The spread of European diseases led to drastic declines in population.  On the other hand, contact with Europeans expanded and intensified already existing aboriginal trading and manufacturing networks.  New metal implements allowed new food sources to be exploited, such as seals and dugongs (related to manatees), and deeper-sea fishing using dugout canoes was introduced from Southeast Asia.

Throughout this period, exploration expeditions, many of them epic tales of endurance, mapped the interior of the continent.  These were followed (where the environment permitted) by settlers. The settlers were usually squatters grabbing large parcels of land for their ever-increasing flocks of sheep.

Although the importation of convicts was phased out between 1840 and 1868, hundreds of thousands of settlers continued to arrive in Australia, mostly from Britain.  Gold rushes in the 1850s tripled Australia’s population, and greatly expanded the economy.  The population explosion was marked by the creation of the new colonies of Western Australia in 1829, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, Tasmania in 1855, and Queensland in 1859.  These colonies, like New South Wales, became self-governing units under their own assemblies.  While these colonies were on the same continent, they were initially governed like six rival countries and there was little communication among them.

This phase of Australian history was marred by a policy of enforced Europeanizing of aborigines, including the taking of aboriginal children from their parents and the hunting down of recalcitrant groups.  Along with the disease that the Europeans brought with them and the land grabs of the white man, this contributed to the demographic collapse of the aboriginal population by probably two thirds.

Another Gold Rush in the 1890s in Western Australia, boosted the population and wealth of the continent. This was part of a great expansion of the Australian economy as, internally, a spreading railroad network knit the continent and its colonies together, and steamships tied the Australian economy more closely to that of Britain.  These developments led to a huge growth in demand for Australia’s meat, wool and wheat.

Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901, when the British Parliament passed legislation enabling the six Australian colonies to collectively govern in their own right as the Commonwealth of Australia, withing the British Empire.  Each state had its own parliament, and a federal parliament conducted national affairs.  The new city of Canberra was designated the nation’s capital.  

Australian armed forces played an invaluable part in World War I, most famously as part of a combined Australian-New Zealand force, which bore the brunt of the fearful fighting at Gallipoli.

Under the terms of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, Britain’s dominions, including Australia, became sovereign states within the British Commonwealth of Nations, with equal status with Britain.  They continued to share the British monarch as the head of state.

Along with the rest of the world, Australia suffered from the Great Depression of the 1930s.  With the outbreak of World War II, the nation again found itself aligned with Britain, and Australian troops were prominent in the North Africa campaign.  When the Pacific region flared into war, Australia suddenly found herself on the front line.  Australia became the base of the Allied war effort against Japan, and her soldiers, sailors and airmen helped dislodge the Japanese from their conquests.  From this period, dates the close alliance between Australia and the U.S.

The later part of the 20^th century saw Australia orienting itself more and more away from Britain, and towards the U.S. on the one hand, and the Far East on the other.  Nevertheless, the Australian people did not vote to replace the British monarchy with a republic.

The population of Australia became less and less Anglo-Saxon in composition, with large Greek and Italian communities coming in from Europe, and with an increasing number of immigrants coming from Southeast Asia.  These different communities greatly enriched Australia’s cultural life.

In recent years, Australia responded to an increasingly competitive world with a series of wide-ranging economic reforms, freeing up its business sector to operate more effectively. This reaped significant dividends and Australia enjoyed a period of high growth.

Today, Australia is made up of six states and two internal territories.

New Zealand.  A few small European settlements were established on the coast of New Zealand from the 1790s onwards, limited to whaling bases and Christian missions.  Their impact on the Maori population was huge, however, as traders brought muskets with them, swapping them for food and other items.  These firearms destabilized the balance of forces within Maori society and led to a bloody period of inter-tribal warfare.  Some Maori tribes were driven from their ancestral lands, while others were eliminated completely.  Furthermore, European diseases killed thousands of Maoris, by some estimates as many as half the population.

The modern history of New Zealand began with the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, which established New Zealand as a British colony.  By the terms of this treaty, between the British government and the Maori chiefs, the Maoris ceded sovereignty to Britain in return for protection of their land rights and the right to manage their own affairs.  The first organized British settlement was established the same year.

But, clashes over land between British settlers and the Maori, resulted in warfare throughout the 1860s and into the early 1870s.  At times, almost the whole of North Island was engulfed in conflict.

More positively, these years saw the opening up of the (largely uninhabited) South Island, especially to sheep and wheat farmers.  

Beginning in 1881, refrigerated cargo ships greatly expanded New Zealand’s economy, opening up the European market to New Zealand meat and dairy produce.  

Between 1891-1912, a long-lasting, Liberal government put in place the foundations for one of the most advanced welfare states in the world.

In 1907, New Zealand was made a Dominion within the British Empire, giving the country effective independence.

New Zealand armed forces played an important part in the World War I, fighting in a joint force with Australia.

Between the world wars, the Great Depression of the 1930s led to further social legislation.  In World War II, New Zealanders fought in many theaters, at sea, on land and in the air.

In 1947, the terms of the Statute of Westminster came into force for New Zealand. This statute had originally been passed by the British parliament in 1931, and had affected Canada and Australia at that time.  It was only now made applicable to New Zealand.  By its terms, New Zealand became a sovereign state within the British Commonwealth of Nations, with equal status with Britain, continuing to share the British monarch as the head of state.

The 1970s and 1980s were difficult years for New Zealand.  One factor was the loss of special trading status with Britain, as Britain orientated itself economically away from the Commonwealth and towards Europe. The New Zealand government responded by sweeping reforms of the economy, making it more business-friendly and encouraging an entrepreneurial culture.

In 1985, New Zealand banned all nuclear warships from its ports.  This cooled its relations with the U.S. for a time.

Maori culture experienced a revival in the later 20^th century and, as a group, their social and economic position benefited from their pressing for compensation for the injustices of the colonial era.

 

New Zealand has the southernmost capital, Wellington, in the world.

New Guinea.  Although European navigators visited New Guinea and associated islands, and explored their coastlines in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, Europeans knew little of the inhabitants until the 19^th century.

The first European colonization in New Guinea occurred in 1828 when the Dutch claimed the western half of New Guinea as part of the Dutch East Indies.  In the 1870s, Captain John Moresby of Great Britain surveyed the southeastern coast, and by 1884 the southeastern quadrant of New Guinea had been annexed by Great Britain.  Germany, which had become active as Pacific traders in the mid-19^th century, took over administration of the northeast quadrant of New Guinea in the same year.  The administration of British New Guinea was passed to Australia in 1904, and its name was changed to the Territory of Papua.

 

Holland, Germany, and Britain/Australia shared New Guinea from 1884 to 1919.

 

Following World War I, in 1921, German New Guinea was taken over by Australia as a mandate of the League of Nations.  During the early years of World War II, Japan temporarily occupied large parts of the island.  After the war, the western half of the island, was returned to Dutch control, while Australia continued administration of the Territory of Papua.  In 1949, Holland formally recognized the independence of the Dutch East Indies, now called Indonesia.  A plebiscite was held in 1969 to decide the future of western New Guinea; as a result, it was annexed to Indonesia.  Papua New Guinea was granted independence within the British Commonwealth in 1975.

Papua New Guinea’s post-independence relationship with Australia was often awkward.  Papua New Guinea remained in Australia’s sphere of influence and continued to count on Australia’s support during times of crisis.  At the time of independence, development assistance from Australia provided more than two-fifths of the national budget.  By 2010, the Australian government was still providing a large amount of development assistance, but with reduced influence.  The growth of Asian markets for Papua New Guinea’s minerals and liquefied natural gas increased national confidence, which encouraged members of the government to decide their own developmental priorities.

Papua New Guinea’s fluid and fragmented politics created unpredictability as well as great possibility.  In the early 21^st century, Papua New Guinea was still searching for stability and determining how to manage political succession.  Its mineral and petroleum resources and its economic potential were significant, but its performance was greatly lacking by human development measures such as health, education, and the distribution of wealth.  Unlike many other relatively new states, however, it had retained its constitution and duly amended it to reflect changing needs, developing a democratic system that allowed for open critique of the government.  Its diverse peoples, once extremely isolated, entered the wider world, and their difficult project of nation and state building continued.

Papua New Guinea today is one of the most diverse and least explored countries in the world.

Colonization and Independence of the Pacific Islands

The attention gained by Oceania by 1800 soon brought European missionaries, along with traders and other adventurers to the Pacific Islands.  Sadly, with the Europeans, came guns and diseases, new to the islanders.  Dramatic population decline followed, along with a destabilization of traditional societies and an intensification of civil warfare. Subsequent rivalry between European colonial powers, trade opportunities, and Christian missions drove further European exploration and eventual settlement.  The British became the dominant colonial power in the region, but the French, the Spanish, the Germans, the Americans, and even Chile, also established colonies.

On some islands, civil wars ended in the establishment of monarchies which ruled the whole island, as on Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti; in all these cases, the kings converted to the Protestant form of Christianity, leading to the wholesale adoption of the new religion (plus large elements of European culture) by their peoples.

European cotton plantations were established, bringing in imported labor from other Pacific islands.  

In the last decades of the 19^th and the first decade of the 20^th centuries, all the Pacific islands fell under the control of foreign powers.  The nature and impact of colonial control varied enormously from island to island, ranging from very little (as on Tonga and Vanuatu, both under loose British protection), to catastrophic (New Caledonia, where the indigenous people were largely confined to reservations).

Many of these islands saw major changes in population, as European settlers arrived; or indentured laborers, from as far away as India, were brought in; or from other Pacific islands. On all the islands, Christianity spread rapidly.

Here is a summary of colonization activities in the Pacific Islands of Oceania:

British.  Britain colonized the Gilbert Islands, the Ellice Islands, Pitcairn Island (of Mutiny on the Bounty fame), the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu.  The British also initially colonized the Cook Islands and the island of Niue, but these colonies were later transferred to New Zealand.

French.  France colonized five groups of islands in what is today called French Polynesia, including the Society Islands, including Tahiti; the Tuamotu Archipelago; the Gambier Islands; the Marquesas Islands; and the Austral Islands.  France also colonized New Caledonia and the Polynesian island collectivity of Wallis and Futuna.

Spanish.  Spain initially colonized the Marshall Islands, the Mariana Islands, the Caroline Islands, and the islands of Palau, and Guam - all in Micronesia, but lost these colonies as the result of the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II - all colonies ending up under U.S. control.

German.  Germany colonized the western part of the Samoan archipelago, but lost the colony to New Zealand during World War I.  Germany also occupied parts of the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the island of Nauru, but had lost all claims by the end of World War II.

American.   The U.S. took over Hawaii in 1898 as a U.S. territory; took possession of Wake Island in 1899; and after disagreements with the British and Germans, took over the eastern island group of Samoa in 1900.   The U.S. also ended up with Guam, Palau, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Marshall Islands after the Spanish-American War and World Wars I and II.  In 1947, the United States, as the occupying power, entered into an agreement with the UN Security Council to administer much of Micronesia, including the Marshall Islands, as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

Chilean.  After a series of slave raiding expeditions from Peru in the 1860s, Chile annexed Easter Island in 1888.

Japanese.  Japan occupied the Marshall Islands from the beginning of World War I to the end of World War II.

Most Pacific islands became independent countries in the final decades of the 20^th century, or self-governing states within Western-led organizations (for example, the Marianas became a self-governing commonwealth under U.S. jurisdiction, and Tahiti attained the status of a French overseas country.  While for some islands, independence brought stable democracies and increasing prosperity, other Pacific Island nations experienced instability, and even violence.  This has been particularly true of those places where the colonial period introduced new ethnic elements.  Racial tensions between Polynesians and Indians destabilized Fiji on several occasions, leading to military coups, and the Solomon Islanders experienced full-scale civil war.

Due to its low population, Oceania was a popular location for atmospheric and underground nuclear tests. Tests were conducted in various locations by the United Kingdom, the U.S., and France.  From 1946 to 1958, the Marshall Islands served as the Pacific Proving Grounds for the U.S., and was the site of 67 nuclear tests on various atolls. The world's first hydrogen bomb was tested in the Marshall Islands in 1952, by the U.S.  In 1962, France starting using Moruroa atoll in French Polynesia as a nuclear testing site. The last French atmospheric test was conducted in 1974, and the last underground test in 1996.

Oceania Today

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

The economy of Australia is by far the largest and most dominant economy in the region and one of the largest in the world.  Australia's per-capita GDP is higher than that of the UK, Canada, Germany, and France in terms of purchasing power parity.  Australia also boasts the largest amount of manufacturing in the region, producing cars, electrical equipment, machinery, and clothes.  Mining has long been a significant contributor to the Australian economy.

The overwhelming majority of people living in the Pacific islands work in the service industry, which is dominated by tourism. The main produce from the Pacific Islands is copra or coconut, but timber, beef, palm oil, cocoa, sugar, and ginger are also commonly grown across the tropics of the Pacific.  Fishing provides a major industry for many of the smaller nations, although many fishing areas are exploited by other larger countries, namely Japan.  Natural Resources, such as lead, zinc, nickel, and gold, are mined in the Solomon Islands.  Oceania's largest export markets include Japan, China, the United States, India, South Korea and the European Union.

Beaches, like this one on Tahiti, draw tourists by the millions to Oceania's Pacific Islands.

The table below lists independence data, size, population, and economic characteristics of the 14 independent countries in Oceania.  Some colonies changed hands multiple times, so only the last colonial power is listed.  The U.S CIA estimate for 2017 of the economic productivity of each country in international dollars is shown, using the Gross Domestic Product, based on purchasing power parity, GDP(PPP), that takes into account the relative costs of local goods, services, and inflation rates. 

 

Snapshot of today’s Oceania countries (in order of independence year).

No.	Country	Independence Year	Colonial Power	Area          (sq. mi.)	Population	GDP (PPP)($millions)
1	Australia	20thcentury   (gradual)	Great Britain	2,969,907	25,711,853	1,235,000
2	New Zealand	20thcentury   (gradual)	Great Britain	104,428	4,795,886	185,700
3	Samoa	1962	New Zealand	1,093	199,052	1,130
4	Nauru	1968	Australia	8.1	10,084	159
5	Tonga	1970	Great Britain	288	100,651	587
6	Figi	1970	Great Britain	7,056	896,445	8,647
7	Papua New Guinea	1975	Australia	178,700	8,558,800	37,000
8	Solomon Islands	1978	Great Britain	11,157	667,044	1,317
9	Tuvalu (Gibert and Ellice Islands)	1978	Great Britain	10	10,640	42
10	Kiribati (Gibert and Ellice Islands)	1979	Great Britain	313	120,100	224
11	Vanuatu	1980	Great Britain, France	4,706	304,500	787
12	Marshall Islands	1986	U.S.	70	55,500	189
13	Federated States of Micronesia	1986	U.S.	271	103,000	347
14	Palau	1994	U.S.	177	22,000	301

 

All of the independent countries of Oceania have democratic governments.  Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga are constitutional monarchies, associated with Great Britain.

Besides the 14 countries in Oceania, there are a number of dependencies.  Australia retains control of the Ashmore and Carter Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, and Norfolk Island.  New Zealand retains control of the Cook Islands and the island of Niue.  Great Britain retains control of Pitcairn Island.  France retains control of New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and the Wallis and Futuna Islands.  Chile retains control of Easter Island.  The U.S. retains control of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Wake Island, American Samoa, and Hawaii is America’s 50^th state.  (See my blog, “History of the Hawaiian Islands” at https://bobringreflections.blogspot.com/2020_02_19_archive.html)  Finally, Papua Western New Guinea is part of the country of Indonesia.

Today map of Oceania with countries and possessions.  The 14 independent countries are identified in red.  Easter Island, a special territory of Chile, is off the map to the right at about 109 degrees west longitude.