Prehistory Findings suggest that Vanuatu was populated from western Melanesia around 1300 BC. by people belonging to the so-called Lapita culture. Between about 600 BC and 500 AD appeared a distinctive carved and relief decorated pottery called mangaasi. About 1300
The first Europeans came to the islands in the period 1568-1826. British missionaries came from Samoa in the 1860s. At about the same time, the islands were hit by slave trade and European diseases. From 1850 to 1875, the population
Prehistory Tonga was populated from Melanesia in the latter half of the 1000s BC by people who made so-called lapita ceramics (see lapita culture). About 1000 AD large stone-edged grave structures, so-called langi and faitoka, began to be erected. These
Prehistory The first population of the Solomon Islands is linked to the expansion of the Lapita culture, which spread over the southern Pacific region from about 1300 BC. Excavations in i.a. Nenumbo on the island of Ngaua in the east
The first European to arrive in present-day Samoa was the Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen in 1722. The islands were further explored by Louis de Bougainville in 1768. In the 1830s, Christian missionaries began working on the Samoa Islands, soon followed by
The modern state of Papua New Guinea consists of the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and about 600 smaller islands. In New Guinea there are 50-60,000 year old archaeological traces of people. Until New Guinea was colonized
Prehistory Language and ceramic studies indicate that Palau, unlike eastern islands of Micronesia, was populated from the west, ie. from Indonesia and the Philippines, probably between 2000 and 1000 BC The ceramics exhibit an unbroken tradition into historical times. Other
Oman has, through immigration from Africa, a prehistoric heritage of more than 100,000 years. The history of present-day Oman has followed somewhat different lines, with early Arab influence in the southwestern part of the country, and a greater Persian influence
New Zealand is one of the last large land masses inhabited by humans. Eastern Polynesians immigrated between 1250 and 1300 AD and developed Moorish culture. Dutchman Abel Tasman came as one of the first Europeans in 1642 and named the
Prehistory The date of the first possession of Nauru is unknown; However, eastern Micronesia was populated later than many of the islands in western Micronesia, possibly only around Kr.f. The native population of Nauru exhibits a physical and linguistic mix
In the 17th century, the islands that now make up the Micronesia Federation were colonized by Spain. Germany bought the islands from Spain in 1899. In 1914 they were occupied by Japan, and by US forces in 1944-1945. In 1947,
Prehistory The Marshall Islands were probably colonized from the middle of the second millennium BC. of Melanesian people groups, such as introduced pottery of lapita nature (compare lapita culture). However, as in Polynesia, the ceramic tradition died out after the
The first people to settle on the islands of present-day Kiribati probably came from the west around the third millennium BC. However, the main stream of immigrants came from the area around Samoa in the 13th century AD. The population
Prehistory Fiji was first populated around 2000 BC and constituted one of the first outposts of population expansion across the Pacific region east of New Guinea, which continued mainly to 800 AD. The earliest known settlements have been found at
The first people came to Australia from Southeast Asia more than 40,000 years ago, while the nation of Australia was founded by British immigrants. In 1770, British seafarer James Cook went ashore south of what is today Sydney, taking possession
The European presence began in 1513 when the Spanish Vasco Núñez de Balboa traveled across the Pacific. Dutch and Portuguese sailors followed, and between 1768 and 1779 James Cook made three voyages of discovery, which contributed to the expansion of