| AD 300 |
| c. 300 | Beginning of early eastern Polynesian culture |
|
| AD 500 |
| 500s | Polynesians, originally from Southeast Asia, settle in Hawaiian Islands and Easter Island |
| 500s | Polynesians continue to navigate eastwards |
|
| AD 700 |
| c. 700 | Easter Islanders begin to build stone platforms which form part of ceremonial enclosures |
| c. 700 | First Polynesians settle in the Cook Islands |
|
| AD 900 |
| NEW NATIONS |
| c. 900 | First settlers from the Cook Islands, ancestors of the Maoris, reach the South Island, New Zealand |
|
| AD 1000 |
| MONKS AND INVADERS |
| c. 1000 | Maori people settle in New Zealand |
| c. 1000 | Polynesians begin to build stone temples |
|
| AD 1100 |
| 1100s | First statues erected on previously constructed platforms in Easter Island |
| 1100s | Beginnings of organized societies in Hawaiian Islands |
| 1100s | Earliest settlements by Polynesians in Pitcairn Island |
| c. 1150 | Maoris begin to settle in the river mouth areas in the north of the South Island, New Zealand, notably at Wairau Bar |
|
| AD 1200 |
| CONQUEST AND PLAGUE |
| c. 1200 | Tui Tonga monarchy builds coral platform for ceremonial worship on island of Tonga in South Pacific |
| c. 1250 | Beginnings of intensive valley irrigation schemes in Hawaiian Islands |
|
| AD 1300 |
| c. 1300 | Hawaiian peoples start to develop class structure as a result of economic growth through agriculture |
| c. 1300 | Stone temple complexes, or ÒmaraeÓ, erected on Rarotonga, Cook Islands, and on Moorea Island in the Society Islands |
| c. 1300 | Huge stone statues erected on Easter Island |
| c. 1350 | Maoris flourish in the North Island, New Zealand; first terrace-type fortifications, called ÒpaÓ, built |
|
| AD 1400 |
| THE EXPANSION OF KNOWLEDGE |
| c. 1400 | Tonga people build major ceremonial centre at Mu'a, on the largest island in the Tongatapu Group, South Pacific Ocean |
| 1400s | Widespread cultivation of wet taro in Hawaiian islands |
|
| AD 1500 |
| THE GREAT RULERS |
| c. 1500 | A village of oval stone houses is built on Easter Island |
| c. 1511 | Portuguese navigators begin to explore the Pacific |
| 1519-22 | Ferdinand Magellan attempts voyage around the world: he navigates the Pacific, but later dies; his crew completes the voyage |
| 1525 | Diego Ribeiro, official mapmaker for Spain, makes first scientific charts covering the Pacific |
| 1525 | Portuguese probably visit Caroline Islands, northeast of New Guinea, and nearby Palau Islands |
| 1526 | Portuguese land on Papua New Guinea |
| 1550s | Maoris in both the North and South Islands of New Zealand build fortified enclosures called ÒpaÓ |
| 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 |
| 1595 | Menda–a visits Marquesas Islands and then Nderic (Santa Cruz) |
|
| AD 1600 |
| COMMERCE AND COLONIES |
| 1600s | Beginning of building of ÒtupaÓ, stone towers with inner chambers, on Easter Island |
| c. 1600 | In Tonga, dominant political leadership passes from Tu'i Tonga dynasty to Tu'i Konokupolu dynasty |
| 1606 | Luis Vaez de Torres from Spain sails around New Guinea and reaches the straits now named after him |
| 1642-44 | Abel Tasman reaches Tasmania and New Zealand |
| 1680s | Statue building ends on Easter Island; resources and then population decline, and this leads to civil war |
|
| AD 1700 |
| THE AGE OF ENQUIRY |
| 1700s | First contact between Tahitians and Europeans; they meet in Opunohu Valley on Moorea Island |
| 1722 | Dutch navigator Roggeveen reaches Samoa Islands and Easter Island in the Pacific |
| Mid 1700s | Aboriginal culture continues to flourish |
| 1767 | British Captain Samuel Wallis is the first European to reach Tahiti; six months later, French navigator Bougainville visits the islands |
| 1768-71 | First of British Captain James Cook's three voyages to Pacific |
| 1770 | Spanish sailors reach Easter Island |
| 1772-75 | Captain Cook's second voyage to the Pacific |
| 1776-79 | 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 |
| 1787-89 | Voyage of Lieutenant William Bligh in the Bounty to the Pacific to find breadfruit plants; crew mutiny and put him to sea |
| 1788 | First British convicts shipped to Botany Bay, Australia |
| 1790 | Bligh returns to England |
| 1793 | First free British settlers reach Australia |
| 1798 | Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania navigated by Bass and Flinders |
| 1799 | Major civil war in Tonga |
|
| AD 1800 |
| INDEPENDENCE AND INDUSTRY |
| 1801-03 | Matthew Flinders circumnavigates, then names, Australia; it means ÒsouthernÓ |
| 1810 | Kamehameha I becomes king of all Hawaii |
| 1815 | Russia tries to make landings in Hawaiian Islands |
| 1819 | Pomare II establishes Society Islands' first legal code |
| 1819 | Death of Kamehameha I of Hawaii; his heir, Kamehameha II, abolishes system which restricted contact between men and women |
| 1821 | Protestant missionaries arrive in Cook Islands |
| 1824 | Kamehameha II of Hawaii visits England and dies there |
| 1825 | Dutch annexe Irian Jaya, western part of New Guinea |
| 1830 | Tahitian Protestant missionaries arrive in Fiji |
| 1830 | Malietoa Vaiinupo of Savai'i becomes king of Samoa |
| 1831 | Charles Darwin sets out on five-year voyage to Pacific for scientific research |
| 1834 | French Catholic missionaries arrive in Mangareva in Tuamotu Islands in South Pacific |
| 1837-40 | Frenchman Jules Dumont d'Urville attempts to chart coast of Antarctica; from 1838-42, Lt Charles Wilkes leads US exploring expedition to Antarctica |
| 1837-40 | Frenchman Jules Dumont d'Urville attempts to chart coast of Antarctica; from 1838-42, Lt Charles Wilkes leads US exploring expedition to Antarctica |
| 1840 | British and Maoris in New Zealand sign Treaty of Waitangi |
| 1840 | Kamehameha III begins constitutional monarchy in Hawaii; first written Hawaiian constitution |
| 1842 | France annexes the Marquesas Islands and makes Tahiti protectorate |
| 1848 | Hawaiian King Kamehameha III gives his people shares in the islands |
| 1850 | Britain transfers some powers to the four major Australian colonies; they achieve self-government by 1856 |
| 1851 | Gold found in southeastern Australia |
| 1853 | France annexes New Caledonia |
| 1854 | Eureka stockade; brief miners' revolt at Ballarat |
| 1860 | R O Burke and W J Wills cross Australia from south to north |
| 1860-70 | Second Maori War in New Zealand |
| 1861 | Gold discovered in Otago, New Zealand |
| 1864 | First French convicts sent to New Caledonia |
| 1865 | First Chinese labourers arrive in Hawaii |
| 1865 | New Zealand seat of government transferred from Auckland to Wellington |
| 1869 | Germany acquires land in Caroline Islands |
| 1870s | Gold Rush in New Caledonia |
| 1871 | Cakobau, most important leader of Bau, one of Fiji Islands, establishes a national monarchy in Fiji |
| 1874 | Prince David Kalakaua becomes ruler of Hawaii (to 1891) |
| 1878 | New Caledonian peoples rebel against French |
| 1879 | Britain establishes a naval station in Samoa |
| 1880 | Australia's most famous bushranger, Ned Kelly, is hanged; becomes a folk hero |
| 1880 | France annexes Tahiti as a colony |
| 1885-86 | Goldfields opened up in Papua New Guinea |
| 1889 | Malietoa Laupepa king of Samoa; is recognized by Britain, United States, and Germany, ÒjointsupervisorsÓ of Samoa |
| 1893 | Votes for women introduced in New Zealand |
| 1897 | New Zealand introduces eight-hour working day; old age pensions, 1898 |
| 1898 | United States annexes Hawaii |
| 1899 | Australia and New Zealand troops sent to Boer War |
|
| AD 1900 |
| THE WORLD GOES TO WAR |
| 1900 | Phosphate-rich Ocean Island annexed by British |
| 1900 | New Zealand annexes the Cook Islands |
| 1901 | Britain gets control over Tonga's external relations |
| 1901 | Commonwealth of Australia formed |
| 1902 | Votes for women introduced in Australia |
| 1904 | Fijian delegates sit in legislative council for Fiji |
| 1905 | British New Guinea becomes the possession of Australia, and is named Papua |
| 1906 | Britain and France rule over New Hebrides |
| 1907 | New Zealand becomes a dominion |
| 1907 | First elections for national assembly in Philippines |
| 1909 | Creation of separate Labour party in New Zealand |
| 1910 | First victory for Labor party under Andrew Fisher in Australian general election |
| 1911 | Universal military training established in New Zealand |
| 1913 | Wallis Islands become a French protectorate |
| 1913 | Foundation of United Federation of Labour and Social Democratic party in New Zealand |
| 1915 | Britain annexes Gilbert and Ellice islands |
| 1916-18 | Efforts to introduce national army conscription in Australia defeated in referenda |
| 1917 | Filipino National Guard organized in Philippine Islands |
| 1918 | Queen Salote becomes queen of Tonga |
| 1918 | Influenza epidemic kills one fifth of population of Western Samoa |
| 1919 | Dry dock completed at Pearl Harbor in US territory of Hawaii |
| 1920 | New Zealand given mandate over Samoa |
| 1920 | Formation of a federal Country Party in Australia |
| 1920 | New Zealand becomes member of League of Nations |
| 1921 | Australia given mandate over German New Guinea |
| 1927 | Canberra becomes federal capital of Australia |
| 1929 | Uprising of Mau people of Samoa against New Zealand government |
| 1931 | Foundation of United Australia Party (UAP) |
| 1933 | Australia takes control of large sector of Antarctica |
| 1935 | First Labour government elected in New Zealand; many reforms follow |
| 1936 | Arbitration court of New Zealand fixes basic wage for man and wife and three children |
| 1937 | Formation of New Zealand National Party, in opposition to Labour Party |
| 1939 | Robert Menzies becomes Australian prime minister |
| 1941 | Japanese attack US fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; United States enters World War II |
| 1942 | Naval victory of US fleet over Japanese fleet off Midway Island in the Pacific |
| 1940s | Immigration of non-English-speaking Europeans to Australia begins to change national ethnic make-up |
| 1946 | United States tests atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in Marshall Islands; continuing US and French nuclear testing on Pacific islands causes massive resentment |
| 1959 | The Antarctic Treaty limits exploitation of Antarctica |
| 1962 | Western Samoa becomes independent |
| 1970 | Tonga and Fiji gain independence from Britain |
| 1975 | Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia |
| 1975 | Political crisis in Australia as governor-general, appointed by British monarch, controversially dismisses elected government, causing considerable resentment |
| Mid 1970s | Asian immigration to Australia increases sharply; it continues to be high, making Australia more multicultural |
| 1980s | Australia and New Zealand go through economic recession; both develop trade links with Asia |
| 1984 | New Zealand declared a nuclear-free zone; in 1985 Rainbow Warrior sunk by pro-nuclear agents |
| 1986 | Treaty of Rarotonga sets up South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone |
