Oceania

===European exploration===
{{See also|Magellan expedition|Spanish East Indies|History of Australia (1788–1850)|Colony of New Zealand}}
[[File:1852 Bocage Map of Australia and Polynesia - Geographicus - Oceanie-bocage-1852.jpg|thumb|1852 map of Oceania by J. G. Barbié du Bocage. Includes regions of Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, and [[Malesia]].]]
Oceania was first explored by Europeans from the 16th century onwards. Portuguese navigators, between 1512 and 1526, reached the [[Maluku Islands]] (by [[António de Abreu]] and [[Francisco Serrão]] in 1512), [[Timor]], the [[Aru Islands Regency|Aru Islands]] (Martim A. Melo Coutinho), the [[Tanimbar Islands]], some of the [[Caroline Islands]] (by [[Gomes de Sequeira]] in 1525), and west [[Papua New Guinea]] (by [[Jorge de Menezes]] in 1526). In 1519, a [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] expedition led by [[Ferdinand Magellan]] sailed down the east coast of South America, found and sailed through the [[Strait of Magellan|strait that bears his name]] and on 28 November 1520 entered the ocean which he named "Pacific". The three remaining ships, led by Magellan and his captains [[Duarte Barbosa]] and [[João Serrão]], then sailed north and caught the [[trade winds]] which carried them across the Pacific to the Philippines where Magellan was killed. One surviving ship led by [[Juan Sebastián Elcano]] returned west across the Indian Ocean and [[Trinidad (ship)|the other]] went north in the hope of finding the [[westerlies]] and reaching Mexico. Unable to find the right winds, it was forced to return to the East Indies. The [[Timeline of Magellan's circumnavigation|Magellan-Elcano]] expedition achieved the first [[circumnavigation]] of the world and reached the [[Philippines]], the [[Mariana Islands]], and other islands of Oceania.

From 1527 to 1595 a number of other large Spanish expeditions crossed the Pacific Ocean, leading to the arrival in [[Marshall Islands]] and [[Palau]] in the North Pacific, as well as [[Tuvalu]], the [[Marquesas Islands]], the [[Solomon Islands (archipelago)|Solomon Islands archipelago]], the [[Cook Islands]], and the [[Admiralty Islands]] in the South Pacific.<ref name="Fernandez-Armesto 2006 305–307" />

In the quest for [[Terra Australis]], Spanish explorations in the 17th century, such as the expedition led by the Portuguese navigator [[Pedro Fernandes de Queirós]], sailed to [[Pitcairn Islands|Pitcairn]] and [[Vanuatu]] archipelagos, and sailed the [[Torres Strait]] between Australia and New Guinea, named after navigator [[Luís Vaz de Torres]]. [[Willem Janszoon]], made the first completely documented European landing in Australia (1606), in [[Cape York Peninsula]].<ref name="discos19" /> [[Abel Tasman]] circumnavigated and landed on parts of the Australian continental coast and discovered [[Van Diemen's Land]] (now [[Tasmania]]), New Zealand in 1642, and [[Fiji]].<ref name="primary" /> He was the first known European explorer to reach these islands.<ref name="tearag" />

On 23 April 1770, British explorer [[James Cook]] made his first recorded direct observation of [[Aboriginal Australians]] at [[Brush Island]] near [[Bawley Point, New South Wales|Bawley Point]].<ref name="cook22470" /> On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the [[Kurnell, New South Wales|Kurnell Peninsula]]. It is here that James Cook made first contact with an aboriginal tribe known as the [[Gweagal]]. His expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline of Australia.<ref name="herald86292" />

====European settlement and colonisation====
{{See also|History of Australia (1788–1850)|History of New Zealand}}
[[File:New Guinea (1884-1919).png|thumb|New Guinea from 1884 to 1919. The Netherlands controlled the western half of New Guinea, [[German Empire|Germany]] the north-eastern part, and Britain the south-eastern part.]]
In 1789, the [[mutiny on the Bounty]] against [[William Bligh]] led to several of the mutineers escaping the [[Royal Navy]] and settling on [[Pitcairn Islands]], which later became a British colony. Britain also established colonies in Australia in 1788, New Zealand in 1840 and [[Colonial Fiji|Fiji]] in 1872, with much of Oceania becoming part of the [[British Empire]]. The [[Gilbert Islands]] (now known as [[Kiribati]]) and the Ellice Islands (now known as [[Tuvalu]]) came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century.<ref name="TAHNPT" /><ref name="cinderella1" />

French Catholic missionaries arrived on Tahiti in 1834; their expulsion in 1836 caused France to send a gunboat in 1838. In 1842, Tahiti and [[Tahuata]] were declared a [[Protectorate|French protectorate]], to allow Catholic missionaries to work undisturbed. The capital of [[Papeete|Papeetē]] was founded in 1843.<ref name="KMLA1889" /> On 24 September 1853, under orders from [[Napoleon III]], Admiral [[Auguste Febvrier Despointes|Febvrier Despointes]] took formal possession of New Caledonia and [[Port-de-France]] (Nouméa) was founded 25 June 1854.<ref name="ped" />

The Spanish explorer [[Alonso de Salazar]] landed in the Marshall Islands in 1529. They were named by [[Adam Johann von Krusenstern|Krusenstern]], after English [[explorer]] [[John Marshall (British captain)|John Marshall]], who visited them together with [[Thomas Gilbert (captain)|Thomas Gilbert]] in 1788, en route from [[Botany Bay]] to [[Guangzhou|Canton]] (two ships of the [[First Fleet]]). In 1905 the British government transferred some administrative responsibility over south-east New Guinea to Australia (which renamed the area "[[Territory of Papua]]"); and in 1906, transferred all remaining responsibility to Australia. The Marshall Islands were claimed by Spain in 1874. Germany established colonies in New Guinea in 1884, and [[German Samoa|Samoa]] in 1900. The United States also expanded into the Pacific, beginning with [[Baker Island]] and [[Howland Island]] in 1857, and with Hawai{{okina}}i becoming a [[Territory of Hawaii|U.S. territory]] in 1898. Disagreements between the US, Germany and UK over Samoa led to the [[Tripartite Convention (1899)|Tripartite Convention of 1899]].<ref name="amesagrey" />

In 1860, all islands in the Pacific became the majority of [[Christianity]].